White River coach Rick Tripp wanted his team to hold Clover Park star David Crisp under 20 points.
He scored 10.
Under normal circumstances, that’s the recipe for success against the Warriors. But the Hornets didn’t account for sophomore Travis Parker — who was averaging 9.1 points coming in — scoring a career-high 24 points.
The result was a 64-50 Clover Park victory in the semifinals of the West Central District III tournament Saturday at Foss High School. The Warriors advanced to the district championship, where they will face Sequim at noon Monday at the ShoWare Center in Kent.
Crisp scored 28 in the Warriors’ 76-51 win against White River on Jan. 18 and 18 in their 79-68 loss against the Hornets before that. So Tripp called upon Alex Sayler, Robert Foster and Bo Dudley to guard Crisp tightly the entire game — keeping their eyes only on him most of the time.
“We said we needed to hold him under 20 because in the past we have beat them when he scores less than that,” Tripp said. “But they had other guys hit some big shots for them.”
Crisp scored half of his points in the first quarter, including a 3-pointer he made despite Sayler’s foul that gave Clover Park an early 15-7 lead. He came in averaging 23.1 points per game.
White River put the clamps on him after that. The Hornets played box-and-one defense on him, and after taking the first shot of the second half, Crisp never took another.
But that allowed Parker to take over. Parker scored 17 of his 24 in the second half.
White River cut Clover Park’s lead to 38-34 in the third quarter, but Parker’s six straight points in the fourth helped push the Warriors’ lead to 54-43 with three minutes to go.
“Man, he was amazing tonight,” Crisp said. “If we can get these guys to play like that, we are going to be real tough in state.”
Almost bigger for Clover Park than a chance to play for the district championship was a victory over the co-2A SPSL champion — giving the Warriors a 2-1 edge in the season series after White River won the first meeting.
“I was up at 7 a.m. this morning watching tape of those kids,” said Clover Park coach Mel Ninnis. “I respect those kids, and I respect that program to the highest level. That’s nothing but a compliment, especially when I’m waking up at seven in the morning just to watch some film of them.”
Sequim 55, Sumner 48: Jayson Brocklesby scored 21 points and Gabe Carter added 16 as the Wolves advanced to a district championship showdown with Clover Park.
Sumner trailed for most of the game and was down by 10 entering the fourth quarter. The Spartans cut the lead to 49-44 with 21/2 minutes left, but Sequim held on for its 13th consecutive win.
Sumner will meet White River at 5:45 p.m. Monday at Foss High School for the third and fourth seeds to the regional tournament.
Renton 62, Franklin Pierce 50: Michael Dupree scored 19 points and Isaiah Sutherlan-Ballard had 18 for Franklin Pierce, whose season came to an end Saturday in a consolation game at Curtis High School. Renton earned the sixth seed to the regional tournament with the win.
JOIN THE DISCUSSION | Register here
We welcome comments. Please keep them civil, short and to the point. ALL CAPS, spam, obscene, profane, abusive and off topic comments will be deleted. Repeat offenders will be blocked. Thanks for taking part — and abiding by these simple rules. A thorough explanation of rules of conduct can be found in our Terms of Service. If you have any questions, including why your comment may not be showing immediately after you submit it, be sure to visit the commenting FAQ.