Cruiser boys end season with loss to Clover Park

The Eatonville Cruiser boys basketball season came to an end last Wednesday with a 69-55 loss to the Clover Park Warriors.

Reilly McIlraith led the Cruisers with 20 points.

The day before, the Cruisers dropped a game against the Fife Trojans, 56-40. McIlraith again led the Cruisers in scoring with 22 points. Cameron Hatler chipped in 13 in the loss.

With those losses, the Cruisers finish the season with a 5-9 record.

Graduating seniors Ryan Colbert and Hatler will be missed next season.

“Both Cam and Ryan are two outstanding young men with great families. They have been very helpful to our program and will be missed,” head coach Mark Swartout said.

The Cruisers will return many players who all had starting roles during this season. McIlraith, Shay Brannon, Kyle Cox and Jakob Lucht are just a few of those players.

The Cruisers will be heading to play in the Evergreen 1A league next season.

“We are excited about our challenge moving to the Evergreen 1A league next season, which has great athletic programs and coaches,” Swartout said.

Swartout went on to say how proud he was of his players after dealing with such a crazy season.

“I would like to tell everyone how proud I am of these young men,” he said. “Having to deal with remote learning, part-time learning in the classroom and dealing with all the restrictions we had with COVID, there were limited practices, at times no fans or limited fans, having to run up and down the floor in hot gyms with masks on. As a coach, I asked a lot of them, and they always came through for the team. I’m very proud of them.”