First Full Week of NWC Action

There were six conference games played over Monday and Tuesday, and there was nothing close to a nail-biter.  Two games had differentials of 16 points.  Another pair had margins of 26 points.  And the last two were decided by 31 and 39 points.

The Mount Baker Mountaineers had the toughest assignment.  Their late start due to football success had them hitting the floor on Monday, in Sedro-Woolley for their first game of the year.  Not a team to go up against when your main concern is foot speed and wind.

Even though they lost 81-42, the Mountaineers fought hard, and will be the better for it.  Junior center, Kell Reardon, led Mount Baker with 13 points. 

Ethan DeJong lit it up for 36 points, with Cliff Tadema and Isaac Johnson adding 13 each.  Their much-anticipated matchup with Lynden Christian on Thursday, was postponed to Wednesday, December 17, in the LC gym. 

Also on Monday, Sehome got a home win over Meridian, 76-42, in a game that, early on, did not show signs leading to that final score.

The Mariners knocked down four 3-point shots in the first quarter, but it was the Trojan’s inside game that kept them close through the first eight minutes. 

Trojans 6-5 senior center, Daniel Larsen, worked the low post and the offensive glass, as he scored his teams first ten points, as the Trojans trailed 14-13 at the quarter.

Unfortunately for the Trojans, the buckets came too few and far in between over the nest 16 minutes of play.  During that time, the Mariners displayed excellent passing and shooting against the Trojans defense, outscoring the Trojans 36-15 over the middle two quarters.

I’ve mentioned the improvement in Xavier Kelley, the Mariners 6-3 senior forward.  If he’s not spotting up on the wings, he’s roaming through opponent’s zone defenses, and guards like senior Nolan Wright, get him the ball in the right spots.

The Mariners work the ball very well this year around the perimeter to open shooters like Kelley or junior guard, Quincy Tanovan.  Then they can work the post with 6-2 hulk, Cole Turrell.  Turrell is beginning to demand extra attention in the low post, but if you go there, he is willing to make the extra pass to the open wing.

Then there’s Wright.  A four-year starter who doesn’t have to score like he has in the past.  But when the shot clock runs low, he is still the Mariners best weapon in creating a shot.

The Lynden Christian Lyncs with a full roster got a 70-39 win at Mount Vernon on Tuesday.  The Lyncs are typically a team that can grab momentum quickly and put points on the board in bunches.  They did that in “The Palace,” against the Bulldogs, going out to a 15-2 lead.  By halftime, it was 43-18.

The Lyncs will display a three-headed monster that will be tough to slow down.  Dawson Hintz, Gunnar Dykstra, and Kaden Veldman, all juniors, will pace the Lyncs in scoring.  Against the Bulldogs, Hintz had 24, Dykstra 20, and Veldman 17.  Junior forward Reece Roberts led the Bulldogs with 13 points.

In Ferndale on Tuesday, Anacortes recovered from a slow start to handle the Golden Eagles, 72-56, in the Seahawks first game of the season. 

Just like the teams, maybe the gyms need some pre-season practice time.  This game marked the second time in one week that a varsity game could not finish in the gym they started in.  Due to a roof leak, the game was halted in the fourth quarter and moved to an auxiliary gym. 

Fortunately, they were able to finish, unlike in Lakewood last week, where a lighting issue moved the game to an auxiliary gym.  Lakewood and Lummi played the last three minutes, plus an overtime, and called it a “No Contest” at 69-69.  Had that been a league game, I’m sure another plan to finish the game would have been in place.

I was once at a game that had to be moved to another gym.  In my few seconds of research, I determined that it happened on January, 4, 2018, in a game between Nooksack Valley and Lynden Christian. 

Casey Bauman, then a 6-6 senior forward for the Pioneers, shattered a backboard in the Lyncs gym in the second half of the Lyncs 85-61 win.  The game was completed in the Lynden Christian Middle School gym. 

Back to Ferndale, before the leak, the Golden Eagles scored the final five points of the first quarter for an 18-14 lead over the Seahawks.  That lead increased to 26-16 in the middle of the second quarter.  They still led 33-26 at halftime, but that’s when their fun ended.

The Seahawks caught their wind and ran off the first 16 points of the third quarter.  By the end of the eight-minute run, the Seahawks had outscored the Golden Eagles 31-12.  Just a few seconds after that, the game was moved to the auxiliary gym. 

Senior forward Mantaj Singh had 15 for the Golden Eagles.  Seahawk senior forward Micah Dickison hit for 22, while Lucas Roberts finished with 19, and Spencer Roberts had 18.  The Seahawks may have their own three-headed monster.

As the Roberts brothers had a great night for the Seahawks on Tuesday, the Koenen brothers came through for the Lynden Lions on the same night.

Junior guard, Malachi, hit from long range early and often against Oak Harbor, netting four 3-pointers in the first half, and finished with 12 points.  Sophomore guard, Marcus, one-upped big brother by going 5-5 from the floor, including 4-4 from 3-point land.  His 15 points led the Lions to a 72-46 win over the Wildcats. 

(That happens to be the same score as the Sehome-Meridian game.  I’m into stuff like that)!

The Wildcats got 20 points from their All-League guard, Xavier Ochoa.

The game that struck me the most this past week was Blaine’s 67-62 win over Bellingham.  You can read the game story HERE.

Lynden went on to win at Squalicum, 63-33, on Thursday.  While all ten Lions scored, only five Storm players reached the scoring column.

The one Storm player who did have a good offensive night was junior Blake Elston.  The 6-2 guard is one of the best one-on-one players I’ve seen this year.  He has the ability to get into the key area, and shoot over defenders with a variety of shots, including a smooth fade-away jumper. 

Elston had 23 points on the night, which is about two-thirds of the Storms offensive output.  That percentage was a lot greater earlier in the game, as at halftime, Elston had 16 of the Storms 20 points, as the Storm found themselves down 37-16.

After spotting the Lions a 7-0 lead, the Storm stayed within a reasonable distance until the last two minutes of the first half.

The Lions led 24-16 when sophomore forward, Jayden Navarre, nailed a 3-point shot, which ignited the Lions on a 13-0 run.  That stretch included a second 3-pointer by Navarre with 25 seconds left in the half and ended with a buzzer-beating three by senior forward Spencer Adams.  The Lions then scored the first four points of the third quarter to end the run at 17-0.

Adams led the Lions with 16 points, while Navarre finished with nine.  The other eight Lions scored between two and eight points.

After Bellingham’s loss to Blaine on Wednesday, things didn’t go any better for the Bayhawks on a trip to Deming on Friday.  The Mountaineers jumped on the Bayhawks and rode a wave of momentum to a 28-9 lead at halftime and hung on for a 53-42 win.

The Bayhawks trailed 6-1 with two minutes left in the first quarter and had trouble finding the net all night.

Leading 15-7 at the midpoint of the second quarter, the Mountaineers engineered a 13-0 run that included three-pointers by junior Gage Smith and seniors Jordan Bailey and Payten Abitia.

The Bayhawks did go on a good run, as a 17-2 outburst got the Bayhawks to within four points, 37-33, with six minutes to play.  The spread stayed there until the Mountaineers found their second wind.

With 1:15 left and the Mountaineers leading 46-42, Bailey drove from the left wing around a screen by 6-5 junior, Kell Reardon, freeing Bailey for a lay-in, and a six-point Mount Baker lead.

After a Bayhawk turnover with one minute left, a Mountaineer baseline inbounds play produced some confusion for the Bayhawk defense, and Bailey fired a diagonal pass from the left wing to senior forward Jett Ross for another lay-in, and an eight-point lead.  The Mountaineers added three free throws for the final margin.

Mount Baker has now entered the portal with Blaine, as the two 1A squads who are out to close the gap in the 1A Group of Five.

Lakewood had not seen the floor since December 2, in their “no contest” game with Lummi Nation.  They had a road game at Nooksack Valley canceled on Wednesday, but finally found the hardwood again on Friday, at Oak Harbor. 

The Cougars led for all 32 minutes, but the Wildcats kept things relatively close for about 28 of those minutes.  Lakewood turned a four-point lead in the middle of the fourth quarter, into a 76-61 win.

The Cougars used their usual quick and aggressive style at both ends of the floor, to create an 8-0 lead at the start.  They led by as much as eleven points in the first quarter before the Wildcats found their groove and closed the score to 19-13 at the end of the quarter.

The Cougars lead was 60-49 entering the fourth quarter, but a 3-pointer by senior guard, Bryson Harris, brought the Wildcats to within 62-58. 

Then, leading 64-60, the Cougars outscored the Wildcats 12-1 to the finish line.

Senior forward Caleb Greenland scored 17 of his game-high 29 points in the second half.  Junior guard, Drew Egger added 13.  The Wildcats leading scorer was sophomore guard, Liam Jones, who his six 3-pointers on his way to a 20-point night.

In a game similar to Lakewood and Oak Harbor, the Sehome Mariners led from start to finish in a 58-42 win at Blaine on Saturday. 

The Mariners took an early 10-2 lead, but the Borderites crawled back to trail only 12-9 at the quarter, and 20-16 at halftime.

The Mariners started the second half with an 8-0 run for some breathing room, but again, the Borderites clawed back to trail 46-42 with 2:45 left in the game.  But the Mariners scored the last dozen points to add up to the 16-point win.

Saturday, at Lynden Christian, there were two games between teams with very high aspirations for the season, and all competing in different classifications.

Game one was the Archbishop Murphy girls, from the 2A Wesco, against Lynden Christian.  That was followed by a boys matchup between defending 1B state champions, Lummi Nation, against the Lyncs boys. 

In the girls game, the Lyncs turned a ten-point halftime deficit into a 50-47 win. 

It was the Wildcats who showed their strength and speed in the first half, as they forced several Lyncs turnovers, and dominated the offensive glass.  The Lyncs missed several “chippies” in the first half, which would have offset those two areas.

But in the second half, they made those shots and seemed to wear down the Wildcats defense.  The Lyncs held the Wildcats to just six points in the third quarter to close the gap to 33-31 with eight minutes left.

Lyncs senior guard Ella Fritts took over in the fourth quarter, as she scored ten of her 15 points.  She hit a jumper in the key to give the Lyncs a 50-47 lead with :35 seconds left. 

I their final possession, the Wildcats missed two potential game-tyers in the final seconds.

In the boys contest, the Lyncs spotted the Blackhawks an early 11-2 lead, but ended up with a 70-60 win, that was much closer than those numbers indicate.

In fact, the Lyncs had the game tied at 11-11 before the game hit the three-minute mark of the opening quarter.  The contest was tied at halftime after Lummi senior guard Jerome Toby connected on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer over the four outstretched arms of two Lyncs defenders. 

The teams played even in the third quarter, and into the fourth, until junior guard Gunnar Dykstra put the Lyncs ahead for good with 4:10 left on a 3-pointer from the right corner.  Running mate, junior Dawson Hintz, pushed the ball down court in transition, and found Dykstra spotting up.

The Blackhawks drew to within two points on a 3-pointer by Toby, 60-58 with 2:30 left.  But the Lyncs outscored the Blackhawks from there to the buzzer, 10-2.

Hintz led the Lyncs with 29 points.  Junior forward Kaden Veldman tossed in nine points in the fourth quarter, and 15 for the game.  Dykstra finished with 14.

The Blackhawks could very well be on their way to another 1B title.  Toby is a very heady point guard, much like his coach/dad was in his days playing for Ferndale.  Toby finished with 18 points.  Junior guard Landon LaFontaine added 12, and 6-8 senior center, Chayce Waite-Keller, finished with eleven.

There are five solid days of conference games this week.  The headliners include Anacortes at Sedro-Woolley, and Lynden at Lakewood on Monday.  Don’t miss Sedro-Woolley at Lynden Christian on Wednesday.  Friday has Sehome at Lynden Christian and Meridian at Blaine.

~  Ted House