LANGLEY — The South Whidbey boys basketball team fought back from an early 10-point deficit to beat Sultan on Tuesday.
“Defense and solid rebounding made the difference,” said Falcon Cole Erikson.
Falcon coach Chris Ferrier shuttled in players off the bench on a regular basis as the point spread in Sultan’s favor widened. During a timeout, Ferrier loudly read the boys the riot act as it pertained to their defensive efforts.
A trey from Riley Newman and tightened defense from Tyler “Chuck” Norris helped, but South Whidbey trailed 11-8 at the break.
The Turks, led by Beebe and Theo VandenEkart, played hard, fast ball and seemed to dominate the court.
And yet, a quick glance at the scoreboard showed the Falcon offense getting closer until, with 2:20 left in the half, the score was 18-18 after another Newman three-pointer.
The junior began to ramp things up, especially with an up-and-under basket that prompted announcer Mike McInerney to ask,“Riley Newman, how’d he do that?”
Falcons Jordan Thornley and Andy Bennett upped the defensive intensity several degrees, using a lethal combo of steals and fast breaks. The Turks led at the half, but barely, 25-24.
The game settled into a predictable ebb-and-flow in the third quarter, which finished with South Whidbey still behind 36-33.
Pumping up the volume on defense stymied the aggressive Turks as the fourth began. With 2:51 left, the Falcons jumped ahead for good, 41-38. Newman scored, Erikson swiped a Turk pass (and suffered a bloody nose for his efforts), Bennett crashed to the floor after rebounding, Ben Cary swiveled in for a close look at the net, Thornley stole another and the Turk’s initial blistering pace gradually faded to full-court saunters.
Final score, 49-45.
“My strategy was to make layins, which worked at the start, but we weren’t able to keep Newman away from the hoop,” said Sultan coach Nate Trichler. “Clayton (Knowles) did a good job watching Newman most of the night.”
Coach Ferrier summed up the real reason for the win, in his view.
“Guts! Tremendous guts shown by our guys,” he said. “It wasn’t pretty, but much credit to the guys; they refused to give up and bought into getting stops on defense.”
Erikson said the team played together to the last second.
“We all felt lucky to still be in it after the first quarter,” he said.
“We never lost our confidence, either from previous losses or tonight’s first quarter,” Bennett added. “And Chuck and the other guys stepped up on the rebounding to keep us alive.”
Thornley recalled the locker discussion at the half.
“The coach said we had to fight harder to come back, and we did,” he said. “We closed it up and finished it together, as a team.”
Newman posted 20 points, Erikson had 12 and Thornley, eight.
