For much of the season, the focus for a young Grace Academy boys’ basketball team has been on putting together four quarters of intense play.
The Golden Eagles finally accomplished that feat on Tuesday, and their efforts resulted in a fourth consecutive victory.
It came by a 57-45 margin against visiting District 5-A rival Silverdale Baptist, and helped Grace even its overall record at 7-7 and district mark at 2-2.
“I felt like we played intense for four quarters, and we haven’t been doing that this year,” Grace coach Jon Mattheiss said.
“We’ve played that way for two quarters or three quarters, but tonight we really challenged the guys and said it’s got to be four quarters.”
Silverdale took an early lead in the opening minutes of the rivalry game before suffering from a scoring drought that lasted over three minutes. During that span, Hunter Lewis sank two 3-pointers to regain the lead for Grace, which took a 14-8 advantage into the second period.
Nine consecutive second-quarter points from Zach Miller helped the Golden Eagles to a 26-18 halftime lead, and after nine points from Jared Roberts with 3:01 left in the third, Grace held its largest lead of the game at 17 points.
Brannon Walls responded with three 3-pointers for Silverdale over the final 2:30 of the period to get the Seahawks within 10. They reached that margin three more times before finally cutting Grace’s lead to single digits on a 3 from Braden Marshall with 1:11 left to play.
“They fought hard,” Mattheiss said. “Every time we thought we were going to put them away, they’d hit a big three or get a big offensive rebound and stick it back in. It never felt like it was in the bag. You have to credit them because they played very hard for four quarters too. It was a clean, hard-fought, intense ballgame between two rival schools.”
Mattheiss was also pleased with the way his team fought in the fourth quarter, responding to the Seahawks’ run and the pressure they brought as Silverdale attempted to narrow the gap in the final minute. The Golden Eagles were 4-for-6 from the line during that time, with a key steal and layup from Miller in between.
“It was tough, all the way to the end,” Mattheiss said. “I didn’t feel like the game was secured until there was under a minute left. But that’s what we’re working on. We didn’t necessarily play well for four quarters, but we played hard and we were intense.
“We’ve got to continue to work on our basketball IQ for sure, but it was good for us to be in that situation. They were pressuring us, and going for steals, and we needed the experience of dealing with that. We didn’t deal with it as well as I would have liked, but it was good for us to be able to see that and to know what we need to work on.”
For first-year Silverdale head coach Slater Belew, his team’s 25 turnovers were a key factor in what he had hoped would be an even closer game.
“I’ve told them since the preseason that our goal as a team is nine turnovers or less, and you just can’t win ballgames turning the ball over 25 times,” Belew said. “It’s disappointing because it’s a district game that we felt we had the opportunity to win, but Grace is a scrappy team.
“One thing my guys haven’t done in any game is quit. They’re fighting to the very end, and they aren’t giving up until the last buzzer, and that’s a good sign. Now we have to work on fixing the little stuff.”
Walls led Silverdale (8-12, 1-2 5-A) with 17 points, while Roberts totaled a game-high 21 for Grace and Miller followed with 15.
(E-mail Jaime Barrett at jaimenbarrett@gmail.com)
BOYS’ SUMMARY
GRACE ACADEMY 14 12 15 16 -- 57
SILVERDALE BAPTIST 8 10 11 16 -- 45
GRACE ACADEMY (57) -- Morrison 4, Cravatt 3, Jared Roberts 21, Zach Miller 15, Tinsley, Smith, Blandon, Billingsley 4, Lewis 6, Lindon 4.
SILVERDALE BAPTIST (45) -- Matheny, Brannon Walls 17, Mossburg 6, Hannah 2, Gibson 2, Hawkins 7, Rogers 5, Marshall 6, Bannor.
3-POINT GOALS: Grace 5 (Miller 2, Lewis 2, Roberts); Silverdale 6 (Walls 3, Mossburg, Rogers, Marshall).