While the Elma girls netted some successes last week, the boys dropped both games with losses to Hoquiam on Jan. 5, and Forks on Jan. 3.

Hoquiam

All it took was an opening for Hoquiam to kick off its transition offense against Elma on Jan. 5 and the Eagles presented it at Hoquiam Square Garden.

The Grizzlies found plenty of room to run midway through the first quarter. Coupled with the Eagles’ early foul trouble, Hoquiam used the free-throw line early to get ahead and stay ahead running in an 85-46 Evergreen 1A League boys basketball win.

Elma’s Trace Thompson led all scorers with 23 points. Jace Varner led Hoquiam with 21 points, seven rebounds and four steals, with Jack Adams III adding 19 and Victor James 18.

“For the first four minutes, we matched them step for step and I felt we were going to be in this game,” Elma head coach Marvin Prince said. “Yes, our foul trouble didn’t help us, but we just didn’t get back on defense. They went on a run and that’s it. They’re fast. They can shoot the ball. We lost our legs. We can’t keep up with that pace.”

For the first four-plus minutes of this league contest, both teams were hitting their shots and managing their offenses. However, Elmagot hit with a string of fouls that allowed Hoquiam to start hitting bonus free throws with 3 1/2 minutes left in the opening quarter.

Once Trace Thompson drained a 3-pointer from the wing to cut the Elma deficit to 11-10, Hoquiam found room to run — a 14-4 run,with the Grizzlies hitting 8-for-8 from the free-throw line.

Hoquiam also got into the double bonus free throws when Elma had its 10th team foul and an additional one for a scorekeeping technical late in the quarter.

Hoquiam ran to a 25-14 lead after the first and kept on running in the second. The Grizzlies forced eight turnovers, hit 10-for-20 fromthe field and never allowed the Eagles a foothold to stay in the game en route to a 47-23 halftime score.

Hoquiam’s momentum continued in the second half, with turnovers leading to transition offense for the Grizzlies. Thompson score eight of Elma’s 12 points in the third.

The fourth quarter was filled with reserves for both teams. Eccles cited sophomore Jackson Folkers for his work off the bench, as well a senior Jerod Steen for his support of the offense.

Forks

Forks’ boys blasted out to a 20-2 lead en route to a 68-46 win over Elma in the second half of the co-ed doubleheader, on Jan. 3

Elma outscored the Spartans by 10 after a series of malfunctions rendered the scoreboard inoperable for much of the second half.

Unfortunately for the Eagles, the 51-19 lead Forks (1-0, 7-1) erected prior to the first outage assuredly counted.

Elma was unable to match up against 6-foot-9 Spartan center Marky Adams. Despite seeing little action in the final 12 minutes, Adams registered a game-high 24 points — many of those on putbacks.

“He’s a load,” Prince saluted. “He’s 6-9 and he plays like a 6-9 kid should. He’s a pretty dang good high school basketball player.”

In addition, Forks sophomore Cort Prose knocked down three 3-pointers, all with defenders’ hands in his face, in the opening twominutes. The Spartans owned a 20-2 advantage at the 3:37 mark of the first quarter.

Led by the Browns, Avery and A.J., the Eagles (0-1, 2-8) trimmed the deficit to 22-11 early in the second quarter before the Spartanscountered with a 12-3 run that put the game out of reach. The Spartans shot 56 percent from the field in the first half.

“Once we settled down, I felt we did some good things,” Prince said. “It’s just how consistent we’re going to be.”

Avery Brown scored 18 points and A.J. Brown 14 for Elma. Cody Vollan pulled down a team-high eight rebounds for the Eagles.

Elma (0-2, 2-9) hosted rival Montesano on Wednesday, Jan. 11. Results from that game were not available when the paper went to press.

Elma 14 9 12 11 — 46 Hoquiam 25 22 23 15 — 85

Elma (46) — AJ Brown 5, Tep 2, Peterson 2, Thompson 23, Vollan 6, Spalding, Av. Brown 6, Horton 2. FG — 16-52. FT — 9-9.

Hoquiam (85) — Espedal, Nash 4, Varner 21, Folkers 4, Dayton 2, Spradlin 9, Steen 6, Adams III 19, James 18, Mazariegos 2, Eccles.FG — 31-61. FT — 18-23.

JV — Hoquiam 45, Elma 35.

C Squad — Elma won.

BOYS

Forks 22 22 11 13 — 68 Elma 8 11 5 22 — 46

Forks (68) — Schumack 2, Baysinger 14, Browning 9, Prose 12, Adams 24, Flores 2, Johnson, Ramsey 2, Tejano 3, Baar. FG — 29-63(.460). FT — 5-7.

Elma (46) — A.J. Brown 14, Thompson 8, Vollan 2, Spalding, Avery Brown 18, Tep, Peterson 4, Horton. FG — 16-53 (.302). FT — 4-6.