The Bainbridge boys basketball team defeated Kingston on the road 70-45 Jan. 19.

Although the Spartans were the taller squad, they excelled from behind the arc rather than going inside. They hit seventeen 3’s in the game with Sam Nyland leading the way with a career-high 33 points.

Coach Steve Haizlip added: “We just happened to hit them early. We have shooters on this team but that wasn’t really the game plan. It just happened to go that way.”

Both squads came out slow and sloppy. Haizlip called a timeout one minute into the game.

“I didn’t like our intensity,” he said. “I thought we could have played with more discipline and fire. After the timeout, they came out with some more.”

Nyland took matters into his own hands by scoring the first seven points for Bainbridge.

“First half I was looking to get everybody going,” Nyland said. “Coaches told me when you get your teammates involved, the shots will come to you.”

Nyland continued to lead the Spartans as BHS took a 26-9 lead after the first quarter.

Kingston’s offense slowly picked up as Dakota Standley and Noah Walter scored a couple of buckets each in the second quarter. However, Bainbridge nailed nine three-pointers in the first half to take a 38-17 lead at halftime.

Standley and Nyland traded points in the third quarter, with the Spartan scoring 10 and the Buc six. But the BHS offense became stagnant.

“I think we started to settle after hitting those threes, and it showed,” Haizlip said. “Kingston made their runs and started hitting. We definitely needed to get inside and get some more buckets.”

Despite lacking a presence in the paint, the Spartans continued to roll. The Spartans outscored Kingston 23-10 in the final quarter.

Standley scored 19 points for the Buccaneers.

Spartan coach Steve Haizlip calls a timeout to energize his team.

Spartan Noah Walter makes his presence felt in the paint.