Cruiser Boys Take Over Top Spot In The Evergreen Conference

Eatonville picked up a couple of victories this past week to vault them into the top spot of the 1A Evergreen Conference with wins over Tenino and Hoquiam.

On Wednesday, January 11th, the Cruisers dominated the offensive boards and had four players score in double digits as Eatonville handed the Tenino Beavers their first league loss of the season and knocked them out of the top spot in the 1A Evergreen Conference standings with a 70-63 victory Wednesday night at Brock Court in Tenino.

Eatonville's press defense led by Walker Bruun (6 steals) and Griffin Clevenger forced many Beaver turnovers that led to easy buckets for the Cruisers. That duo gave the Tenino guards trouble all night.

When asked about the duo's play in the game, Head Coach TJ Cotterill had this to say:

"Walker and Griffin are just so quick and they have incredibly quick hands defensively. They give us so much energy when they are active and flying around defensively. It's huge for us when they're doing that, staying in front of players and getting into passing lanes. Walker had six more steals in this one and Griffin had two. They also combined for eight deflections."

The dominance on the offensive boards for the Cruisers, 26 of them, afforded Eatonville many second-chance baskets that helped lead to Tenino's demise. Shay Brannon and Kyle Cox led the charge with 15 and 12 respectively as the Cruisers out-rebounded the Beavers 54-43 on the night.

Eatonville went on a 7-0 run midway through the first quarter that gave them a comfortable cushion at 19-12 entering the second frame.

After a close quarter, the Beavers trimmed the Cruiser lead to 6 points at the half.

Eatonville would extend that lead to 14 in the third quarter thanks to Griffin Clevenger's 7 points and Walker Bruun's 6 in the period.

The Beaver's 11-1 run to start the fourth quarter threatened the Cruiser lead as Tenino pulled within two with four minutes to go, but Shay Brannon put together a 5-0 run of his own to help extend the Cruiser lead back to 7 at 61-54 with 3 minutes to go.

With two minutes left in the game, Tenino's star shooter, Noah Schow fouled out with 33 points, nearly half of the Beavers' points. Eatonville was then able to seal the game with some free throws down the stretch to take the win.

Shay Brannon recorded his sixth double-double of the season with 24 points and 15 rebounds. Kyle Cox recorded a double-double as well with 11 points and 12 rebounds.

Box Score

EATONVILLE 70, TENINO 63

Eatonville 19 13 21 17 - 70

Tenino 12 12 15 24 - 63

Eatonville: Shay Brannon 24, Walker Bruun 14, Griffin Clevenger 13, Kyle Cox 11, Hunter Klumpar 6, Mark Nueva 2

Tenino: Noah Schow 33, Austin Gonia 22, Brody Noonan 4, Will Feltus 2, Preston Snider 2

The Cruisers would go from that tough match-up against Tenino to another one with the Hoquiam Grizzlies on Friday night.

The Grizzlies' game plan coming in was to limit Eatonville's top scorer Shay Brannon in order for them to have a chance to win. They were able to limit Brannon to only 6 points on the night, but they forgot about the Cruisers' other scorers.

Two Cruiser players posted career-high scores with Kyle Cox and Griffin Clevenger exploding for 24 points each and Hunter Klumpar tied his season-best checking in with 16 points. Clevenger also drained a career-high five 3-pointers in the game.

Eatonville’s Griffin Clevenger scores two of his career-high 24 points in the Cruisers’ victory over Hoquiam. Photo: Cheryl Taylor

With the game knotted at 13 a piece heading into the second quarter, Eatonville took the lead behind Clevenger's 8 points in the quarter. The Cruisers would head to the locker room up by 9, 40-31.

Eatonville extended that lead to 16 with just under 4 minutes left in the quarter, but Hoquiam would battle back and shrink the Cruiser lead to 6 behind Michael Lorton-Watkins' 11 points.

The final frame would see the lead change hands numerous times before Eatonville would finally get the upper hand and Brannon would put an exclamation point on the game when he drove the baseline on his defender and riled the crowd up with a one-handed jam to put Eatonville up 83-76 with 40 seconds to play.

The Grizzlies would miss three shots on their next possession before the Cruisers took the ball back and they would foul Walker Bruun to stop the clock. Bruun would hit both free throws to put the Cruisers up 85-76.

The Grizzlies would throw up one last shot that would miss, and Eatonville would take the victory.

Box Score

EATONVILLE 85, Hoquiam 76

Eatonville 18 22 17 28 - 85

Hoquiam 18 13 20 22 - 76

Eatonville: Griffin Clevenger 24, Kyle Cox 24, Hunter Klumpar 16, Walker Bruun 13, Shay Brannon 6, Mark Nueva 3.

Hoquiam: Michael Lorton-Watkins 42, Aiden Butcher 10, Justice Stankovich 9, Jalen Hobucket 5, Zander Jump 3, Timmy Higgins 3.

The Cruisers are currently 7-5 overall and 3-0 in conference play.

Next Up: The Cruisers will do a little traveling with games at The Northwest School in Seattle and then at the Elma Eagles. They will take on The Northwest School on Monday, January 16th at 7:30 pm and then the Elma Eagles on Wednesday, January 18th at 7:00 pm.