Photo/Micheal Rios
by Micheal Rios, Tulalip News
The (8-3) Tulalip Heritage Hawks hosted the (1-7) Orcas Christian Saints at Francy J. Sheldon court on Tuesday, January 13. It was the second matchup of the season for these two teams, with the Hawks edging the Saints 76-63 back in December. The Hawks were fresh off their disappointing showing to the Lummi Blackhawks and wanted to get back to their winning ways.
Shooting guard Dontae Jones caught fire in the opening quarter, scoring 11 straight points for the Hawks at one point. Taking advantage of the zone defense the Saints were running early, Jones hit three 3-pointers and then made two of three free-throws after he was fouled shooting another three-ball. On the defensive side, the Hawks were being challenged by the Saints’ speedy point guard Michael Harris and big man center Cyrus Amour. At the end of the 1st quarter the Hawks led 19-13.
A quickly made 3-pointer by forward Willy Enick pushed the Hawks lead to 22-13 to start the 2nd quarter. The Saints responded by pounding the ball down low to their center Cyrus Amour who was able to shoot over the smaller Hawk defenders. Amour also was busy collecting offensive rebounds for his team due to the Hawks not boxing him out. Point guard Jesse Louie took advantage of his size mismatch over Saints’ point guard Michael Harris by driving to the rim and shooting baseline jumpers. Louie led the Hawks in scoring in the 2nd quarter with 8 points. However, the Hawks led by only 3 points 34-31 at halftime.
During the halftime intermission Hawks coach Cyrus “Bubba” Fryberg did not hesitate to tell his players they needed to focus and lock-in defensively. “When they shoot you have to find your man and box-out. Number 31 (Amour) needs to be boxed-out. I want the post to be working. You guys are getting outworked down there. Number 31 (Amour) is killing us on the boards. That means everyone has to help rebound. Crash the boards. We are getting killed defensively and that’s the only reason why it’s a close game.”
The Hawks came out in full-on attack mode to start the 2nd half. They went on a 7-0 run that led the Saints to calling a timeout; Hawks led 42-31 with 5:45 remaining in the 3rd. After a pair of Anthony McLean free-throws the Hawks had a 13 point lead. Hearing the voice of their coach, the Hawks put major emphasis on shutting down Saints center Cyrus Amour. They held him to only 4 points in the quarter, but their focus on Amour allowed Saints’ point guard Michael Harris to take advantage of his one-on-one coverage. He scored 13 points in the quarter to keep his team in the game. At the end of the 3rd quarter the Hawks led 58-50.
In the 4th quarter the Hawks offensive barrage continued as center Robert Miles and guard Ayrik Miranda combined to score 17 points. As a team they scored a game high 25 points in the final quarter, more than enough to secure an 83-70 victory over the Saints. For the Hawks it was the best offensive showing of the season, scoring a season high 83 points and having five players score 15 plus points.
“Better job defensively in that second half,” coach Fryberg told the Hawks players following their win. “We have to continue to improve defensively. Where do we improve? In practice. We will be working hard on our defense so we’re better prepared during our games.”
