King’s West Christian 67, Forks 59

Forks 19 12 10 18 — 59

KWC 20 13 20 14 — 67

Forks (59) — Browning 19, Adams 18, Ramsey 7, Baysinger 5, Schumack 4, Prose 3, Johnson 3.

The Spartans made the long trip down to Vancouver to take on the Kings Way Christian Knights on their home court in a second-round district basketball game. The game was slated to be played at neutral site but the pre-determined site happened to be at Kings Way. Forks didn’t let that deter them as they fought hard in the first half and went into halftime down 33-31.

“We didn’t play great defense right off the bat and that gave them some easy looks. Giving up 20 points in the first quarter was not something we are used too, luckily we were able to score enough to stay in the ball game,” Coach Rick Gooding said.

The Spartans defense toughened up in the second quarter and held Kings Way to 13 points, but unfortunately Forks was only able to put up 12.

“We went into halftime and talked about flying at shooters, sprinting back to the spots that we needed to be,” Gooding said.

Unfortunately for the Spartans, they came out of halftime and were outscored 20-10 in the third quarter and were never able to recover.

“The third quarter was tough — we came out about a step slower than I was used to playing, I can give you ever excuse in the world why that might be but I have to step up and get our guys focused and back on track, that is on me!” said Gooding.

Spartans were led by seniors Parker Browning who finished the game with 19 points on some tough dribble drives to the hoop and big man Marky Adams with 18. No other Spartan player got to double digits. Senior Keishaun Ramsey finished the game with seven points off the bench.

“Keys was great, he is a solid player that does a lot of things well for us, a solid guy that can come in and play about any position on the court,” Gooding noted.

Cole Baysinger finished game with five points, Jeffrey Schumack four points, Cort Prose three points, Seth Johnson three points and Carlos Tejano and Austin Flores.

“We will bounce back, we have a tough group and they don’t like playing below their capabilities. They’re a strong senior class that will get us back on track versus Montesano — I guarantee it!”

Forks 59, Montesano 47

Forks 10 19 11 19 — 59

Montesano 7 19 3 18 — 47

Forks (59) — Schumack 14, Baysinger 5, Browning 16, Prose 4, Adams 18, Ramsey 1, Maxfield, Tejano 1, Flores, Archibald, Johnson, Jacoby. FG — 19-52 (.365). FT — 18-34.

Forks traveled to Rochester for their third district game in five days to take on league rival Montesano.

“This time of the year is an absolute grind. Between games and travel you have to be a strong team to advance. I think that is what we have, is a strong team,” said Gooding.

Forks started the game tough and took any early lead 10-7 to end the first quarter.

“Monte is a tough scrappy team, we knew there would be no lay down in them.” Monte came fighting back and the third quarter was back and forth with 1 point lead changes before Jeffrey Schumack hit a buzzer beater 3-point shot that was kicked to him by Seth Johnson to take a 29-26 lead into halftime.

Forks would not let go of the lead, outscoring the Bulldogs 11-3 in the third quarter.

“We went into halftime knowing that we were ahead, but we still hadn’t executed the way we wanted too, we were rushed, passing the ball once or twice and trying to force something or standing around waiting for someone to do something,” Gooding said. “I think we are at our best when we reverse the ball one or two times, make the defense work and our guys are moving without the ball. We got a little bit more of that in the third quarter. As soon as you get some confidence on offense, it makes your team want to get defensive stops,” said Gooding. The Spartans would not let go of the double digit lead and were up by as many as 20 in the fourth quarter.

Senior Parker Browning stepped up as the Spartans played man-to-man defense most of the game and held Montesano leading scorer Trevor Ridgeway to four points in the game.

“When we play zone they move the ball so well we wanted to do something different and start man even though we have not played as much as I should have this year, we did a great job knowing what we had to do. Great team defense but Parker did a great job on their scorer and Jeffrey and Cole also had great individual defensive performance holding LJ Valley the other leading scorer to 6 points,” Gooding said.

This was a big game for the Spartans as the loser was done for the season. With their backs against the wall the Spartans came out and played as a team and got the win led by 18 points and 17 rebounds from Marky Adams, 16 points from Parker Browning, and 14 points and six assists from Jeffrey Schumack. Cole Baysinger added five points and sophomore Cort Prose had four points and a couple of huge steals. Carlos Tejano, Seth Johnson and Keishaun Ramsey came into the game and gave some minutes off the bench and Daniel Maxfield, Scotty Archibald, Jake Jacoby and Austin Flores gave the Spartans a spark when they were called on.

Forks’ district playoff run came to an end one game short of the state regional round with a 58-46 loss against a tough La Center team. But it was a successful year for the Spartans. Forks’ season ends with a 16-8 record, a second-place finish in the Evergreen 1A League and two playoff wins.

The Spartans had to travel a total of 1,300 miles to play four playoff games in seven days! Congrats, Coach Rick Gooding and the entire team on a great season.