The Ferndale boys' basketball team had more turnovers, a worse shooting percentage and fewer rebounds than Sultan in its first game of the Valley Invite on Tuesday, Dec. 27, at Nooksack Valley, but still managed to earn its sixth victory.
Jake Schroeder had 10 points and eight rebounds and the Golden Eagles defeated Sultan 45-38 in the non-conference game to improve to 6-1 overall.
"You could definitely see it is a Christmas break game," Ferndale coach Monte Walton said in a phone interview. "We haven't played in over a week and you could tell - we were rusty."
Walton said his team clearly had the height advantage, but said his post players didn't play with the usual toughness they have throughout the season.
"We didn't play with much heart tonight," Walton said. "I challenged the kids to come out tomorrow night to play with more heart than they did tonight."
Ferndale was outrebounded 28-26 as a team while also committing 18 turnovers. Brock VandenEkart led Sultan with 13 points and six rebounds.
Ferndale plays its second and final game of the Valley Invite against Cedar Park Christian next at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 28.
FERNDALE 45, SULTAN 38
Sultan 8 10 8 12 - 38
Ferndale 8 14 7 16 - 45
Sultan: Cooper Beucherie 4, Steven Branham 6, Sammy Cotterill 5, Jaden Reilly 2, Jorge Torres 8, Brock VandenEkart 13. Team totals: 13-30 9-13 38.
Ferndale: Aiden Sands 6, Kendall Kelly 0, Jacob Frost 3, Cody Mason 2, Chad Hunt 5, David Venegas-Lytle 0, Watson George 2, Conor Ford 5, Caleb Rodriguez 6, Jake Schroeder 10, Daniel Canzater 6. Team totals: 15-38 11-18 45.
3-ptg: Sultan 3 (Jorge Torres 2), Ferndale 2 (Jacob Frost, Conor Ford 1). Rebounds: Sultan 28 (Brock VandenEkart 6), Ferndale 26 (Jake Schroeder 8). Assists: Sultan 12 (Steven Branham 3), Ferndale 12 (Kendall Kelly 3). Fouls: Sultan 15, Ferndale 15. Turnovers: Sultan 12, Ferndale 18.
