By Quint Turner

The best team in the Wesco 3A North Division got an important win in conference play on the road against Meadowdale on Tuesday. Cannen Roberson led all scorers with 21 points, with 12 of those in the first quarter, to help the Stanwood Spartans earn a victory against the Mavericks. Caleb Tingstad scored 12 points to lead all MHS scorers, but it would not be enough. After ending the first quarter up only 18-13, the Spartans dominated the second quarter by going on a 15-2 run in the first five minutes to get a lead they would never relinquish. From then on, the Spartans kept their foot on the gas pedal and closed out the game to get a big win, improving their conference record to 7-1.

The first quarter had the two offenses going back and forth for baskets. Roberson got the first basket on a lay-in, then on the Maverick possession Jacob Perkins spun away from his defender and got a bucket to tie the score right back up. Both teams started out playing a loose man-to-man defense, but while the Mavs would continue to use the strategy until the game was over, the Spartans switched to a much more aggressive style of man-to-man. They switched their defense when either Drew Stang (6-8) or Drew Sears (6-10) was out of the game; if both were in, they played normal man-to-man.

Speaking of Stang, he gave the Spartans an 8-6 lead when he hit a finger-roll over Collin Costello with 4:15 to play. Griffen Over hit the first three of the game for either side after Charlie White kicked it out to him, and that brought the score to 10-9 Stanwood. The Spartans scored again, and back the other way Tingstad scored on a putback off a White miss to get it to 12-11 SHS with 1:45 left. That was the closest the game would get from that point on, as Sears scored a basket over White the other way to make it 14-11 SHS. Roberson got six more points before the quarter ended, bringing his point total to 12 in the first, and the Spartans held an 18-13 lead going into the second.

In the second, the aggressive man-to-man defense by the Spartans seemed to finally catch the Mavs. Meadowdale struggled bringing the ball up the court since the Spartans clogged up the passing lanes. The Mavs still tried to force passes, and Stanwood took advantage of it and forced a bunch of turnovers that led into easy points. The first points of the second came from this defense when Ian Zipp cut off a cross-court pass and brought it back the other way on a breakaway; he eventually scored a lay-in and the Spartans went up 20-13.

An SHS basket later, Roberson got the first three of the game for the Spartans to put them up 25-13 with 5:45 to go. Finally, the Spartan 12-0 run was broken up when Tingstad hit one of two free throws to make it 30-14 SHS with 4:30 left. It took another minute and a half before Tingstad got the Mavs their first field goal of the quarter, and at that point, it was 33-16 with 2:50 to play. The Spartans continued to add to their lead with easy buckets in the paint before the half ended, including a buzzer-beating lay-in by Mason Garcea to give Stanwood a 41-20 lead at the end of the half.

The Spartans continued to play well in the third quarter. Stang got the first points of the quarter when Chad Larson got a defensive rebound, quickly passed the ball up to Sears, who found a streaking Stang in the paint for a lay-in. Perkins earned the first points for the Mavs when he spun away from his defender while driving in the lane and hit an easy lay-in to make it 45-22 with 6:20 to play. A little bit later in the quarter, Josh Thayer accentuated the difference in size between the teams by shooting over Over while in the lane to earn a bucket.

The disparity in size was a big reason why the Mavs lost. While Perkins (6-7) had to worry about the 6-10 Sears, someone like 6-2 White or 6-1 Tingstad had to guard the 6-8 Stang. At no point in time did the Mavs have a favorable height matchup in their man-to-man scheme, and it led to a lot of Spartan points. With 1:45 to play in the quarter, Garcea hit his second three of the game to put the Spartans up 53-26. The teams traded baskets in the last minute of the quarter and the Spartans took a 59-30 lead into the fourth.

Meadowdale ended the game on a positive note, as they outscored the Spartans 19-13 in the fourth quarter. The quarter started well when Perkins completely rejected a jumpshot by Zipp, and it only got better from there. Costello came alive in the fourth, scoring all 11 of his points in the quarter. Stanwood put in their back-ups to prevent any key injuries, and they executed the Spartan strategy quite well in the fourth. A big source of points for the Spartans throughout the game was free throws; the team shot 15 of 19 from the charity stripe, keeping some distance between the teams. The Spartans were able to hold on to their big lead and closed out the game, winning by a score of 72-49.

The win for Stanwood brings the Spartans to 10-5 (7-1 in conference), and gives them a 2.5-game lead on Oak Harbor, the second place team in the North Division. Their next game is the most important one of the season; they play Oak Harbor at home this Friday at 7:15. If Stanwood wins, the team will have taken a chokehold on the division lead. As for the Mavs, they fall to 3-12 (1-7 in conference). They are last in the South Division currently. They still have a chance to get to the district tournament if they can get ahead of either Everett or Marysville-Getchell (whom they play in the second last game of the season). Both teams are 2-6 in conference play, and the Mavs just need to get ahead of one. However, the Mavs’ next game is Friday at Mountlake Terrace at 7:15 p.m., so it will be an uphill battle for the rest of the season.

Meadowdale scorers: Chikodi Ezeokeke 2; Aidan O’Neill 3; Kenley Ackerman 4; Charlie White 4; Griffen Over 5; Jacob Perkins 8; Collin Costello 11; Caleb Tingstad 12

Stanwood scorers: Brian O’Donnell 2; Mason Garcea 2; Josh Thayer 3; Ian Zipp 4; Ian Edlund 4; Chad Larson 5; Drew Sears 6; Kurtis Hushagen 7; Drew Stang 8; Brady Garcea 10; Cannen Roberson 21

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