Maverick Sanders, Zoom Diallo lead Team Will to inaugural WIBCA 'Futures' victory
UNIVERSITY PLACE, Wash. - Mount Spokane junior Maverick Sanders scored a team-high 22 points, and Team Will won the inaugural WIBCA "Futures" game, 117-108, over Team Pepple on Friday night at Curtis High School.
It is part of WIBCA's all-star weekend in Pierce County. Three senior-only games are slated for Saturday - noon, 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.
Team Pepple, led by Timberline standout Brooklyn Hicks' game-high 29 points, crawled out of a big deficit to take an 82-81 lead on Dea'Sean Johnson Holliman's layup with 10:35 to go.
The lead was short-lived as Team Will scored the next nine points, capped by Sanders' three-point play at the 9:20 mark.
Christian King, the junior from Seattle Prep, sank three 3-pointers in a 45-second span - the last giving Team Will a 105-93 lead with 5:50 remaining.
Team Pepple cut it to 107-104 on two Isaiah Vargas free throws. But Zoom Diallo, the standout point guard for Class 4A champion Curtis, fed Nahmier Robinson, of Rainier Beach, for an inside basket on the other end - then closed the show with three driving buckets in the final 1:15.
"Tonight was a fun night," said Team Will coach Allen Thomas, who oversees the Timberline program. "Our team played hard, smart and together."
BOXSCORE
Team Pepple (108): Brooklyn Hicks 29, Mason Williams 15, Luke Browne 5, Miles Goodman 4, Parker Gerrits 8, Jamari Jackson 8, Isaiah Vargas 4, Dae'Sean Johnson-Holman 6, Tennessee Rainwater 18, Luke Navarre 12.
Team Will (117): Tyce Paulsen 8, Maverick Sanders 22, Semaj Brown 10, Christian King 16, Zoom Diallo 15, Nahmier Robinson 15, Elijah Cain 13, Zaveon Jones 3, Evan Stinson 5, Ryan Lafferty 10.
Highlights: Hicks 13-21 FG, 29 points, 5 rebs; Williams 7-12 FG, 15 points, 2 steals; Rainwater 6-11 FG, 18 points, 2 steals; Sanders 9-15 FG, 22 points, 7 rebs; King 4-6 3-pointers, 16 points; Lafferty 5-6 FG, 10 points, 4 assists; Cain 13 points, 4 assists.
