SALEM — No. 9 Sprague grabbed possession of first place in the Greater Valley Conference after the Olympians held off No. 6 West Salem’s comeback attempt and prevailed 71-65 on Wednesday at Sprague High School.
The teams were tied at 9-2 in GVC play coming in, and after the first half it looked like the Olympians had it under control. They led 39-24 at the break, which ended on a deep three-point heave by Sprague freshman Kobe Withers that splashed the net as the horn sounded.
The Olympians’ Jailen Hammer and Teagan Quitoriano combined for 46 points, and Hammer led the way with 25 coming mostly off perimeter steals and layups. He hit two three-pointers and went 3 for 4 from the line, while Quitoriano owned the paint with nine field goals in the key.
One of Class 6A’s leading scorers this season at 28.3 points per game coming in, the 6-foot-7 Quitoriano was a physical force inside. He wanted to make sure the Olympians weren’t going to get blown out like they did at West Salem earlier in the season. The Titans thumped Sprague across town 79-55 on Jan. 10.
“We needed to stay as a unit on the defensive end and get stops,” Quitoriano said. “They tried to hurry us up with a press, and they did for a little bit there, but we broke it really well and that set up our offense really well.”
Quitoriano scored 10 points in the fourth quarter, including two free throws with 17.5 seconds remaining to help ice the game.
Sprague allowed 11 points in the second quarter, and coach B.J. Dobrkovsky said the team’s intensity on defense and on the boards was critical to building the lead. West Salem leading scorer Kyle Greeley notched nine points in the first half, but Sprague wasn’t easy on him.
“We made him earn his baskets,” Dobrkovsky said. “He had a three-point play where he was fading away from 12 feet, and just, holy smokes … but that was the biggest key defensively.”
Greeley, along with the rest of the Titans’ offense, picked up in the second half.
West Salem hung around and chipped away at Sprague’s lead, cutting it to six points late in the fourth. Josh Bailey drained a three-pointer off a loose ball offensive rebound to make it 65-59 with 2:46 to play.
Greeley finished with 23 points and Bailey scored eight of his 11 in the fourth quarter. Tyke Thompson scored all nine of his points in the final frame.
The Olympians have a chance to win their first league championship since the late 1990s, and with four games remaining, they are atop the standings and can make school history if they take care of business the rest of the way.
“It just makes us play that much harder,” Quitoriano said. “We’ve got the best chance at winning the league title.”
Sprague (14-4, 10-2 GVC) hosts McKay on Friday. West Salem (16-4, 9-3 GVC) is on the road Friday in Forest Grove.
Our editors found this article on this site using Google and regenerated it for our readers.
