Toglia, Tides knock off visting Capital, 54-34, to move into 3A SSC lead: 3 takeaways
The Gig Harbor High School boys basketball team defeated the visiting Capital Cougars on Wednesday night, 54-34, to take sole possession of first place in the Class 3A South Sound Conference. Here’s a few things we learned from the Tides’ big win.
GIG HARBOR IS FLYING UNDER THE RADAR
Not many people are talking about this Gig Harbor team, but they should be. This is a complete team with solid length, scorers all over the floor and unselfish players who move the ball well in the half-court offense. Gig Harbor (10-1 overall, 5-0 SSC 3A) won convincingly against Capital (8-3, 4-1), controlling the game from the start against the visitors.
“It’s a huge win,” said 6-foot-2 junior Zach Toglia. “The two top teams in the league competing for it — we’re both undefeated. We ended up coming out on top. It just shows we’re the top dogs in the league and we’re going to do everything it takes to win. We showed that tonight.”
Toglia scored a team-high 13 points in the win. Nathan Brekke scored 12, Asher Raquiza added 10, freshman guard Christian Parrish scored nine, Drew Parrish added six and Joe Owens scored four.
For Capital, Spencer Halstead scored 17, Brandin Riedel scored 11 and Jake Brandsma scored six.
As for whether the Tides are maybe being a bit overlooked at this point in the season? It’s not something the players and coaching staff are spending too much time dwelling on.
“It really doesn’t matter to me,” Toglia said. “We’re just playing Tides basketball. If we get noticed, we get noticed. If we don’t, we don’t. We’re just going to put all we have on the floor and try to get the wins.”
TOGLIA IS THE FOCAL POINT
The junior wing has added some size to his frame, much like his older brother, Michael, did in his time at Gig Harbor during his junior and senior years. Michael was taken in the first round of the 2019 Major League Baseball Draft by the Colorado Rockies.
Zach, similarly, is an excellent baseball prospect and will likely be a Division-I baseball player. But he’s not short on talent on the hardwood, either.
A second-team all-league selection as a sophomore, Toglia looks in full control in his junior season, hitting shots from deep, beating defenders off the dribble to the rim and hauling in rebounds on both ends of the floor. He scored a team-high 13 points in Gig Harbor’s win on Wednesday.
“Physically, he’s an absolute monster,” said Gig Harbor coach Billy Landram. “He’s a smart kid, a good player. There’s a lot of trust, when you get him the ball, that he’s going to make good things happen. We think he’s pretty good. He’s filled out. He works really hard in the weight room. He’s a hard working kid. He’s got big dreams and aspirations and he works hard for them.”
For his part, Toglia just wants to help the team win however he can.
“I’m just trying to do the best I can to make everyone better. I’ll score some, I’ll get some assists, just do whatever it takes,” Toglia said. “We have everybody this year. Asher can shoot it from deep. Drew, you get it in there, it’s going to be a bucket. Brekke has some good moves in the post. The list goes on. We have a deep bench. We’re ready this season.”
DOMINANT DEFENSIVE EFFORT
Maybe most impressively, Gig Harbor held the Cougars to just 34 points on Wednesday and only three Cougars’ players found themselves on the scoresheet.
“We were well prepared for them,” Toglia said. “(Landram) talked us through what their big men were going to do and how weakside was a huge key to this game to get some steals and get the mojo going. We really put a key on the defense on this game and held them to 34, which is phenomenal.”
But Gig Harbor knows the return trip to Olympia on Jan. 31 will be a more difficult game.
“They missed some shots tonight,” Landram said. “They’ll be back. They’re a good team. We still have to go all the way down to Capital and play them. So it’s a good win, I don’t think it’s much more than that. Every win is a good win.”
