Tuesday Knights Give Saxons a Scare

 East Valley gave Ferris a run for their money in Tuesday’s game, losing in the final minutes

In a game that almost all Saxon fans expected to be a sure-fire win, the East Valley Knights came out and gave the Ferris population something to worry about. While the Ferris boys kept their cool late in the game when it mattered most, many-a-Saxon fan found that they were unable to remain as calm and collected. The game was decided in the final two minutes, in which Ferris usurped and maintained its lead. These last second heroics (that many had hoped wouldn’t be necessary) extinguished the fire that had been ignited by some top-notch long range shooting by the home team Knights. Throughout the game, East Valley drained eleven – yes, eleven – three-point shots. This means that 33 of their game-total 50 points (my math skills are astounding, aren’t they?) were scored from behind the arc, showing that they really did live and die from downtown. The visiting Ferris team, who was coming off three consecutive wins, did not look as sharp as East Valley. Fortunately, they were able to extend their win streak to four games with their perseverance and calmness late in the game.

East Valley came out shooting in the first quarter. They scored 19 points in the opening period alone, with the Saxons close behind at 17. The second quarter was much better for Ferris. They did a better job on defense of guarding the long range shot, and held the opposing team to just 7 points. Ferris scored 12 of their own in the second period, with the help of Chris Wilson, who hit one of his two three-pointers of the game in this quarter. The score going into intermission was 29-26 in favor of the visiting Saxons. In each of the final two quarters of the game, Ferris outscored their counterpart by one point. However, they did not maintain their lead throughout the second half. East Valley went on a run early in the fourth quarter and took the lead, but they never extended their lead to the point where it was an unmanageable situation for Ferris. And the Saxons knew that. They remained calm, despite the complete change of atmosphere once East Valley went on its run. The gym became much louder, and all the East Valley students that had been sitting quietly all game were now on their feet, making some noise of their own.

With about four minutes left in the game, Ferris was down by three. They struggled to gain an advantage on the Knights for the next two minutes. The boys got multiple stops on the defensive end, but failed to convert those defensive successes into points. With less than two minutes left, Ferris drew the game to within one point. The Knight’s maintained this lead until there were 57 seconds remaining in the game. A pair of clutch free throws by Ferris’ Chris Wilson helped the Saxon cause by putting them up by one. Then, junior Saxon Taylor Kamitomo put a dagger in the heart of every Knight in the gym. Following an East Valley turnover, Kamitomo got the ball on a fast break, drew a foul from a defender, and finished the lay-in. He tacked on the and-one free throw to finish the three-point play and put Ferris up by four by about a half of a minute left on the clock. From there, the Saxon defense held strong. They didn’t allow East Valley to score for the final two minutes of the game, in fact. The home team was forced to foul for the remaining time, and one more converted free throw by Ferris gave the final score of the game: 55-50, Ferris.

The Saxons did not look as sharp as they have in recent games. At one point in the second quarter, Ferris and a three-on-one fast break situation that resulted in a turnover. An unhappy Coach Van Lierop was not pleased any further when in the third quarter Ferris turned the ball over due to a shot clock violation, in which it seemed that no Saxon players were aware that the shot clock was about to expire. Overall, the game was a bit sloppy for Ferris. East Valley, on the other hand, was having a performance that was quite the contrary. In all, the Knights drained 11 threes, 8 of which came from McIntyre and Jarvis (each with four). Ferris was able to grind it out, however, and won their fourth straight game.

Next, the Saxons will face off with Mt. Spokane at the Wildcats’ gym on Friday night. Mt. Spokane is 0-5 in league, and 1-10 overall. Good luck Saxons!