Spartans squeak out win in frantic finale

Published 3:02 pm Saturday, January 10, 2015

The Spartans hit the court hard for their first game after the holiday break when they hosted Franklin High and pulled off a critical 61-57 win in the game’s final moments.

It was an even game of much back-and-forth between the teams — with a finale that was a little too close for comfort for Spartan fans, players and coaches.

Franklin lead initially, 10-8 at the end of the first quarter, but BHS came from behind to set an aggressive tone for the contest and led 24-19 at the end of the half.

The third quarter saw the Spartans outscore Franklin 15-13 and advance their lead further (39-32).

The game’s final quarter, however, saw the visitors go on a bit of a run, and the game tied at 56-56 with just over a minute left to go.

The Spartans buckled down and worked their way through Franklin’s defense, however, sinking several key free throws and keeping the action predominately on the far side of the court to secure the win.

It was, for a moment, an eerily familiar feeling for Spartan Head Coach Scott Orness. He said he did his best to remain focused on the current situation Tuesday and not think about the team’s recent disheartening OT loss to Seattle Prep, a game that the Spartans had seemed to have in the bag — until a similar late game run by Prep stole the last-second win.

It was a feeling none of the team was willing to relive, he said.

“I was thinking my heart probably couldn’t handle another,” Orness laughed.

“You don’t really want to think about it much; you want to just focus on the next play. And I know that I need to model that for the guys and that’s what I did, and the guys did as well,” Orness said. “We hung in there [and] made a couple of adjustments.”

The victory at home saw the Spartans’ overall season record rise to 3-4, though they remain 0-2 in Metro League play.

BHS senior Ben Beatie was the team’s leading scorer, and racked up 18 for the Spartans.

Sophomore Lyle Terry managed 15 points, Blake Swanson scored 10, Trent Schulte contributed seven and Oskar Dieterich finished the night with six points.

The Spartans’ improved ability to remain calm, Orness said, was above all the deciding factor in the victory.

“Franklin is a good team. They’ve got a lot of depth and the big difference between this game and our last couple Metro games is we really just kept our composure at the end,” he said.

“I think that it shows that we learned a lot from the Garfield game and the Seattle Prep game,” he said.

Garfield had previously beaten the Spartans 76-61 in the first game at home this year.

“It’s evident that we weren’t going to let that happen again,” Orness said. “I was really proud of the guys and how they went out and won it in the end instead of just holding on.”

“They got it done tonight on the court,” he added.

There was credit to go around, Orness said, as every player of the team clearly stepped up when necessary and contributed to the win.

“I thought it was just overall a great effort,” he said. “Blake Swanson and Trent [Schulte] did a really nice job taking care of the basketball at the end. Dawson Gonwick pulled down two huge rebounds and took a charge that were real game-changers. Lyle [Terry] iced the game hitting those two free throws.”

The Spartans are set to face their next challenge on the road.

The team will return home to host Nathan Hale at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 13.