By Quint Turner

In a critical conference game for both teams, it was the Jacob Davelaar-led Glacier Peak Grizzlies that pounded on the Mavs 56-28 Tuesday. Davelaar led all scorers with 21 points, as the Grizzlies went 8 of 16 from three-point range to put up 56 points versus Meadowdale. The Mavericks, on the other hand, were without Torin Dooley for the second game in a row. He and Kenley Ackerman knocked heads in practice, giving both players concussions and sidelining them for a while. Matt Hirsch led all Mavs scorers with 9 points.

During the first quarter, the Mavs had their only lead of the game, at 2-0. But it did not last long enough. Davelaar threw a great pass over the Maverick defense to Zach Pederson for two to make it 2-2. Soon after, Dreu Vader stole from the Mavs at midcourt and had an easy breakaway layup to put the Grizzlies up 6-4.

Then it became very tough for the home team. The Mavs couldn’t get anything going offensively, thanks to Peak’s extremely aggressive defense. The Grizzlies went on a 14-0 run after the 4-4 tie, and they never looked back. The team hit 3 of 3 from behind the three-point line and they made plenty of tough baskets to help stretch their lead. The Grizzlies were up 18-5 at the end of the quarter.

The Mavs tried to get going in the second. Right away, Taylor England threw a pass over the defense to get the ball to Charlie White to make it just 18-7. Then, after Glacier Peak scored five more on them, England had another dime-dropping pass to Hirsch this time for the bucket, but they were still down 23-9. On the Grizzly side, they were hitting everything. Pederson got the ball behind the basket (but still inbounds), and managed to hit a lay-in off the backboard and in while getting fouled. His free throw tacked on another point, and it was 26-9 Glacier Peak.

Trying desperately to respond, Carlow made another great pass down low to Spencer Linton for a lay-in to make it 32-14. That was the Mavs’ most effective play against the Grizzly D, and the Mavs just needed to execute it more. The Grizzlies were up 32-14 at half.

The third was more of the same for the Grizzlies. For every two points the Mavs scored, the Grizzlies would score four, and get two defensive stops. Can’t blame the Mavs for not trying. The team switched to a more up-tempo offense to change the momentum, but it was not helping. Austin Kiser put the Grizzlies up 24 with a reverse lay-up after driving through everyone, as Peak continued to rip up the Maverick defensive schemes. It took until 2:00 left for the Mavs to make a field goal in the quarter, when White handed the ball off to Collin Costello for a lay-in, to cut the deficit to 41-18. The Grizzlies responded when sustained pressure in the Mavs offensive zone led to two offensive boards. Then a Davelaar lay-in in traffic killed any momentum the Mavs had. The Grizzlies were up 48-20 heading into the fourth.

The fourth was mostly the Grizzlies closing the game out, and they did it well. They were able to slow down the pace enough to suffocate any chances the Mavericks had to come back. Both teams put up 8 points as their starters went out, and players that haven’t seen much varsity playing time came in, like Collin Costello and Aaron Gurley for the Mavs and Trey Chambers for the Grizzlies.

With the win, the Grizzlies improve to 9-4 (6-3 in conference), and their next game is Friday at Marysville-Getchell, at 7:15 p.m. With the loss, the Mavs fall to 5-8 (3-5 in conference), and their next game is Friday at Everett, also at 7:15 p.m.

Meadowdale Scorers: Charlie White 3; Collin Costello 2; Barrett Carlow 1; Spencer Linton 4; Matt Hirsch 9; Brian Feldhaus 5; Aaron Gurley 2

Sports correspondent Quint Turner is a sophomore at Meadowdale High School.