Douglas pulls off big comeback to beat Reed

SPARKS - The first quarter at Reed High School Friday night may go down as the defining moment of the Douglas boys' basketball team's season.

The Tigers were on the wrong side of a 13-0 run, trailing 24-8 six minutes into the game.

On Reed's end, 3-pointers were falling out of the sky. On Douglas', when they managed to break through the Raiders' stifling press, it was only bricks.

Momentum, not to mention the home crowd, was fully with the athletic, fast and talented Raiders.

And then, it all changed. Reed would score 34 more points in the game. Douglas would score 68.

The message -- and it was one Douglas sent loud and clear to the rest of the Northern 4A -- was that these Tigers are going to take an opponents very best shot, straight to the chin, and coming back landing haymakers.

Douglas got 19 points from Hunter Myers and 13 each from Nick Maestretti and Trevor Shaffer as it rode a 17-0 run through the middle of the second half to an impressive 76-58 win over Reed.

"It just shows what defense will do for you," Douglas coach Corey Thacker said. "We gave up 28 points in the first quarter and then 30 through the rest of the game. Defense will be huge for us and it was huge for us tonight.

"We really didn't knock down that many shots tonight. We came back with defense and with creating opportunities off breaking their press."

It took six minutes to get Reed's trapping full-court press figured out, though/

Douglas saw an early 6-2 lead evaporate as Reed sandwiched 13-0 and 9-0 runs around a Myers basket at the 4:21 mark in the first quarter.

Reed's Dylan McKenzie hit five consecutive 3-pointers during the 22-2 run while Douglas was forced into multiple turnovers on the other end of the floor.

"They do a good job with the full court," Thacker said. "They are really well conditioned, they run five guys in and five guys out and they take it to you the entire time. It really took our guys understanding what they needed to do and not being scared to attack it.

"On the other side, we just didn't come out ready to defend. McKenzie is a great shooter we let him have open shots. That's something that can't happen.

Douglas solved the press from there, scoring six unanswered points before Myers was fouled heaving up a desperation shot from the opposite free throw line as the buzzer sounded to end the first quarter.

He sank all three free throws to cut the Reed lead to 24-17.

"That was a big swing," Thacker said. "It gave guys a little bit more confidence heading into the second quarter."

Austin Evans and Myers scored baskets on back-to-back trips down the floor to open the second quarter, extending Douglas' run to 13-0 and cutting the score to 24-21.

The two schools matched each other nearly basket for basket through the remainder of the half as Reed carried a 41-36 lead into hafltime.

The Tigers took control of the game from there.

Shaffer scored the first basket of the second half 30 seconds in and Myers added a pair on Douglas' next two trips down the floor to put Douglas up 42-31.

"That was a compliment to the starters coming in down five and putting us up one in just over a minute," Thacker said.

Reed's Trae Wells put the Raiders back up on a runner in the lane with 6:06 left in the third. Douglas grabbed the lead right back at 45-43 on a Connor Hughes free throw and another basket from Trevor Shaffer.

Wells hit a 3-pointer with 4:12 left in the quarter and Jamel Ramos drove the baseline for a lay-up with 3:49 to give Reed a three-point cushion at 48-45. It would be the Raiders' last points for five minutes.

In the interim, Maestretti sparked what would be a 17-0 run with a pair of drives to the basket to give Douglas a 49-48 lead it wouldn't relinquish.

Thacker rotated his starting lineup off in favor of James Herrick, Matt Wylie, Nate VonAhsen, Austin Evans and Michael Nolting with two minutes left in the quarter. That group managed to string together a 7-0 run, including a 3-pointer from Evans, against Reed's starters to close out the quarter with a 56-48 lead.

"That was another big thing, the guys coming off the bench and extending the lead," Thacker said. "We able to take advantage of some of that depth."

The same group, with Joe Syammach added, put together another 6-0 run over the final three minutes of the game, again against Reed's starters, to seal the win.

"It was a good win," Thacker said. "Reed's a team that knows what it is doing. We just have to be smart and have patience. I'm glad we didn't give up. They pushed through."

McKenzie finished with 18 points, all on 3-pointers to lead the Raiders. Reed hit nine 3-pointers as a team.

Douglas got eight points from Jake Tessmann, including a pair of 3-pointers, Hughes finished with six points, Evans had five, Herrick and, Syammach each had four and VonAhsen and Nolting each had two.

GIRLS

Reed exploded to a 30-10 lead after one quarter and didn't look back from there, crusing to a 66-39 win over Douglas in Sparks Friday night.

Tia Lyons led the Tigers with 15 points and one 3-pointer, Amanda Wartgow had seven and Ebony Cleveland had six.