It's tough for a basketball team like The Community School Cutthroats to fall behind with a talent like 6-9 junior Daniel Gomis. He directs traffic, swats away shots, runs the floor with abandon and uses vision to get all involved.
Coach Ed Flory's Cutthroats (10-4 overall, 7-0 home, 7-2 league) have rarely trailed during a fine campaign. They've built halftime leads in all 10 of their wins. They've outscored opponents 164-116 (13-9) in the first quarters. And they've been able to maintain leads.
They've had a little trouble playing on the road, but who hasn't? The Cutthroats rectified that last week with 57-48 and 54-36 Northside Conference road wins over Camas County and Bliss. Then, on Saturday, they avenged one of their losses with a 53-45 home win over the North Star Charter Huskies.
Senegalese student Gomis (19.3 ppg, 14 3-pointers season) has been the main man.
He has scored 20 or more points in seven of his 12 games. Against North Star, Gomis had numbers to burn—20 points, 13 rebounds, 13 blocked shots, 7 steals and 5 assists. The Cutthroats won by eight. It was their third straight win, and sixth in seven games.
Coach Flory said he appreciated the interaction between Gomis and senior guard Paul Davis (10.7 ppg, 10 double figure games). Against the Huskies, they constantly found each other. Davis had 15 points, 5 rebounds, 5 steals and 7 assists, many of them ending up in Gomis' hands.
The Cutthroats built a 25-19 halftime lead despite being out-rebounded by a good Huskies team 27-11 in the first half and 48-26 overall. Gomis and Davis got great support from Hunter Weaver (8 points, 4 rebounds), Tanner Flanigan (6 points, 4 steals, 3 assists) and Colton Sholtis (4 points, 2 boards).
Leading the Huskies were Ted Ledesma (8 points, 14 rebounds), Jared Peisner (11 points, 7 boards, 4 steals, 3 assists) and Spencer Gothberg (six 3-pointers, 8 boards).
Thursday, Gomis tallied 18 points and 11 blocked shots in the 54-36 road win that swept the season series with Bliss (4-8, 2-6). The big news was that sophomore first-year cager Weaver continued his season-long improvement with a career-best 11 points and 10 rebounds for the Fish.
Assistant coach Jim Carkonen said, "Hunter is an accomplished ski racer who is making an amazing transition to the hardwoods. What he lacks in hoops experience he more than makes up for with raw energy, court speed and athleticism."
With his team ahead 26-16 at half, Gomis (three 3-pointers) scored 10 points in the third to put the game out of reach. The Fish (only 9 turnovers) handled the Bliss full-court pressure fairly well and also had their best shooting night, nailing 7-of-11 from behind the circle.
Davis and Will Brokaw had 8 points apiece, Eli Albarran 4, Dane Inman 3 and Tanner Flanigan 2 plus solid defense on high-scoring Alex Cortez of Bliss. Cole Erkins (10 points) topped the Bears in scoring.
The Cutthroats, having played at Dietrich (11-5, 7-4) Tuesday, host top-ranked 1A Division 2 Carey (14-1, 1-0) Thursday, Feb. 4 in The Fish Tank. It will be a preview of a first-round Northside Conference tournament game between Carey and The Community School Feb. 17 at Dietrich.
Meanwhile, The Community School is holding a fundraiser for Gomis Saturday, Feb. 6 from 6-8 p.m. in the Sun Valley gym foyer. The school is trying to raise money to send Gomis home to Senegal over spring break. Cost is $50 per person for a Senegalese dinner and entertainment. Buy tickets from any fifth-grade student.
Carey boys beat Richfield, Oakley
Fighting through back-to-back sub-par shooting nights on the road, coach Dick Simpson's Carey Panthers (14-1, 7-0 home, 7-1 away, 10-0 league) ran their winning streak to 11 games with 39-17 and 58-50 road wins over Richfield and Oakley last Friday and Saturday.
Senior Trevor Peck steadied the Panthers with two hot shooting games and three 3-pointers in each victory. Peck (12.6 ppg) tallied 13 points with 3 steals at Richfield, shooting 50% in the process, and led three Panthers in double figures at Oakley with 19 points, 7 rebounds and 2 steals.
Peck has 12 double-digit games in 15 contests and has averaged nearly 16 ppg in the last five, three on the road.
Carey rallied from a 32-26 halftime deficit to win at Oakley. The 1A Division 2 Panthers have trailed at halftime in only two of their wins this season, both to 1A Division 1 Oakley (6-8), and have ended up winning 56-52 at home and 58-50 there.
Dillon Simpson (5.7 ppg) scored a season-best 13 points with 7 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals at Oakley. Top scorer Brett Adamson (16.7 ppg) added 10 points and 5 boards. Wacey Barg came to play with 7 points, 8 rebounds and 2 assists. Blair Peck chipped in 5 points and 6 rebounds.
At Richfield, Carey's defense held the Tigers to 16% field goal shooting and forced 25 turnovers. Simpson had 6 steals, 5 boards and 2 assists, while Adamson added 8 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists. Joey Laidlaw came up big with 6 boards. Barg had 8 points/4 boards, and Blair Peck 5 points.
Carey hosts Northside contender Murtaugh (11-2, 7-2) on Friday, Feb. 5 in a key match.
Community School senior Tanner Flanigan drives through the Richfield Tigers defense during the 47-41 home Cutthroat victory over Richfield Jan. 12 at The Fish Tank. Flanigan scored 9 points. Photo by David N. Seelig
