It’s not often that Clover Park guard David Crisp scores 28 points in a game and gets overshadowed by two teammates, but it happened in the Warriors’ 76-51 SPSL 2A home win over White River on Friday night.
Point guard Phillip Winston notched a triple-double, and big man Xavier Means nearly did the same thing as the No. 6-ranked Warriors upended the No. 4 Hornets.
Winston scored 14 points, dished out 12 assists, and pulled in 10 rebounds. Means came close to pulling off the rare big-man triple-double: He had 10 points, nine rebounds, and eight blocked shots.
The 6-foot-4 Means set the tone early, swatting away four shots during the first four minutes. The blocks triggered Clover Park fastbreaks, which helped it build an 18-4 lead.
“I was pumped up, this game was important to me because I didn’t get to play against them the first time,” said Means, who was injured when White River beat Clover Park on Dec. 11.
It was only the sixth game of the season for Means, who is coming off hand surgery.
“He’s getting his legs, he just getting into the rotation,” said
Clover Park coach Mel Ninnis. “Xavier Means’ motor is always running; he averaged a double-double in the state tournament last year.”
Winston, a junior guard, delivered the assists by knifing passes through the White River zone defense. He also threw down a dunk on a fastbreak, giving the Warriors a 41-30 lead midway through the third quarter.
“He brings it,” Ninnis said. “He has an aggressive attitude, and his hard work ethic is contagious to everyone else.”
Meanwhile Clover Park’s scoring leader did his usual thing. Crisp was 4-for-8 on 3-pointers, and had 16 points at halftime. He chipped in eight more during the fourth quarter when the Warriors put the game out of reach. The junior guard is averaging just under 24 points per game.
Junior Spencer Swigart scored 16 points to lead White River, and fellow junior Brandon Dove scored 11 points while grabbing 12 rebounds.
Clover Park (11-5, 9-1 SPSL 2A) moved into a first-place tie with White River. The teams split their regular-season games, with the potential for two more: a future seeding game and a state tournament game not being out of the question.
White River (13-3, 9-1) saw its five-game win streak come to a halt.
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