The Friday Harbor boys basketball team controlled the boards and the scoreboard from start to finish to tally a convincing 62-45 victory at home Friday over a cold-shooting Concrete squad.
The Wolverines, with senior guard Michael Sandifer contributing seven points and fellow seniors Austin Scheffer and Jordan Nash each adding six, took a 29-21 advantage into the locker room at the break. They withstood several third-quarter rallies and outscored the Lions 18-11 in the final period to seal the victory.
The Lions were led on the offensive end by senior guard Chris Smith, who tallied a game-high 15 points. However, Smith, by far the quickest player on the court and a handful for any defender, was only 3-of-23 from the field.
With more bulk and experience in the paint, the Wolverines made the most of a multitude of misfires by the Lions, who sank only 16-of-60 shots from the field — 27 percent — to amass a 50 to 31 edge in rebounding.
While Concrete seemingly couldn’t buy a bucket early on, Friday Harbor turned rebounds into easy buckets in transition and led much more efficiently at the free-throw stripe, hitting 9-of-14 attempts. Concrete guard Kyler Howell had 10 points and fellow senior Jordan DeZam added eight.
With the win, the Wolverines (4-0) are undefeated in Northwest 1A/2B League play and improved to 6-4 overall. Concrete fell to 1-2 in league.
The Wolverines, according to Scheffer, have simply been heeding the advice of 1970s rock band Bachman Turner Overdrive in running the tables so far against their league rivals.
“I guess you could say we’re taking care of business and we’re working hard,” Scheffer said. “We’ve always got things to work on, that’s for sure, but we’re feeling pretty good and looking forward to the second half of season.”
Nash, arguably the most versatile Wolverine, notched another double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Scheffer tossed in a team-high 13 points and 6-3 junior Parker Lawson added 12 from the low post.
Next: The Wolverines traveled to Mount Vernon Christian Tuesday to tackle the Hurricanes. They travel to La Conner Friday.
