SNOHOMISH — Glacier Peak senior guard Trey Chambers scored 26 to points to lead the Grizzlies to a 55-48 Wesco 3A South victory over Shorewood on Friday, but after the game there was another number associated with Chambers that had his coach Brian Hunter most proud.
One.
That how many points Chambers held Shorewood leading scorer Taylor Freeman to in the second half.
“That’s the game,” Hunter said. “I know Trey scored, and he did shoot the basketball pretty well tonight, but just the way that he played defense. He really made it difficult on Taylor and to me that was the key.”
After Freeman scored 10 points to lead the Thunderbirds in scoring in the first half, Chambers made the necessary adjustments and allowed Freeman just three shot attempts, all misses, after halftime. His one point came from the free-throw line.
“Trey wanted that challenge,” Hunter said. “We’d talked about it a little bit, he wanted to guard him. Trey is just a competitor. The other kids really feed off of that competitive nature. It’s not a cocky thing. He’s just a confident competitor. He just wanted to step up and have the challenge of taking a 20-point scorer and seeing what he could do.”
Chambers effort on the defensive end filtered down to his teammates. After allowing Shorewood 16 points in the first quarter, Glacier Peak allowed just 32 points the rest of the way, including holding the Thunderbirds below 10 in the second and fourth quarters.
Shorewood’s second-half offense came almost entirely from Anxhelos Pere, who connected on two three-point attempts and Brandon Mar, who scored 11 of his 16 in the final 16 minutes. Sam Boone, Shorewood’s 6-foot-8 post, scored just four points, all of which came in the second quarter.
“We tried to really fight through screens, make things difficult and not give up the easy play,” Hunter said. “It’s really how we’ve always played defense, but we just tried to be there. The more that you are in the right position and competing, the harder it is for other teams to run their stuff.”
Senior Luke Neill, who is starting at point guard for the first time in his career this season, continued his recent improvement, scoring 14 points including two 3s.
“We’re really happy with him,” Hunter said. “He’s getting better every game and every practice. It’s a really tough thing to play point guard in high-school basketball. We’ve been fortunate here, in just five years we’ve had really strong, competitive, accomplished point guards. Now he had to take that job. That’s daunting. Some kids don’t want to take that job. I think he’s really learned what he needs to do to take that job.”
The backcourt of Chambers and Neill combined to score 40 of Glacier Peak’s 55 points.
With the win, Glacier Peak is one of two remaining unbeaten teams in league play, keeping pace with Mountlake Terrace. That the Hawks are unbeaten isn’t a great surprise, but the Grizzlies have turned a few heads.
“I definitely think this was a statement game because basically everyone in the league chose us to come in last,” Chambers said. “The number two and three teams that were picked ahead of us, we’ve beat both of them, so I think people are going to stop underestimating us. I know that us being chosen as one of the last (place) teams was definitely a motivation, so that really helped us out.”
Losing Zach Pederson, Ramsey Rosales and Dreu Vader to graduation no doubt influenced where the Grizzlies were picked to finish this season.
“We’ve got a long way to go,” Hunter said. “But I do think we’ve got a program that’s based on a pretty high level of competitiveness and we’ve in some pretty special places. So I think our guys took that upon themselves to (say), just because great players graduate doesn’t mean there isn’t great players behind them.”
Aaron Lommers covers prep sports for The Herald. Follow him on twitter @aaronlommers and contact him at alommers@heraldnet.com. At Glacier Peak H.S.
Shorewood169149—48
Glacier Peak16121611—55
Shorewood—Anxhelos Pere 9, Taylor Freeman 11, Brandon Mar 16, Jordan Muir-Keung 3, Karson Gronvold 0, Zane Hopen 3, Cameran Testerman 0, Sam Boone 4. Glacier Peak—Bobby Brooks 0, Ty Kjellesvik 7, Brady Southard 8, Nick Allan 0, Luke Neill 14, Justin Guffey 0, Trey Chambers 26. 3-point goals—Freeman 2, Pere 3, Muir-Keung 1, Chambers 4, Neill 2. Records— Shorewood 2-1 league, 7-3 overall. Glacier Peak 3-0, 9-2.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
