Spartans send Grizzlies back into hibernation

| January 25, 2005 8:00 PM

PRIEST RIVER — In a physical match up of two border-town rivals, the Tuesday night game pitting the Priest River Spartans and Newport Grizzlies fit every expectation of aggressive play.

The Spartans, after leading most of the game by a nine point margin, came out on top 61-51 — despite a final push by Newport's David McFall, who scored a game-high 27 points.

"We guarded McFall well, but, he is a great player," said Spartan coach Bill Ryan.

Senior Stevie Walkup led the Spartans with 17 points and Joey Stark added 13. Walkup hit several 3-pointers to help compensate for McFall's dominance.

"We played well at times and poor at times," said Ryan. "I've said all season we need to play a solid 32 minutes and we're still looking. We play first place Bonners Ferry this week and we have to step up before districts."

The win brings the Spartans record to 8-9 for the season. They travel to Bonners Ferry on Saturday and then Kellogg on Feb. 5 before hosting Timberlake at home on Feb. 10 for senior night.

Priest River 11 20 13 17 — 61

Newport 9 13 11 18 — 51

PRIEST RIVER — Patterson 8, Walkup 17, C. Smith 2, Stark 13, Flaherty 7, Gregory 5, Cork 8, Peterson 1.

NEWPORT — Ratcliff 2, Melendez 8, McFall 27, Allemand 2, Campbell 4, Betz 4, Scott 4.