Burlington-Edison’s “fourth-quarter magic” has been one of my topics in the first two weeks of the season. And we’ll hit on it here, again.
The Tigers escaped Squalicum with a win this week, using a big fourth quarter comeback which propelled them to a win in double-overtime. But the tables turned in their next game, as it was Meridian who excelled in the final minutes to get a big win over the Tigers.
Yes, you have your big guys, also stated somewhere around here. But to take control of a game, and win when the pressure is really on, it helps to have strong play at the guard position.
They are one one’s who control the tempo, and get the ball into front court. Then they have to make the best decisions when needed the most, in getting the ball to the right players at the right time, for the right shots.
Back to the Tigers where, on Monday, they played a back-and-forth contest with the Storm through three quarters and started the fourth down by three points. Halfway through the final period, they found themselves trailing 46-37.
Over the next two minutes, the Tigers ran off ten straight points, culminating in a steal and a go-ahead bucket by senior guard, Spencer Betz, who had six of the Tigers points in the run.
After a bucket by the Storm to retake the lead, Betz hit the second of two free throws to tie the game at 48-48, and neither team could score over the last two minutes of regulation.
After each team scored six points in the first overtime, the Tigers built as much as a seven-point lead in the second OT, before grinding out a 66-60 victory.
On Thursday, the Tigers luck ran out in Laurel against the Meridian Trojans, in a 72-60 loss.
The Tigers offense clicked in the first eight minutes, but the Trojans stayed close, trailing the Tigers 23-19 at the quarter.
The Tigers then went on to leads by as much as eleven points in the second quarter, but a lay-in by Trojan senior, Talon Jenkins, tied the score at 37-37 at halftime.
The Trojans turned the tables on the Tigers in the third quarter, leading by as much as eight points, until an 8-0 run by the Tigers tied the game at 54-54 at the end of the third.
Again, the Trojans built another eight-point lead, then senior forward James Hedahl stepped in front of an entry pass headed to the low post for a steal. Twelve seconds later, Hedahl gave the Trojans a ten-point lead following in a missed shot with 4:23 left.
The 1A race between the five teams will certainly be a tight one, so when one of them can knock off a 2A or 3A foe, that’s money in the bank. That was a big win for the Trojans.
However, scroll back to Monday when the Trojans kind of let one get away in a home contest against Sehome. The Mariners used a strong second half to get past the Trojans, 60-54.
The Mariners trailed 18-6 after eight minutes, and were still down 31-23 at halftime. The Trojans kept the lead at eight until the middle of the third quarter.
Junior guard Nolan Wright hit a step-back 12-footer, then after a steal, Wright hit another jumper from 15-feet, and then added two free throws. When junior forward Xavier Kelly tied the score with a put-back, the Mariners completed an 8-0 and tied the score at 38-38.
The Trojans stayed strong, building a lead back to 52-45 with 3:40 left, but would score only two more points before the final buzzer.
Meanwhile, Wright and Kelly hit back-to-back 3-point shots to close to within one with two minutes to play.
Jenkins hit two free throws for a 3-point lead with 1:35 left, but Kelly hit another bomb to tie the score just seconds later.
With a minute left, a key play was when Mariner 6-3 sophomore, Bane Mitchell, blocked a lay-in attempt by Jenkins. At the other end, Mitchell scored the go-ahead bucket for the Mariners on a five-footer, as Kelly found him open in the key after driving a lane in the Trojans zone defense.
Kelly had a big part in another key play, as Mitchell hit that previous shot, he was fouled on the play. He missed the free throw, but Kelly hustled to the right corner to track down the rebound, and keep possession for the Mariners.
The Mariners were able to run valuable seconds off the clock until Wright was fouled with 22-seconds left. However, it was only the Trojans second team foul of the quarter, so they had to commit three more fouls to put Wright on the line. He made both free throws for a four-point Mariner lead. After a Jenkins miss from 3-point range, Wright hit two more free throws to lock up the win for Sehome.
Wright scored 22 points, but it was the play of Kelly that really put the Mariners over the top. Kelly had five points in the first half, then hit a 3-pointer in the third quarter, and three more in the fourth quarter, totaling 19 points and a handful of hustle plays.
You can’t talk about good guard play without talking about what Lynden Christian is doing.
This is nothing new, as the next good one (or two) is always waiting in the wings. Even without sophomore Dawson Hintz yet this season, sophomore Gunnar Dykstra has filled that spot amicably. Though slight of frame, he is extremely strong with the ball, and shies away from no situation. He’s also an excellent shooter, much like…
…Gannon Dykstra. He can light you up at one end, and take on all customers at the other. The Dykstra duo creates fast break opportunities and are well equipped to engineer the Lyncs half-court offense.
That was all on display on Tuesday as the Lyncs made quick work of the Mount Vernon Bulldogs, 98-56.
The Bulldogs defense could not contain Gannon, who went for 20 points in the first half, with only a single 3-pointer. He finished with 30 points, with Gunner hitting three 3’s on the night, for 17 points.
The Lyncs defenders also smothered the Bulldogs best scorers, holding senior guard Michael Johnson, to a single point in the first half, and eight for the game. His running mate, senior Baron Dorsey, did fare much better, scoring eight in the first half, and eleven for the night.
The Bulldogs have several new players this year, and their best basketball is still ahead of them.
Kaden Veldman, a 6-4 sophomore forward, scored 16 for the Lyncs. LC improved to 4-0 on the season after winning at Sedro-Woolley, Thursday night, 68-54.
The Bulldogs hosted Anacortes in “The Palace” on Friday, and while it was the first time on the floor for the Seahawks, the Bulldogs were a much different team than they were on Tuesday against Lynden Christian.
The Seahawks not only displayed their new head coach, AJ Yost, but the new head coach had to wait a while for his football champions to join the basketball team, so they only had four practices as a full unit. Even with all that, Coach Yost logged his first win, as his Seahawks battled past the Bulldogs, 57-50.
AJ Yost was promoted to head coach at Anacortes after Brett Senff stepped down last spring. Despite the late start, it certainly helped that Coach Yost has been part of the system and is very familiar with the strengths of his players. It only took the Seahawks about eight minutes of game time to morph into playing shape.
The Bulldogs hit the floor with great purpose, showing the grit their team really has. Senior guard Kevin Hategekimana gave the Bulldogs early momentum and confidence, as he swished a 3-pointer from the left wing with the first shot of the game.
The Bulldogs took an 8-2 lead in just over two minutes of play and extended the lead to 15-7 on a bucket by junior forward Taran Hanjrah, scoring after pulling down an offensive rebound. After an Anacortes score, Hanjrah got another offensive board and scored again, as the Bulldogs ended the quarter with a 17-10 lead. Six Bulldogs scored in the first eight minutes.
Over the years, the Seahawks have been known for their quickness and 3-point prowess. That was certainly on display over the next eight minutes, as the Seahawks got their basketball legs under them. They outscored the Bulldogs 18-4 in the second quarter, as they hit five 3-pointers over that span.
Junior forward Micah Dickison was responsible for three of those, with seniors Jake Andrew and Ty Swapp adding the other two.
Their defense also held the Bulldogs to just two field goals for four points in the second quarter. One of the two was a lay-in by senior guard Michael Johnson, just seconds before the halftime buzzer.
While the Seahawks did hit nothing but baseline on several 3-point attempts, I would be willing to bet that they won’t shoot that many airballs over the rest of their season. Let’s chalk that up to their transition from football.
After the Seahawks took a nine-point lead early in the third quarter, the Bulldogs began to creep closer and closer. Hanjrah, again, scored two baskets thanks to two more offensive rebounds, and with a Baron Dorsey free throw in between, the five-point run brought the Bulldogs to within four points, 36-32.
The Bulldogs stayed within two possessions through the fourth quarter, but when Dickison wasn’t hitting key 3-pointers, he was taking advantage of a mismatch inside and worked the low post for several other scores.
The Bulldogs were within a point, 49-48, with 1:20 to play, but Dickison hit a 3-point shot with 1:05 left, and after a Bulldog turnover, he nailed another one with 40 seconds to play, giving the Seahawks a 55-48 lead.
After senior forward Moises Lucatero scored for the Bulldogs, they went quickly into foul-mode, but the foul with 20 seconds left was their first foul of the quarter. They spent the next six seconds using up four more fouls to finally put the Seahawks on the free throw line, but it was too little, too late.
Dickison hit five 3-pointers for the game and scored 27 points. Junior Brennan Morgenthaler added ten for the Seahawks.
Johnson led Mount Vernon with 16 points, and they may be thinking “what could have been?” What if the Bulldogs had been able to land just a couple of those “contested-but-uncontested lay-ins? The Bulldogs got to the rim several times, and missed a handful of shots that you would have thought would have gone in. But they didn’t.
One player worth the price of admission is Sedro-Woolley junior forward, Ethan DeJong. His 53 points in the Cubs first game of the season, raised a lot of eyebrows. Cubs head coach, Kevin Kesti, said there was no plan for something like that, it basically just happened that way.
On Monday at Mount Baker, he scored 24 points in the Cubs 82-56 win, then 21 more in a loss to Lynden Christian on Thursday.
He will end up averaging somewhere in the 20’s, but the Sedro-Woolley team is much improved over last year. While DeJong is certainly the key to the Cubs offense, and the guy you need to focus on, they had four players in double-figures against Mount Baker.
At home against Lynden Christian on Thursday, the Cubs had the lead through the first quarter and trailed 31-26 at halftime. The Lyncs led by seven starting the fourth quarter, and slowly built the lead to double digits, defeating the Cubs, 68-54.
Mount Baker is also bigger, faster, stronger, and better than last season, despite the one-sided loss to the Cubs. On Friday, the Mountaineers stayed close to the Bellngham Bayhawks throughout, losing 56-51.
This was on the heels of Bellingham’s 83-41 win at Blaine on Wednesday, where the Bayhawks hit a total of twelve 3-pointers on the outside, and got 17 points from junior forward Joe Harward, on the inside.
Harward looks like the kind of guy where you will bruise yourself just by looking at him.
Against the Borderites, the Bayhawks hit four 3-pointers in the first eight minutes and rolled to a 27-15 lead. Harward led five Bayhawks in double digits with 17 points.
Senior guard Harmon Wienkers scored 14 points and hit four threes. Senior Kincade Vanhouten was next with 13, then (senior) Gabe and (sophomore) Calvin Van Hofwegen added a dozen each.
On Thursday, Squalicum’s girls and boys teams traveled to Lynden to take on the Lions in a double-header. The Lynden girls won easily, 64-21, as the Storm scored just two points in the second half.
In the boys matchup, you could tell what kind of night it would be for the Squalicum offense in their first two possessions of the game.
The Storm struggled to get a shot off before the shot clock expired on their first possession and failed to do so on their second. The Lions defense was the key to their 52-34 win. They held the Storm to single digits in each of the first three quarters.
And let’s give some credit to Squalicum’s defense as well. Holding Lynden to 52 is a pretty good effort. They were able to create several turnovers by getting hands into the passing lanes, but the Lions were too good on the glass, and when they needed a bucket, they got one.
Senior forwards Brant Heppner and Jack Stapleton led the Lions with 18 and 10 points, respectively.
Squalicum’s sophomore Hunter Calloway was the only Storm shooter to get loose on occasion, collecting nine of his team-high eleven points in the first half. Senior Marcus Nixon was next with seven points, all in the fourth quarter.
Ferndale took on Mariner on Wednesday in a non-league matchup on the Golden Eagles floor, but it was the Marauders who came away with a 77-66 win.
The Golden Eagles took an early 7-0 lead but led only 18-17 at the quarter. In the second quarter, the Golden Eagles overcame a 12-point deficit to trail by only three at halftime.
The half ended as Ferndale’s 6-5 senior guard, Mantaj Singh tipped a Mariner inbounds pass to teammate, 6-5 senior Hunter Wills, near midcourt, leading to a Wills lay-in that cut the Mariner lead to 39-36 at the half.
Mariner took another 12-point lead in the third quarter, but a jumper by Ferndale’s 6-6 senior Jonah Brillowsky, gave the Golden Eagles team the lead with 7:10 left in the game.
Brillowsky scored again with 3:20 left to cut the Mariner lead to 68-66, but that would be their final points of the night.
The Golden Eagles rebounded from the loss on Saturday, leading wire-to-wire in a home win over Nooksack Valley, 55-44. Brillowsky’s 19 and 18 from Singh led the way for the Golden Eagles, who finished the week 1-0 in the conference and 2-3 in the young season. The Pioneers fell to 0-2 and 3-2.
Before that game, the Pioneers were coming off a tough road loss to Lakewood on Wednesday, 70-69.
The Pioneers took a 23-14 lead early in the second quarter, but the Cougars stormed back to tie the game at 29-29 at halftime.
The Cougars held a close lead through the third quarter, before going up by eight points early in the fourth, before Pioneer senior guard, Corey Olney nailed a 3-pointer from the left corner with 2:50 left to give the Pioneers a 62-61 lead.
The Cougars went back in the lead with a bucket at the 2-minute mark, and senior guard Evan Stacey added a crucial 3-pointer of his own with 1:40 to go, giving the Cougars a 66-62 lead.
Pioneers senior guard Caden Heutink had quick response to that, canning a volleyball line 3-pointer, just ten seconds later. That was three of Heutink’s 27 points on the night.
The Cougars were able to grab an offensive rebound off of a missed shot on their next possession. The second chance produced a lay-in by sophomore Derek Willson off of a feed by Stacey, giving the Cougars a 68-65 lead with 35 seconds left.
A Pioneer turnover and a Cougar free throw gave the Cougars an important four-point lead, before NV senior post, Brady Ackerman cut the lead in half with a bucket inside.
Cougar senior guard, Nash Espe, split two free throws with ten seconds left, and the Pioneers had one more chance, down by three. But a corner shot by senior Tristan Kamphouse, skipped off the rim. Ackerman scored on the put-back at the buzzer, but the Pioneers fell a point short.
On Saturday, Sehome lifted their NWC record to 2-0 with a 69-49 win over Blaine, at home. The Mariners are now 3-2 on the season, as Blaine fell to 0-2 and 2-3.
The game was much closer than the score will tell you, as the Borderites held a 15-14 lead after eight minutes of play.
The Mariners broke a 17-17 tie early in the second quarter as sophomore guard Quincy Tanovan hit a 3-point shot then scored on a lay-in for a 22-17 lead. The Mariners led the rest of the way, but the Borderites were able to keep the pressure on until Nolan Wright became just too much to handle.
The junior guard scored 21 of his 30 points in the second half, using a variety of jumpers off the dribble.
While the Mariners increased their lead to 15 points late in the third quarter, a 3-pointer by Borderites senior wing, Josiah Weeda, cut the lead to eight with 4:40 to play.
Wright then took over, scoring on a lay-in and then a 3-pointer. Tanovan followed that with a 3-point-play to put the game away.
Tanovan scored 19 points for the Mariners, while Weeda led the Borderites with 13.
In the final game of the week, in kind of an “NWC After Dark,” Lynden Christian won easily at Archbishop Murphy, 78-44, to increase their overall record to 5-0. This was part of a double-header with the respective girls teams. The Lyncs won that game as well, 58-54, over the Wildcats.
If that wasn’t enough action for the week, I may have set a record for consecutive days watching junior varsity games go to overtime. The new standard is now three. This happened on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. I have no complaints but put yourself in that position!
Week three of the NWC season will be another wild one, as the schedule indicates. This will be a tight league from top to bottom, so when you get that chance to grab that “W” in the fourth quarter, don’t let it slip away.
~ Ted House
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