A physical Eastside Catholic crew strong-armed the Spartans 52-39 at Bainbridge High late last week.

The Crusaders took an early 12-5 lead at the close of the first quarter.

Poor shooting was one of the problems. The Spartans went 1-for-7 from the field, and Bainbridge’s only points came from two points from the free-throw line by Trent Schulte and a three-pointer from Joey Blacker.

Bainbridge’s shooting warmed up a bit in the second quarter, but Eastside Catholic continued to pound the Spartans under the boards for crucial rebounds and second-chance shots.

The Crusaders outscored the Spartans 19-14 in the second, with Austin Soukup sinking 2-of-4 three-pointers. He finished the half with 12 points.

Mandrell also connected on the first of four three-point attempts in the half for Eastside Catholic, and Blake Maimone, Nathan Christie and Zach Wallin also put points on the board for the Crusaders.

On the Spartan side, Schulte added eight of the Spartans’ 14 points in the second quarter, with Blake Swanson adding a trey and Oskar Dieterich putting up two.

Eastside led 31-19 at the half.

Bainbridge played nearly even with the Crusaders in the third, and narrowed the gap to 40-29 at the start of the fourth.

The Crusaders then outscored the Spartans 12-10 for the 52-39 final.

“It was just a lack of execution,” said Spartans Coach Scott Orness.

“I really feel we haven’t played up to our level,” he said.

Schulte led all Spartan scorers with 16 points.

Dieterich chipped in 10 points, Blacker finished with seven.

Swanson contributed four points, and Greg Shea added two.

Eastside had eight players score in the Metro contest; the Crusaders were paced by Soupkup’s 14 points.

The game was the first of a Metro basketball double-header at home last Friday.

The Spartans’ girls team finished out the evening with a win, 59-36, over Eastside Catholic.

It was never close.

Bainbridge burst to a 14-6 advantage in the first quarter.

Bainbridge led 14-6 after the first quarter — with the last three points coming in a fleeting moment of heavy drama.

Julie Feikes got the ball for the Spartans with just a few ticks left on the clock, and with just too few steps over the halfcourt line to count, she launched a rainbow.

In what some might call a concession stand shot — a few steps over, and Feikes might have ordered a Diet Pepsi — the buzzer sounded as the shot from deep downtown left Feikes’ hand.

The “Swoosh!” broke an unbelieving and hushed silence.

Then, pandemonium. Almost.

“Ju-lie! Fei-kes!” screamed the Spartan student section. “Ju-lie! Fei-kes!”

The Spartans’ bench emptied and went airborne, and the floor in front of the bench seemed to be made of rubber for a minute or more.

Feikes was still smiling when she took the floor in the second.

What followed was another 14-point Spartan half, with Grace Kenyon, Sydney Severson, Paige Brigham and Fiekes all finding the net.

Bainbridge led 28-12 at the break, then notched another

14 points in the third quarter to lead 42-25.

The Spartans’ highest offensive output followed in the fourth, with 17 points to Eastside’s 11.

Kenyon led the Spartans with 15 points, with 12 coming in the second half.

Feikes contributed 13 points, while teammate Katie Usellis finished with 12.

Maddie Ketcheside and Brigham both added six points; Severson scored five. Nancy Karreman added two.

Johnson was high-scorer for the Crusaders; she had 12 points.