Henley basketball capped off the first day of the Marist Classic with a pair of wins over the host Spartans. Here’s how both of Friday’s games unfolded.
Girls: Henley 54, Marist Catholic 27
Henley (5-0) held Marist Catholic (0-2) to one field goal in the second half and continued their best start since the 2014-15 season.
The Hornets took a little while to get going, leading 15-14 after the first quarter and falling behind 18-17 with 6:22 left in the second. They then went on a 16-0 run, including 7 straight points from Annie Campos, over the next five minutes to take a 33-20 lead into halftime.
A third quarter rockfight ended 7-4 in Henley’s favor and stretched the lead to 40-24 entering the fourth.
Campos finished with a season-high 23 points and added 6 rebounds, 5 steals and 4 assists. Anna Harper was the only other player to reach double figures, scoring 12 points with 7 rebounds and 1 block. Other contributors for Henley were Lily Fussell with 5 points, 4 rebounds and 3 steals; Jewell Northcutt with 4 points and 5 rebounds; Kennedi Modin and Senia Campos with 3 points each; Mya Mauch with 2 points and 2 rebounds; Prestyn Schade with 1 point and 7 rebounds; and Bayli Ladner with 1 point.
For Marist Catholic, Addie Ruckwardt had 7 points, Rayana Iverson had 5, Lila Bray, Talia Tyner and Avia Tuguldur each had 4, and Paige Onstad had 3.
The Henley girls face Cottage Grove (3-0) for their second Marist Classic matchup at 12 p.m. Saturday.
Boys: Henley 49, Marist Catholic 43
After a blowout loss to 5A Redmond on Wednesday, both Henley (4-1) head coach Luke Hammond and senior Chris Janney said the Hornets were highly motivated to right the ship against fellow 2023 state tournament team Marist Catholic (1-1).
“We had a great practice [Thursday] and the guys were determined to put out a good effort,” Hammond said.
“This was a must-win game for us,” Janney said. “We had to win this game.”
Friday night’s matchup, which capped off the first day of the Marist Classic, certainly felt like a do-or-die playoff game. Henley led 12-8 after the first quarter and went up 14-8 after a pair of free throws from Luke Bennett with 7:08 remaining in the second. Marist Catholic then got 7 straight points from Kai Holmes, including back-to-back threes, to take a 15-14 lead with 4:38 to go before the Hornets responded with a 7-0 run of their own over the next 1:50. The Spartans scored the last 4 points of the half to cut Henley’s lead to 21-19 at the break.
As it turned out, that sequence was only a warmup for the third quarter, which saw two ties and six lead changes–the last of which came after Holmes missed a deep three with 8 seconds left and Bennett scooped up the loose ball, took one dribble and threw a pass from near midcourt to a wide open Lane Frank, who had sprinted out well ahead of the play, for a buzzer-beating layup that put the Hornets on top 32-31.
The heads-up play sparked a 9-0 run that was broken by another Holmes three with 6:10 left in the game. About a minute later, Holmes blocked a Markus McCreadie shot in the low post, sprinted down the court to receive a pass and threw down a one-handed dunk to pull Marist Catholic within 39-36. Janney immediately answered with a three on the other end and McCreadie made two free throws on Henley’s next possession to give the Hornets a 44-36 lead with 4:16 to go.
The teams traded empty possessions for more than two minutes after Peyton Tyner sank a pair of free throws to make it 44-40 with 3:08 left. Then, with 59.5 seconds on the clock, a pass into the paint intended for McCreadie was tipped out toward Janney, who picked the ball up off the floor, dribbled once and hit a contested floater to put Henley up 46-40.
Once again, Marist Catholic had a response. Nick Hudson drilled a three with 45 seconds to go and the Spartans forced a Hornets turnover on the next possession. With 21.4 seconds on the clock, Marist Catholic inbounded the ball in the frontcourt out of a timeout with a chance to tie the game.
Unsurprisingly, the Spartans put the ball in Kai Holmes’ hands. But with McCreadie on him, he missed the game-tying three. Janney got the rebound and was fouled with 8 seconds left, sending him to the free throw line with a chance to seal the win.
Janney, who had gone 0-for-2 on his only other trip to the free throw line, missed the first shot and made the second.
“I knew I had a chance to redeem myself [after missing the other three free throws] and have a clutch moment,” Janney said. “I had to knock it down.”
Henley’s last point came on a Bennett free throw after Marist Catholic threw a pass out of bounds with 4.6 seconds remaining.
McCreadie and Bennett each scored 15 points to lead the Hornets, followed by Janney with 9, Aiden Hayes and Owen Harper with 4 each, and Lane Frank with 2.
For the Spartans, Holmes had 18 points, Peyton Tyner and Kaden Erlenbush each had 6, Taylor Iverson had 5, Christian Guerrero and Nick Hudson each had 3, and Jack Anderson had 2.
The Henley boys face Cottage Grove (2-1) for their second Marist Classic matchup at 1:30 p.m. Saturday.
