Don't look now, but the Galena Grizzlies boys basketball team is starting to find its comfort zone.
"Yeah, we finally have most of our offense in now," smiled Grizzlies coach Tom Maurer after Tuesday night's workmanlike 69-43 victory at Spanish Springs. "We have inbounds plays and everything now. But that's what we've been working on in practice."
The Grizzlies used 27 points from Luke Babbitt as eight different Grizzlies scored against the Cougars.
"Most everybody got to play and play well," said Jake Hess, who contributed two points off the bench. "That was nice to see."
Any victory would have been nice for the Grizzlies, a team that had lost four of its last five games since a 59-55 victory over the Reed Raiders to open the High Desert League season 20 days ago. The victory at Spanish Springs leaves Galena at 7-9 overall and 2-0 in the High Desert League. Spanish Springs fell to 7-5 overall and 0-2 in league.
"That is a well established program over there," said Kyle Penney, in his first year as Spanish Springs' head coach. "Their kids know what to do and they know when to do it. We're not at that point yet. That's where we are trying to get to."
The Grizzlies broke open a close game (6-5 Galena) with a 21-2 run over the final four minutes of the first quarter and the first two minutes of the second quarter. Babbitt scored eight of the 21 points and Jake Mansfield drained a pair of 3-pointers as Galena took a 27-7 lead. Scott Bristol, Markis Robinson and John Metzger also scored during the six-minute run.
"The thing I was most happy with is we got some real good looks," Maurer said. "Those 3-pointers (both by Mansfield) were great looks. We ran our offense real well."
Galena shot 58 percent (11-of-19) in the first half.
Spanish Springs, though, cut Galena's lead to 13 (34-21) by halftime as Kyle Raymond hit two 3-pointers. The Cougars outscored Galena 14-7 over the final 4:12 of the second quarter after not scoring a single point over the first 3:48.
"Spanish Springs is a real up-and-coming program," Maurer said. "We knew we had to come in here and play well to win."
The Grizzlies did just that over the first six minutes of the third quarter. Galena exploded out of its halftime locker room to put together a 16-2 run to take a 50-23 lead with two minutes to go in the third quarter. Babbitt hit a pair of 3-pointers in the run, including one 25-footer. Layups by Robinson and Metzger started the run two minutes into the quarter.
"These league games mean a lot," said Hess. "We know they mean a lot to our coach."
Seven different Grizzlies scored in the fourth quarter led by Bristol and Victor Walker, who each scored four points. Babbitt only played three of the game's final 10 minutes as the Grizzlies emptied their bench.
"That's obviously a real good program over there and when you throw Luke into the mix, they are tough to beat," said Penney, who has also been a head coach at Wooster and McQueen in the Northern 4A. "Luke not only scores but he also finds the open guy for easy baskets."
Babbitt's best pass of the game found Bristol for a layup and a 33-19 lead a minute before halftime.
"They (Spanish Springs) put three guys on Babbitt most of the game," Maurer said. "So I was real happy to see him dish off to the open man and also for us to take open shots."
Babbitt and the Grizzlies also dominated inside.
"I think we only took eight shots all night in the paint," Penney said. "But that's been our problem all year. We don't have a lot of size. So when you don't make your shots, it's tough."
Spanish Springs shot 37 percent (16-of-43) for the game. Galena, which will play at McQueen Thursday night, finished at 58 percent (25-of-43).
"I'm very happy with this one," Maurer said. "I don't usually leave this place (Spanish Springs) feeling happy. But we played pretty well. I don't have too much to complain about after this game."