High school sports roundup for Dec. 28

Top performers: Puyallup’s Brennan Winter, Landen Neff and Jacob Holcomb—combined for 65 points in semifinal game of Tamanawis Holiday Tournament.

Puyallup 101, Burnaby South (Canada) 76: The Vikings lit up the scoreboard, dropping triple digits in their semifinal game in the Tamanawis Holiday Tournament north of the border.

Brennan Winter, Jacob Holcomb and Landen Neff combined for 65 points for the Vikings in the win. Winter and Neff had 22 points apiece, while Holcomb added 21 of his own. Despite outstanding offensive production from the trio, the Vikings trailed at halftime. A 32-18 run in the third quarter sealed the deal for Puyallup.

“We were down one at half,” Puyallup head coach Scott Campbell said. “We made a really good run in the third quarter that was centered on our defensive press, our pressure and rebounding keeping them to one shot. That was a pivotal quarter.”

The Vikings move on to the Championship game of the tournament Thursday at 3 p.m.

Cascade Christian 60, Rogers 55: In a battle for supremacy of Puyallup, the Cougars upset the Rams in a close game.

The two teams competed every minute of the game on Wednesday as each team could only pull away by six points before the other team reeled them back in. The Cougars had a two-point lead heading into halftime and the Rams took a one point lead into the fourth. The Cougars relied on rebounding and multiple defenses to pick up the win.

“It was a back and forth game,” Cascade Christian assistant coach Garth Greiner said. “In the second half, we did really well on the boards. We didn’t give them very many second chance points. We switched our defenses often throughout the half. It was a good team win.”

Seven different Cougars contributed points to the team’s victory. Dylan Cooley and Leighton Lanier led the squad with 15 points apiece. Corbin Nohr added 11 points for his team.

Fife 65, Centralia 61: The Trojans went 7-for-10 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter to pull out a four-point win over the Tigers.

The Trojans trailed by one heading into the fourth quarter, but rallied to put up 23 points in the final quarter, but assistant coach Terrence Troupe credits the team’s defense to the win.

“We really executed our offense and made easy baskets,” Troupe said. “We also focused on defense in that half. Most important was hitting our free throws.”

Cooper Schelbert led the Trojans with 15 points. Tavis Johnson added 13 points, while Eli Graham scored 12.

Auburn 65, Lakewood 55: The Trojans started slow, but brought the fight in the second half to pick up a 10-point win over the Cougars.

The Cougars held an 11-point advantage, carrying a 30-19 lead into halftime. The Trojans scored 46 points in the second half, including a 26-10 run in the third quarter.

“No real adjustments, we just played a lot harder in the second half,” Auburn head coach Ryan Hansen said. “We lacked energy in the first half, we stepped up our defense and led to transition baskets. Once you gain momentum things start to get easy for you.”

Zane Harshman led all scorers with 20 points. Like the rest of his team, Harshman couldn’t find the basket in the first half, scoring just five points. His production picked up after halftime, scoring 15 of his 20 points. Pa’Treon Lee also only scored five points in the first half before scoring 13 of his 18 total points in the second. Eddie Aslanyan scored 10 of his 16 points in the second half for Auburn.

Curtis 67, Arroyo Grande (Calif.) 59: Tashon Brown scored 23 points as the Vikings advanced to the semifinals of the Santa Barbara Holiday Classic.

Brown had some help from Sindou Diallo (19 points) and John Moore (12). The Vikings play Buena in the semifinals Thursday at 6 p.m.

Top performer: Mia Flores, River Ridge—17 points in 45-37 win over Yelm.

River Ridge 45, Yelm 37: Mia Flores scored a game-high 17 points, Caitlin Yenne added 14 points and the Hawks defense was stiff in the third quarter as River Ridge defeated Yelm.

Eatonville 54, Liberty Bell 51: Despite a late push from the Mountain Lions, the Cruisers were able to hang on for the win.

“We really moved the ball well,” Eatonville head coach Jess VanderWeerdt said. “We got good shots all game long. We hit a lot of shots in the third quarter, including five three’s. Liberty Bell did a good job of contesting our shots inside, we had a hard time putting back rebounds.”

Jaelin Hotz led the Cruisers with 16 points with Sammie Swartout adding 12 and Maddie Jumper and Natasha Henley scoring nine points apiece.

This story was originally published December 28, 2016 at 11:49 PM with the headline "High school sports roundup for Dec. 28."