With Spokane a little more than a week away from its biggest week of the regular season, the Owls are seeing Jace Leigh mature at point guard.
Approaching the 38th Annual Spokane Tournament Jan. 16-21, Leigh has been uplifted by his experience at the Blue & Gold Tournament. More specifically, he proved himself against Hillcrest's Taner Hicks, one of the better and underrated on-the-ball defenders in SWMO.
After being overwhelmed by Hicks in the first half, Hicks responded by holding his own and then some in the second half. He scored 11 of his 13 points in the second half.
"He put the pressure on me," Leigh said. "I had to adapt to what he was doing and figure out how to get the ball down the floor better. I kind of realized what to do in the second half. It was encouraging.
"I'm glad I faced him," he added. "Any player like that who I can face is going to make me better."
As Leigh was able to control the ball and set up the offense, Spokane made a run at Hillcrest. The Owls ended up falling 60-47 and went on to split their four games at the Blue & Gold.
"Jace accepted the role of getting the ball past (Hicks) and pushing it up the floor to pass it to somebody, instead of picking it up at half-court and trying to throw it to somebody," coach Newt Starrett said. "It's a little easier to run the offense from the 3-point line instead of half-court.
"(Hicks) is a good player and was playing tough defense," he added. "It was a mentality of Jace saying, 'Hey, I'm going to take over and not let this kid bully me around.' He was ready to battle with him. I think that's what shifted the gear in his head. I was proud of him in the second half."
Spokane (5-8) has faced standout players and elite teams over the first half of its schedule. The Owls have played Forsyth (11-0) twice, Mansfield (12-0), Hollister (11-2) and Ash Grove (9-3). Up next are Marionville (11-2) on Friday and Strafford (6-6) next week.
"We built a tough schedule, but our District is tough and that's what we're trying to gear up for," Starrett said. "We want to play good competition. We want to put ourselves in that situation so we are ready for it at the end of the year. I think our kids are embracing that and understand what our goals are. They understand this is the level we're going to be at by the end of the year so we need to play these teams. Our record might suffer a little bit, but by late February I think we're going to be ready."
"I'm glad (Starrett) stepped in and made our schedule tougher so come Districts we can be playing the best basketball we can," Leigh said.
In addition to the Owls, the Spokane Tournament field includes Ash Grove, Cassville, Reeds Spring, Blue Eye, Southwest, Exeter and Bradleyville.
The Spokane Tournament has traditionally produced some of the Owls' most memorable moments.
"One of our goals is to win our home tournament and build some excitement," Starrett said.
