University boys use inside-outside game to down Gonzaga Prep; G-Prep girls pull away from Titans

It was an early-season nonleague contest, but it carried the intensity of a district playoff game.

In the end, the inside-outside combo of the home team was too much for the visitors to handle.

University’s 6-foot-8 post Conrad Bippes scored 26 points, guard Jeremiah Sibley added 23 and the Titans beat visiting Gonzaga Prep 71-53 in a physical matchup of Greater Spokane League foes on Friday.

“They both played within themselves,” University coach Garrick Phillips said of Bippes and Sibley. “They really shared the ball with their teammates, and are just such great kids. They want what’s best for the team. Obviously, they’re great talents individually, but getting them to play within our structure has been, you know, nothing but a pleasure.”

“We just didn’t have an answer (for Bippes),” Gonzaga Prep coach Matty McIntyre said. “And give credit to him. And then they surround him with shooters. I mean, that’s pretty lethal combination.”

Gonzaga Prep’s 6-7 senior forward Jayden Stevens missed the game due to injury.

U-Hi (3-1) went straight to Bippes in the first quarter, and he scored six straight points on the inside. But at the other end he committed a hard foul, then had comments for G-Prep sophomore Henry Sandberg, earning Bippes a technical. Sandberg (20 points) made all four free throws and the Bullpups went up 14-9.

Sibley heated up while Bippes was on the bench and scored six points in the latter stages of the frame. The Bullpups (2-1) led 20-19 after one quarter.

U-Hi’s Gabe Heimbigner and AJ Wolfe hit back-to-back 3s to start the second quarter to tie it at 25.

Late in the second, Sibley made a 3 from the corner, then Bippes hit a turnaround in the lane and University led 38-32 at the break.

“I think our adjustments we made during the game were really big,” Phillips said. “They came out and shocked us a little bit – guys that we didn’t expect to score early for them did, and I think we made good adjustments.”

Neither team got much going through the first half of the third quarter, and Timmy Brummett’s floater put U-Hi up 10 at 44-34. Brummett had eight points in the quarter and the Titans led 50-43 after three.

The Titans used a six-point run at the start of the fourth quarter, including a pair from Bippes in the lane, to get the lead to 13. McIntyre called timeout.

It was Phillips’ team that took the motivation from the break.

“Just keep the pressure up, keep the pressure up,” Phillips said his message was. “When we go on a run against teams, they’re going to come out desperate, you know, maybe some crazy shots, hit the offensive glass, and we just had to match that intensity. I felt like our guys did that. We grew up a little bit tonight for sure.”

Another layin from Bippes made it 60-45.

“Offensively, we’re hanging in there in the first half,” McIntyre said. “But then obviously, things got worse in the second half. We got out of the system, trying to do things on our own and that just made things worse.”

Girls

Gonzaga Prep 52, University 45: Sitara Byrd scored 19 points, Taliah Lee added 12 – eight in the fourth quarter – and the visiting Bullpups (3-1) beat the Titans (2-3) .

Paige Jess paced U-Hi with 14 points and Eliannah Ramirez had 13.

G-Prep coach Mike Arte noted some early-season rustiness.

“From our standpoint, we just need to get more efficient offensively,” he said. “We’re just standing around too much, but we’ll get better.”

“We’ve come a long way, we just gotta learn how to win,” second-year U-Hi coach Jazmine Redmon said. “We just gotta keep our heads up, keep moving forward and getting better every day.”

Gonzaga Prep got out quickly, scoring the first nine points of the game, prompting Redmon to call timeout with more than 5 minutes left in the quarter.

G-Prep’s Lucy Lynn made a steal and layup to push the lead to 11 before Alyssa Osborne got the Titans on the board with a follow-up. The Bullpups’ offense stalled the rest of the quarter and they led 13-6 after one.

Ramirez went to the floor for a loose ball in the lane and the resulting layin made it a four-point game midway through the second quarter. A minute later, Jess made a 3 and U-Hi took its first lead at 20-19.

Jess added a three-point play later in the quarter and the Titans led 25-20 at halftime.

Early in the third quarter, Julianna Jeross hit a 3 to increase the U-Hi lead to eight. But Byrd scored on back-to-back possessions and Ashlee Everstine’s 3-pointer made it a one-point game.

Lee’s fastbreak layup with 9 seconds left gave G-Prep a 35-34 lead after three quarters.

Jess converted another three-point play to put U-Hi up 42-41, but Lynn’s floater gave G-Prep a three-point lead with a minute left. Lee made a pair from the line and Byrd’s steal and layup iced it.

“Jazmine’s doing a really good job with them and they’ve come a long way in a year,” Arte said. “We knew it was gonna be a tough game.”