Cruiser Boys Basketball Open Up Season Strong

The Eatonville Cruiser boys’ basketball team got the 2018-19 season off to a strong start. On Tuesday, Nov. 27, they opened the season at home by hosting the Rochester Warriors.  

The Cruisers would come out strong in the first quarter and take a 19-8 lead into the second quarter behind senior guard Tristan Schoepf and sophomore guard Kekoa Visperas’ hot shooting. They both would finish the quart with 8 points.  Schoepf would continue his hot shooting and finish the half with 15 points. Senior post Jackson Roulst was really working the boards for the Cruiser with six rebounds at the half. Eatonville would head into half time with a 34-28 lead over the Warriors.

The second half saw junior guard Jeremy Knoblauch get the hot hand as he chipped in 8 points in the 3rd quarter, Schoepf would add another 7 points, and Zach Smith would add 5 as the Cruisers extended their lead to 25 points to start the fourth quarter up 60-35.

Senior Jarod Humphrey would get in the scoring mix in the fourth with 5 points of his own. Roulst would continue to bring down the rebounds and would finish with a team high 10 rebounds as the Cruisers finished the game strong and came away with a 73-52 victory over Rochester.

Schoepf would lead the team in scoring with 23 points and seven rebounds.

Thursday night the Cruisers saw the Eagles of Elma come to Eatonville for another non-league match up. The Cruisers, looking to go 2-0 on the season, started off really slow.  The Cruisers would find themselves trailing 8-3 at the end of the first quarter of play. After Schoepf’s team high 23 points on Tuesday night, he seemed to be battling a back issue that hampered him in this game. He would be held to just 1 point in the half. Zach

Smith would get the offense going in the second quarter by dropping 11 points in the second. Jarod Humphrey and Kekoa Visperas would have 4 a piece in the quarter as well. As the team headed to the locker room, they would enjoy a 28-21 lead.

In the third quarter, Visperas would add another 6 points and Schoepf would add 4 points himself as the Cruisers continued to pull away from the Eagles with a 39-24 lead as they entered the fourth quarter.

Schoepf would heat up a little in the final frame by adding 7 more points to finish the game with 10 points and eight rebounds.  Visperas would lead the team in scoring with 14 points, seven rebounds, and five-plus steals as the Cruiser held on to get the 49-42 victory.

The Cruisers are now 2-0 on the season and looking great so far.