Spartans suffer upset at hands of NK

Bainbridge struggles in first loss at home since Jan. 2005.

A much anticipated season for the Bainbridge boys basketball team got off to a rocky start Tuesday, as the Spartans lost to rival North Kitsap 64-58 at Paski Gymnasium.

The loss breaks a 12-game home winning streak dating back to January 2005.

Head coach Scott Orness was upset with the team’s play afterwards.

“You gotta hand it to North,” he said. “They played with a lot of pride, they played good team basketball and they executed their gameplan and we did the exact opposite.

“I want to give all credit to North but I know our guys can do much better than that,” he continued. “Tonight we were living off (last year) and we gotta figure out who we are as a team.

“Right now we don’t do anything very well. We do everything kinda well, which doesn’t work very well against good basketball teams.”

Bainbridge got off to a good start by taking an 18-11 lead on the back of two three pointers by Caleb Davis and Jesse Powell.

Mike Walsh also scored six points on some nice moves inside.

But Viking guard Kyle Erickson kept North in the game with 15 points in the first half, including several on some tough drives to the basket, to close the gap to six at halftime.

Erickson and Taylor Hoffer cut the lead down to two with a score and a foul early in the third quarter, but missed the free throws.

Bainbridge then went on a quick 6-0 run, highlighted by a backdoor layup by Nick Fling on a nice pass by Ben Eisenhardt, to keep the lead on their side.

The Vikings wouldn’t go away, as they worked to keep the score close throughout the quarter, then tied the game with a three from Kyle McCowen as time expired.

North didn’t take long to gain the lead as a defensive breakdown led to Jordan Coover scoring inside in the opening moments of the fourth quarter.

Bainbridge never regained the lead after that, even after Davis made things interesting with two threes and Fling split a pair of free throws in the last minute.

Coover scored in the paint after a defensive breakdown with 14.5 seconds left while Fling split a pair of crucial free throws.

Taylor Chisholm then connected on both of his free throws to close the game out, sending the Viking fans on the court seconds later to celebrate the big win.

Davis said they’ll work on improving their overall game after a poor showing.

“We’re better than that and we gotta improve at practice,” he said. “It’s a wakeup call. I think our problem is we’re living off of last season.”

Davis and Fling had 15 and 13 points each, while Eisenhardt had 15 points and eight rebounds.

Bainbridge was 13 of 22 from the line.

Coover led all scorers with 24 points.

Bainbridge plays at Ingraham Tuesday, then host Nathan Hale Friday at 8 p.m.

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