The dominating Grizzlies from The Bear Creek School reached 10 Sea-Tac 2B League wins in style Tuesday night with a 82-48 rout of the Rainier Christian Mustangs at home.
Senior star Jamie Meyer reached a scoring milestone in the blowout win for the Grizzles (10-0 in league, 18-1 overall), who have won six consecutive league games by at least 25 points.
The game was broken wide-open early by the Grizzlies’ offense, which shot a lights-out 20-for-31 in the first half en route to a 46-18 halftime lead, and 56 percent for the game.
According to head coach Scott Moe, his team’s recent scoring spree has been the culmination of superb execution and hard work.
“We try to compete against ourselves, (but) I’ve never had a team that’s improved as much as this team has in the last three weeks,” he said. “The guys aren’t really worried about the wins and losses or who we’re playing, but they’re hungry. Every day that we practice, we’ve been cutting them shorter and shorter, but they just want to keep getting better and better.”
The Grizzlies wrapped up their regular season Thursday night — after the Reporter’s deadline — against Evergreen Lutheran, and will play for the Sea-Tac 2B League championship on Saturday, Feb. 13 at Chief Leschi School in Puyallup.
TRIPLE THREAT
While scoring over 80 points for the fourth time in their last five games is an incredible feat at the high school level, the well-rounded Grizzlies also shined on defense against Rainier Christian. Applying full-court pressure, outrunning the opposition and taking advantage of every Mustang miscue, the home team forced seven turnovers and held Rainier Christian to just 3-of-16 shooting in the first quarter as the game’s outcome was decided early.
Meyer led the Grizzlies with 15, followed by junior Ryan Strandin with 14. Senior point guard Kyle Blankenbeckler scored 13 points, to go along with 12 assists and five steals.
On a night where even the bench players were hitting, freshman guard Gabe Rongve saw some playing time in the fourth quarter and nailed four of five shots, including a pair of three-pointers, to finish with a career-high 10.
But with so many blowouts, how will Moe’s squad respond in the playoffs, when games may end up coming down to clutch situations in the fourth quarter?
“We’ve tried to put ourselves in some tough situations in terms of our scheduling,” explained Moe, whose team challenged 4A Lake Washington and 3A Eastside Catholic earlier this season. “We’ve played some tough opponents, played in some tough gyms, and our guys have responded every single time.”
Bear Creek’s 61-51 loss to Lake Washington early in the season is the Grizzlies’ only blemish on an otherwise perfect schedule. The Grizzlies now hold a two-game lead over surging Chief Leschi (8-2, 11-5) in the Sea-Tac 2B League.
MILESTONE FOR MEYER
Not many athletes have had the impact on their basketball programs like Meyer has had for the Grizzlies, and Tuesday night, Meyer, the reigning two-time league MVP, reached an unprecedented milestone as he broke the 1,500-point barrier in his prep career at the school.
“It’s definitely nice to see,” said Meyer, who has scored 1,502 points in his illustrious career. “But for me, this is an indicator of where my whole team has come. Anything that shows up in the paper, I can’t do that without my teammates. I’m just so grateful, the things that we’ve been able to accomplish together.”
Moe credits not only Meyer, but the other two talented seniors on his team — Blankenbeckler and forward Michael Davisson — as catalysts who have brought fire and a sense of work ethic that has carried the Grizzlies to the next level.
“These guys are quality kids, great basketball players and phenomenal leaders,” Moe said. “These guys make sure we work every day in practice, that we always go hard.”
