The host with the most: Hanford caps Holiday Tourney with win over Shadle

Dan Izquierdo led four Falcons in double digits with a game-high 19 points as the Hanford High School basketball team knocked off Shadle Park 68-59 on Thursday night in the finale of the Hanford Holiday Tournament.

It’s arguably the best stretch of basketball Hanford (7-3) has played this season, as the victory over a competitive GSL team in Shadle Park comes a day after it lost by four points to Mt. Spokane; ranked 12^th in 3A RPI entering play Thursday.

“I thought last night (vs. Mt. Spokane) was the best game we’ve played so far this season,” Hanford coach Paul Mayer said. “So that’s what you want, you just want to keep getting better; you’re not always going to get the result you want. I was pleased, after the little layoff we had with Christmas, I was pleased with how we played in this tournament.”

Hanford took its first – and only – lead of the game on a layup by Izquierdo with 30 seconds left in the first quarter, and while Shadle Park was able to force a couple second-period ties, Hanford never trailed again. Izquierdo also hit 5 of 6 free throws in the fourth quarter to give the Falcons a double-digit lead for much of the final 8 minutes.

“Dan’s been coming on, he’s getting better and better,” Mayer said. “He had (a career-high) 20 at Southridge (Dec. 16), so he’s capable. We like him in the open floor and as he gains confidence it’ll give us another scorer.”

It was a well-rounded effort for Hanford, which got 12 points from Garrett Horner, and 11 each from Connor Woodward and Blake VanderTop.

“We had some guys step up and do a good job for us,” Mayer said. “And our half-court trap was pretty effective considering we just put it in. That was probably the difference for us.”

Jake Groves sunk 3 of 5 3-pointers to lead Shadle Park with 15 points, while Adrian Conway came on late to add 11 points with a 7-for-9 performance from the charity stripe.

Hanford now gets a week to regroup before a critical MCC matchup with the Kamiakin Braves on Jan. 5 in Richland.

“We’ve got a solid week to get ready for the next league game,” Mayer said. “I think that helps keep you fresh, not having too long of a layoff, especially when you’re able to get it done tonight.”

This story was originally published December 28, 2017 at 9:13 PM with the headline "The host with the most: Hanford caps Holiday Tourney with win over Shadle."