Jacks finish eighth

YAKIMA, Wash. — After falling in their 2A state opener to the Anacortes Seahawks Wednesday, the Quincy Jacks boys basketball team rallied for an eighth-place finish

Following a 48-41 loss to Anacortes Wednesday morning, Quincy recovered to knock off Hockinson 42-32 before meeting the Pullman Greyhounds Friday morning in a loser-out contest.

The Jacks fell behind 29-22 heading into the half before Quincy head coach Wade Petersen and his team made some adjustments at the break.

With their season on the line, the Quincy defense stepped up in the second half, especially during the third quarter, Petersen said.

“Our best game was the game against Pullman,” he said. “We shut them out in the third quarter and held them to five points total in the second half. I was very pleased.”

With the win over Pullman, the Jacks guaranteed themselves a state trophy. Petersen said performing well at state was one of his team’s goals this season.

“I was pretty proud of them,” he said. “It felt good to bring home some hardware.”

Following their win over Pullman, the Jacks moved into the 2A Washington Interscholastic Activities Association boys basketball tournament consolation final against North Mason for either fifth or eighth place.

The Jacks and the Bulldogs battled to a 4-4 tie three minutes into the first quarter, before the Bulldogs went on an 11-3 run over the final five minutes of the quarter to take a 15-7 lead.

North Mason pushed their advantage to double digits before Quincy pulled within 17-10 following a 3-point basket from Luke Grigg.

Although Grigg’s basket cut the deficit to single digits with 6:34 left in the second quarter, Grigg’s 3-pointer would be the only Quincy points of the quarter.

Quincy finished just 1-for-10 from the field in the second quarter as North Mason pushed their lead to 27-10 to take a commanding 17-point lead heading into the half.

North Mason was able to take an early lead and the Jacks were unable to respond, Petersen said.

“They jumped on us early,” he said. “The started off very hot and we could never recover.”

The Bulldogs continued to add to their lead in the third  when Dashiel Geyer made a 3-pointer for the first basket of the second half and a 30-10 lead for North Mason. North Mason eventually took their largest lead of the game  when Dylan Hannifious made a free throw for a 21-point Bulldogs lead in the third.

Quincy senior Eric Martin and his Jacks teammates would put together an 18-7 run over to close out the third and begin the fourth quarter, trimming a 21-point deficit to 31-21 with 2:33 left in the contest, Petersen said.

“We were able to cut (the deficit) to 10 in the fourth,” he said. “We just couldn’t get any closer than that and they hit their free throws (late).”

North Mason managed to push the lead back to 17 points with 1:16 remaining in the contest.

However, with just 1:06 left in his high school career, Martin would join an elite group of Quincy basketball players. With 66 seconds left in the game, Martin scored his 1,000th point in a Quincy uniform, Petersen said.

“He carried most of the load for us at the tournament,” Petersen said. “He has been real solid for four years. He finished with 1,001 career points. I think only three others did it.”

Martin finished with 15 points and finished as the tournament’s third leading scorer with 17.5 points per game for the Jacks.