Timberline overcomes slow start to beat Gig Harbor, all but securing 3A SSC title
Gig Harbor threw the kitchen sink at Timberline defensively in Wednesday night’s boys basketball game between the Tides and Blazers.
Box and 1 defense, Triangle and 2 — anything and everything to try to slow down UNLV commit Brooklyn Hicks, one of the area’s most prolific scorers.
For a while at least, it worked. Gig Harbor held Hicks in check in the first half, taking a 29-26 lead into the halftime break — at one point leading by 14 points in the first half.
Timberline eventually settled in and cracked the code, though, coming alive in the second half to roll to a 54-48 win and all but certainly win the 3A South Sound Conference title (the Blazers have three league games remaining and haven’t technically clinched, but Timberline will be heavily favored in all three games). Timberline swept the season series against Gig Harbor with the win, handing the Tides their only two losses on the season so far.
“You’ve gotta give credit where credit’s due — Gig Harbor had a great gameplan,” said Timberline coach Allen Thomas. “(Gig Harbor coach Billy) Landram’s a hell of a coach. They came out in Box and 1, mixed it up with Triangle and 2. We were stagnant. I told these guys before that Gig Harbor’s a tough place to play and we kind of had to find our rhythm the hard way tonight.”
Hicks, despite constant defensive attention, still scored a team-high 19 points, while teammate Darrell Gipson added 16. With much of the defensive attention on Hicks, Gipson has been more assertive this season.
“Brooklyn’s a phenomenal player,” Gipson said. “There’s a reason why people try to stop him so much. With him being such a great player it just opens it up for everybody else.”
Hicks said he wanted to open the game up for his teammates, given the attention he drew against the Tides.
“Just get my teammates involved,” Hicks said. “If my teammates are involved, they’re going to have to worry about them just as much as they worry about me. So getting my teammates involved, letting the game come to me naturally.”
Timberline’s second-leading scorer from a season ago, Miles Gurske, transferred to Rainier Beach in the offseason. It left scoring production up for grabs. Gipson has stepped into the role well, especially when he’s attacking the rim.
“We had a team meeting two days ago, kind of talked about where he’s most effective,” Thomas said. “It’s around the basket. I love that he can shoot the basketball, but we really need him to grind it out inside, get rebounds and dominate in the paint. I thought he did a great job of that tonight.”
Gig Harbor struggled offensively in the second half and converted just 2-of-25 shots in the game from behind the arc. Midway through the fourth quarter, the Tides had scored just 10 points in the second half.
“Our half-court defense is nothing to mess with,” Hicks said. “When we lock down on the half-court side, it’s really hard for people to score and we turn our opportunities into offense. =”
Timberline is playing cohesively and feels it has as good a shot as anyone to make some noise at the Class 3A state tournament at the Tacoma Dome in March.
“We just love each other,” Gipson said. “We’re a great team. We all connect, we’re all at school together, we just love each other. We’re gonna go far just with that.”
