Nothing Too Scary on Friday the 13th

Eight boys district tournament games filled the evening of Friday the 13^th.  There were more important things to attend to than Jason and his hockey mask. 

Before I analyze the two games I saw in The Palace at Mount Vernon High School, let’s take a look at what else happened in the night’s district tournament action.

1A Boys

At Lynden Chistian, the top-seeded Lyncs (21-1) could not shake the #4^th seed Blaine Borderites (5-18) until the final two minutes, in their 66-54 win.  The Borderites were within four points with six minutes to play.  They stayed within ten points of the Lyncs until the final two minutes of the game.

At Meridian, #3 Nooksack Valley pulled in front of the Trojans late in the second quarter and held on for a 65-61 win.  That sends the Pioneers (9-13) to the championship game against Lynden Christian, Tuesday, February 17, at 715pm, at Lynden High School.  The winner gets a state tournament berth.

The Trojans (6-15) will play Blaine, Friday, February 20, at 715pm, also at Lynden High School.  That is a loser out contest, with the winner advancing to Saturday’s game for second place against the LC-Nooksack loser.  That game will start at 2:50pm, also at LHS.

3A Boys

The Sedro-Woolley Cubs and the Mount Vernon Bulldogs both lost on Friday, and, as luck will have it, now have to play each other in a loser out game, Tuesday, February 17, at 700pm, at Sedro-Woolley High School.  The winner advances to a winner to state game on Saturday, February 21, at 130pm, at Jackson High School.

The #5 seeded Cubs (17-5) lost to #4 Shorewood, 63-45, at Shorewood on Friday.  The Bulldogs (11-11) were beaten by #1 Edmonds-Woodway, 54-38.

2A Boys

In the consolation round, the Burlington-Edison Tigers eliminated the Bellingham Bayhawks, 69-64.  The game was in doubt until inside the final minute.

The #8 seeded Bayhawks finish the season with a record of 9-14.  The #5 Tigers (15-7) advance to the next round and will take on Sehome, Monday, February 16, at 730pm, at MVHS.  The Mariners, ironically, beat the Tigers on the last day of the regular season, by the same score, 69-64.  Sehome lost to Anacortes in one district semifinal game on Friday, 66-57. 

Lakewood, the #4 seed, was beaten by #1 Lynden, 61-46, in the other semifinal game at MVHS on Friday.  The Cougars will take on #7 Squalicum (10-11) in a loser out game, also on Monday, at MVHS, at 530pm. 

The Storm advanced by beating #6 Archbishop Murphy, 54-50, in overtime, in a loser out game on the Wildcats floor. 

The Storm trailed the Wildcats 25-7 in the middle of the second quarter and tied the game at 40-40 on two free throws by freshman guard, Cody Le, with 1:44 to play in regulation. 

Both teams suffered through empty possessions until Wildcat freshman guard, Vlad Bondarchuk, scored inside with 12 seconds remaining.  But Storm junior guard, Blake Elston, took the inbounds pass and raced to the rim at the other end, scoring and tying the game at 42-42 with four seconds left.  The Wildcats had one final shot from the baseline, but it fell short at the buzzer.

In overtime, the Wildcats were down by two points, but missed a tying shot with 25 seconds remaining.  That led to a run-out lay-in by senior Ansen Asbjornsen that gave the Storm a 53-49 lead with 20 seconds to go. 

Wildcat sophomore Lucas Atkins hit a free throw with six seconds left to pull the Wildcats to within three, but Storm junior, Orion Granberg-Kiddle matched that with four seconds left to build the lead back to four points, and the final margin. 

The Wildcats finish the season with a record of 11-11.

On the consolation side, #7 Squalicum will play #4 Lakewood, and #5 Burlington takes on #3 Sehome.  Both games are on Monday at MVHS.  Both games are loser out, and the winners will play on Thursday, February 18, at 730pm.  That game will determine third place, but that team will still have work to do. 

The third-place winner will travel to somewhere in Eastern Washington to play the third-place team from District 5.  If #1 Selah and #2 Grandview get through to the championship game, that would leave #3 Prosser or #4 Ellensburg as the most likely opponents. 

All that funnels us down to the final two 2A boy’s games, played at MVHS on Friday night.  I didn’t think seeds would make much of a difference based on the close competitiveness of the teams involved, but so far, the seeds have held up.

#1 Lynden (17-6) and #2 Anacortes (19-4) will play for the District 1 championship, Thursday, February 19, at 730pm, at MVHS.  Here is how they got there.

In the first game of the evening, Anacortes, who beat the Mariners 49-33 in January, never trailed on their way to a 66-57 (NOT 60-57) win, advancing them to the district championship game.

The Seahawks man-to-man defense was the key, as the quickness of their perimeter defenders kept them close to Sehome’s outside shooters.  The defense of Seahawks senior Brennan Morgenthaler, who was the first one assigned to Mariners leading scorer, Xavier Kelley, must also be recognized.  Kelley, who got very few touches early on, did not hit his first shot until the 2:40 mark of the second quarter. 

The Seahawks scored the first eight points of the second quarter to take a 23-12 lead.  The Mariners closed the gap to six, but the Seahawks led 31-21 at halftime. 

At the start of the third quarter, in a switch to create more opportunities for Kelley, he moved to the point guard position on offense and used the high screens from senior forward Cole Turrell to get free of Seahawk defenders.  Kelley got three shots early in the quarter, hitting one, but the Mariners fell behind 38-25 at the 5:15 mark.

But, that one shot got Kelley going because, even against constant pressure, he began to hit shots, netting ten points in the quarter.  But the Mariners still trailed by ten at the end of the third quarter.

That ten-point deficit was largely due to the sudden “offense” the Seahawks got from Morgenthaler.  He scored seven points in the third quarter and ended up scoring 12 of his 13 points in the second half. 

The Seahawks, whose largest lead was 18 points in the third quarter, built the lead back up to 14 when junior guard Lucas Robers scored back-to-back buckets.  The second came as he forced a turnover in the Mariners back court, and turned it into a lay-in, for a 59-45 lead with 4:27 left. 

The Mariners cut the Seahawks lead to 61-54 on a free throw by Kelley, but senior forward Micah Dickison and junior guard Spencer Roberts went 6-for-6 at the free throw line in the final 34 seconds.

Dickison led the Seahawks’ balanced offense with 15 points.  Lucas Roberts added 14, Morgenthaler 13, and 10 for Spencer Roberts.

Kelley and senior forward Carter Duckworth led the Mariners with 14 points each.  Senior guard Nolan Wright finished with 13, and 12 for junior guard Quincy Tanovan. 

The Mariners (15-7) will take on Burlington-Edison in a loser out game on Monday at 730pm.  The Mariners are 2-0 against the Tigers this season, winning 73-57 in a non-league contest in December, and 69-64 in their final regular season game.

Lynden advanced to the district championship game, as they led wire-to-wire over Lakewood, 61-46.

With similarities to the first game of the evening, it was defense that was the difference.

The Lions man-to-man defense was able to stay close to the many 3-point shooters that the Cougars have, not letting them have easy “catch and shoot” opportunities. 

Senior guard Caleb Greenland was the one who drew constant pressure from three different Lions, as both teams struggled to find the net in the first quarter, as the Lions held just a 7-2 lead after eight minutes. 

The Lions lead stretched to 21-7 when sophomore forward Jayden Navarre hit a 3-pointer and senior forward Spencer Adams hit his second 3-point shot of the quarter.  Senior forward Ty Jorgenson went to work around the rim, and the Lions led 27-16 at halftime. 

The Lions opened the game up in the third quarter by scoring the first eight points for a 35-16 lead.  Jorgenson and Adams worked the high-low game as they combined for 12 third quarter points, and the Lions led 43-22.  The six third quarter points scored by the Cougars was their second single-digit quarter of the game.

To that point, Greenland had scored only 12 points in what was very much an off night for Lakewood’s all-time scoring leader.  He would double that output in the fourth quarter, but the closest the Cougars could get was 13 points.

The Lions were quick enough to stay with the Lakewood guards on the perimeter, while the 6-6 Adams and the 6-7 Jorgenson proved to be too much for the much smaller Cougars to defend inside.  The Lions held a 40-19 rebound advantage. 

Adams’ 21 points led the Lions, with Jorgenson working the low area for 18.  Greenland’s 24 led the Cougars, as he was the only one in double-figures.

The Cougars (14-7) fall to the consolation round, and will take on the surprising #7 Squalicum Storm, Monday, at 530pm, at MVHS. 

The Lions (17-6) will play Anacortes for the district championship, Thursday, at 730pm. 

~ Ted House