Apparently, Bear Creek boys basketball head coach Scott Moe does not heed the old adage, “pick on someone your own size”.
In just the past couple weeks, the Grizzlies, who play in the Sea-Tac 2B League, made state history by being the first small-school 2B team to knock off a 4A squad in basketball when they beat South Kitsap, 75-60, in the opening round of the Bellevue College Tournament.
In their first game of 2012, the boys nipped Lindbergh of the 3A Seamount League 57-54, capping a run of basketball that would have most teams spinning their wheels.
“I wish we could do that every single night,” Moe said on the challenge of playing up. “It makes you better to play against guys that are bigger, faster, stronger and coached well … that was four really tough teams in a row, and it was fun.”
On Tuesday night, it was back to old hat for the Grizzlies as they trounced league foe Evergreen Lutheran 68-32.
The team executed a full-court press to perfection starting at the opening tipoff, which caused the Eagles to turn the ball over 10 times in the first half and only put up 11 first-half shots to the Grizzlies’ 32.
At the break, the Grizzlies led by a football-esque score of 34-9.
“It’s a big part of our game,” Moe said of his team’s defensive pressure. “We’ve got some quick guys so we can apply a lot of pressure. It helps us get into our transition game, and our guys like to play fast.”
For the game, a record 12 different Grizzlies scored, led by guard Luke Blankenbeckler with 14 points, 12 of which came from beyond the arc. Collin Feight, a sophomore guard, added 13.
“All season long, our scoring has been balanced,” noted Moe. “It seems like every night it’s somebody different being the leading scorer. This is clearly a team – everybody plays defense, everybody scores a little bit, everybody rebounds.”
With seven league games remaining before the postseason begins in mid-February, the Grizzlies (5-0, 11-2) simply want to improve daily and work out the kinks identified in their two losses this season to 4A Inglemoor and 3A Nathan Hale.
“Every time we step on the court whether it’s practice or games,, we want to keep getting better and stay hungry and humble,” Moe said. “Our guys for the most part are buying into that. They’re working hard. We’re pretty deep with 12 guys on our roster and all 12 are contributing.”
The Grizzlies play again Thursday night on the road at Crosspoint Academy, at 7:30 p.m.
