Late surge carries Gonzaga Prep past University

In the midst of a helter-skelter pace, the Gonzaga Prep boys basketball team picked an opportune time to have three of its best possessions back-to-back-to-back.

University had trimmed the Bullpups’ lead to 46-38, but Gonzaga Prep got a basket breaking the Titans’ pressure followed by two more baskets out of solid half-court sets as the visitors wrested back control.

G-Prep finished with a 17-12 surge to stop the host Titans 63-50 in Greater Spokane League action Tuesday.

The win vaulted the Bullpups (7-2 overall, 6-1 league) into second by themselves while U-Hi (6-2, 5-2) slipped to third.

U-Hi had the ball with a chance to cut further into the Bullpups’ lead before G-Prep finished strongly.

“Those possessions were critical,” G-Prep coach Matty McIntyre said. “We got a little frantic, a little helter- skelter, and the game went up and down – and that’s fine, we’ll play up and down with anybody. But if we come down and miss on three consecutive trips we’ve got to slow it down and get a little more disciplined and run our offense. That’s something we’ll continue to work on.”

The Bullpups had moments of brilliance in the first half building their biggest lead at 33-15 when senior Parker Kelly completed a three-point play with 3:53 to go before halftime. But G-Prep didn’t score the rest of the second quarter.

Still, the Bullpups led comfortably at 33-18 going into halftime – thanks to a big first half by Kelly, who had 17 points.

But G-Prep executed poorly most of the second half until the final 4:57.

“I think it was a situation where we needed to take a deep breath, relax and get back to our system,” McIntyre said.

The Titans still had hope late in the game despite finishing with a season-high 27 turnovers.

“I said we had a game’s worth at halftime,” U-Hi coach Garrick Phillips said of his team’s 15 turnovers in the first half. “We showed our heart a little bit to still be in the game when we played poorly and didn’t shoot well either.”

Kelly finished with a game-high 23 points and senior Shane Schmidlkofer had 13 to go with three rebounds and two assists. Ryan Gregory came off the bench to score 10.

Brett Bailey led U-Hi with 17 points and Zech Martin had eight rebounds.

Ferris 57, Shadle Park 43: The Saxons (7-1, 6-0) remained unbeaten in league, getting 21 points, eight rebounds and seven assists from senior Riley Stockton in the win over the visiting Highlanders (3-6, 2-5).

Antwan Johnson led Shadle with 11 points. Taylor Kamitomo added 18 points and 14 rebounds for Ferris.

Central Valley 50, North Central 37: Gaven Deyarmin and Tyler Chamberlain scored 11 of their combined 21 points in the second quarter as the visiting Bears (5-4, 4-4) topped the Indians (3-5, 3-4).

Zac Hill led NC with nine rebounds.

Mt. Spokane 42, Mead 40: Garrett Swanson returned from a displaced knee cap to score a game-high 17 points, but it wasn’t enough for the visiting Panthers (3-6, 2-5).

Kellen Clute had a big game on the boards for the Wildcats (2-5, 1-5) with 13 rebounds. Mt. Spokane rallied from a 24-19 halftime deficit.

Lewis and Clark 64, Rogers 57: Brady Houbrick had 15 points, five rebounds and three steals to lead the Tigers (2-7, 2-5) past the visiting Pirates (3-6, 3-4).

Therone Tillett led Rogers with 13 points.