Enumclaw’s late push falls short in season-ending loss to Stanwood in 3A state regional

It was just as the Enumclaw High School boys basketball team’s season has been.

The Hornets trailed by 13 points early before taking a lead just before halftime against Stanwood. Then they trailed by 11 in the third quarter before pulling to within five in the fourth, but weren’t able to claw all the way back in a 77-67 loss in the loser-out regional round of the 3A state tournament on Saturday at Rogers High School in Puyallup.

Scotty Garvin’s bucket pulled Enumclaw (13-12) to within 66-61 with a minute remaining in the fourth quarter.

But Stanwood made 13 of its 16 free throws from there to close it out and advance to the state quarterfinals at the Tacoma Dome.

Chase Striebly led Stanwood (17-5) with 25 points and AJ Martinka added 20 points.

“Our teamed learned all year that when we are disciplined and execute and play our style of basketball, we make things happen,” Enumclaw coach Kellen Hall said. “That was really the turning point in our season. We didn’t do that at the start of the game today, but as it went on we did some nice things.

“But you dig that big of a hole and sometimes you just can’t get over it.”

Garvin led Enumclaw with 20 points and Cade Anderson and Josh Erickson each scored 16.

Enumclaw made the state tournament for the fifth time since 2008 despite starting the season 2-6. It was without Garvin the first third of the season and Erickson had also missed three games, Hall said.

The Hornets won six of seven games to reach the 3A West Central/Southwest bidistrict title game, losing 62-49, last week.

“What we’ll remember most is the stuff off of the basketball court – the team dinners and different things,” Hall said. “This is one of the most tight-knit groups I’ve ever had and that made a difference.”

This story was originally published February 27, 2016 at 8:29 PM with the headline "Enumclaw’s late push falls short in season-ending loss to Stanwood in 3A state regional."