Creek Valley Sails Past Potter-Dix

Rivals Creek Valley and Potter-Dix faced off to start the D2-11 Subdistrict Basketball Tournament Tuesday night at Sidney High School, and the Storm breezed to an easy 64-to-12 victory over the Coyotes.

The Storm entered the tournament as the number one seed, and drew a number four seeded Coyote team that had struggled with a winless record all season.

Creek Valley started fast with their speedy backcourt setting the pace while the Storm's big men piled up the points.

The Storm's speed and transitions on offense were too much for the Coyotes to handle while Creek Valley's defense overwhelmed Potter-Dix's offense. Creek Valley opened up an 18-to-0 lead before Potter-Dix finally got on the scoreboard when junior Terell Grey hit a free throw near the end of the first period.

The Storm continued the offensive fireworks in the second period, scoring on fast breaks off of steals, drives to the basket, and outside jump shots while the Coyotes came up empty on offense. However, the highlight of the half was on a pair of defensive plays, as Creek Valley's 6'4" sophomore Oakley Hodges elevated and swatted away Potter-Dix senior Izaak Glanz's jump shot, prompting a prolonged cheer from the crowd. Soon after at the three minute mark, Potter-Dix's Terell Grey returned the favor by swatting away Creek Valley freshman Eli's Schmidt's shot to another cheer by the crowd, which turned into laughter and applause as the 6'3" Grey and 5'3" Schmidt hugged after the play.

By this point, the Storm had secured the game with a 34-to-6 lead, and Creek Valley head coach Bill Wilber freely substituted throughout the last half of the quarter. The scoring pace evened out for the rest of the half which ended with Creek Valley leading 38-to-10.

The third quarter started with Creek Valley senior Garret Sawyer nailing two baskets in a row to extend the lead to 42-to-10.

Sawyer dominated all game, with his leaping ability towering over the Coyote defenders while putting up points under the rim. Creek Valley's starters were back in the game, and started piling up the points with senior Sam Grabowski feeding the ball to Sawyer for easy points.

By the end of the quarter, the mercy rule kept the clock running as the Storm had opened a 53-to-12 lead. In the fourth quarter, the Storm again played many of their substitutes, and even with a running clock limiting their number of chances, managed to put up an additional 10 points in the quarter. 6' 4" Creek Valley Freshman Drew Fraass scored eight of the 10 points coming off the bench, while the Storm's defense shut out the Coyotes offense in the final frame to earn the 64-to-12 victory.

Garrett Sawyer led the Storm with 18 points while Sam Grabowski and junior Justin Ningen had 11 points each. Freshmen Anthony Tovar and Niko Koon had four points each in the loss for the Coyotes, who end their season with an 0-and-18 record. With the victory, the Storm advance to the Subdistrict Final against South Platte that was scheduled for Thursday at Sidney High School.