by Brian Spitzer/Gem of the Sound Sports Reporter
Pirate’s boys’ basketball team played well in a close 55 to 46 loss to league power.
The Highline boys’ basketball team showed improvement as they hosted the league power Sammamish Totems on Tuesday, January 17th. They lost a close game: 55 to 46. Sammamish jumped out to an early 24 to 12 lead and held on for a hard-fought win over Highline.
If we eliminated the 1st quarter, the Highline boys outplayed and outscored Sammamish for the remaining 3 quarters of the game.
Marcus Moss guarding Sammamish Player – Photo by Brian Spitzer
This game showed how significant the improvement is for the Pirate boys’ basketball team; since the last meeting in early December, Sammamish won that game 89 to 59. Sammamish is led by 9 senior boys on the varsity, being one of the top 2A teams in state basketball, having almost knocked off top-seeded Renton earlier this month. The Totems feature a number of great shooters who can hit shots from many areas on the court; (the key is to crowd the great shooters on Sammamish and play great lock-down defense on them.)
6’5″ power forward Rubin Humbert was the player of the game for Highline as he contributed 12 points, 12 rebounds, 0 turnovers, and blocked several shots. A helpful addition to the Pirate starting lineup was 6’4″ Sophomore Corey Crosby, who scored 14 points while taking high-percentage shots. Corey was coming off a foot injury and continued to show great improvement getting back into basketball condition. Forward Charles Brown played a strong inside, scoring 10 points for the Pirates.
Marquawn McCraney driving the lane for a basket – Photo by Brian Spitzer
The Pirates played great defense after the 1st quarter; in the 2nd half of the game, Sammamish only scored 31 points, while Highline outscored them 24 to 19.
In the 4th quarter, this game was close, as the Pirates only trailed Sammamish 48 to 44 with 5 minutes to play. A few key turnovers and a couple of missed shots down the final stretch of the 4th quarter prevented Highline from winning the game.
Coach Rick Frazier commented after the game, “I thought the boys came out and battled. The experience of 9 seniors on Sammamish is a big advantage for them. We will take this next week to go back to the drawing-board, working on getting better as we prepare for Renton.”
“Finish strong!” is the team’s motto as they close out this season. Highline has several key games coming up that will be important to win to make the playoffs.
Upcoming games:
Highline at Renton Tuesday, January 24th at 7:15 pm
Highline at Foster Friday, January 27th at 7:15 pm
