JAY — If the scoreboard wasn’t giving enough hints, Spruce Mountain junior guard Scottie Hall could think back to a more direct message from coach Chris Bessey as the Phoenix’ Western Class B prelim with Leavitt headed into the fourth quarter.

“He told me (in the third quarter) to start making some shots or we weren’t going to have a chance,” Hall said.

Hall spiked Spruce’s chances every time he touched the ball in the fourth quarter, scoring all 11 of his points in the deciding period as No. 5 Spruce Mountain pulled away from No. 12 Leavitt for a 62-46 victory at the Phoenix Dome. 

The Phoenix will face MVC rival Mountain Valley, the No. 4 seed, in the quarterfinals at 3 p.m. Saturday at the Portland Expo.

Andrew Darling led the Phoenix (14-5) with 14 points. Deonte Ring complemented Hall with 10 of his 13 points in the fourth quarter. Andrew Middleton led the Hornets (6-13) with 14 points, five rebounds and four blocks.

Spruce Mountain started and ended the game on fire from 3-point range. The Phoenix hit three of four from beyond the arc in the first quarter, which helped them survive an 0-for-11 start from inside the arc and take a 30-25 lead at halftime.

But it was the marksmanship of Hall and John McKenna from outside and some excellent free throw shooting (22-for-32) by the Phoenix as a whole that sparked a 19-5 run to start the fourth quarter.

“We wanted to open up the floor and make them play the whole floor,” McKenna said. “Luckily, me and Scottie hit a couple of shots and that got us going. They were getting tired. Our depth helped quite a bit.”

“I think we wore them down,” `Bessey said. “Those 3s that they were taking were uncontested because we were beating them down the floor.”

Leavitt dominated the offensive boards (18 to 4), but couldn’t convert many of the second chances into points, especially when it went to the free throw line (8-for-24).

“That makes a big difference in the playoffs,” Bessey said. “You see teams lose it on the line.”

“We’re getting three or four offensive rebounds on a couple of trips and coming up with no points, missing bunnies, and then if we get fouled, missing free throws,” Leavitt coach Mike Hathaway said. “That hurt. You can’t come up empty against a good defensive team like that.”

A big third quarter by Middleton (nine points) seemed to put the Hornets in control after Nate Coombs fed Mitchel Davis (10 points) for a layup that gave them a 38-33 lead late in the period. But free throws by Peter Theriault (10 points) and a Darling runner tied the game at the end of the quarter.

Ring put the Phoenix in front from the free throw line, and Hall, struggling from the perimeter, went to the hoop for his first bucket that made it a five-point game.

“My teammates were giving me some good looks. They just weren’t falling at first,” Hall said. “Making the first shot definitely gets you going.”

A putback by Levi Morin (seven points, 10 rebounds) made it a three-point game. Hall then drilled his first of two 3-pointers to force Leavitt into a timeout.

The break did nothing to break Spruce’s momentum. McKenna drilled a trey from the right wing to make it 50-41, then Ring put the lead into double digits for the first time with five minutes left.

A Davis putback stemmed the tide temporarily for the Hornets, who shot 3-for-18 from the field in the quarter. But Hall answered with a 3-pointer from the same spot as McKenna’s to put the Phoenix up by double digits for good.

“I think we started feeding off each other’s energy, and definitely the crowd got into it in the fourth. That helped us out a lot,” Hall said.

“To have the lead at halftime and have them come back and go up, we could have easily folded,” Bessey said. “A young team will sometimes do that, and we didn’t.”

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