It was a short week of basketball in the Northwest Conference as the schedule crossed from 2024 to 2025. But there were some great games. Here is a look at a few of them, with a screenshot of where we are now, and a first-look at some of the top individuals.
On Monday, Lynden hosted Archbishop Murphy. The Wildcats are one of two 2A teams whose home is the Wesco Conference. The Wildcats are in the South Division, while Marysville-Pilchuck is in the North. Those two will be future district tournament participants with the 2A’s from the NWC.
The Wildcats are much improved from last season. They are a physically strong team with good quickness. The Lions took this one 61-39, but the 22-point margin does not tell the story on how close this game actually was.
This game was the most physical game I’ve seen this season. Every loose ball was pursued like a fumbled football (which seems obvious given their gridiron history’s), and every shot that went off the rim seemed to have at least four sets of hands trying to high-point the ball on the rebound. And if you got the ball inside, you had to be especially strong, or it was gone.
Even without starters Jack Stapleton and Gordy Bedlington, the Lions were able to forge a 14-7 lead after one quarter, and an eight-point lead at halftime. As the lead fluctuated from a dozen points to just a bucket or two, the Lions were still up by eight points after three quarters.
The battle of the night was the Lions 6-6 senior (QB) Brant Heppner against the Wildcats 6-5 junior (DL) Jack Sievers. The two were most certainly familiar with each other on the football field. On the court, they worked the low post against each other several times, banging and battling all night. Heppner had ten points through three quarters, while Sievers had five, and the Lions held a 37-29 lead.
Heppner took over in the fourth quarter, igniting the Lions offense, scoring 12 of his team’s 24 points and finished with a game-high 22. Sievers scored half of his ten points in the final frame, while junior guard, Ira Smith, led the Wildcats with 11 points.
The Lions also got clutch shooting from 6-5 junior Spencer Adams, who hit a deep corner 3-pointer with a Wildcat defender nearly in his jersey. Adams accounted for 15 points and seven rebounds on the night.
The Wildcats will be very competitive no matter who they play in the district tournament. Their league schedule includes a division of only 3A teams, so their record may not reflect their ability. The loss to the Lions left their overall record at 4-6, while the Lions improved to 9-0. Like the Lions, they have only two seniors on their roster.
On Friday league action took full effect. Anacortes led Sehome 35-8 at halftime and got a 60-49 road win. Squalicum was 64-56 better than Blaine, and Lakewood hammered Ferndale, 77-49.
Sehome made a great comeback in the third quarter against the Seahawks, outscoring the Seahawks 22-6, closing the gap to 41-30 after three quarters.
The fourth quarter opened with a jumper by junior guard Nolan Wright, narrowing the deficit to nine points, but that is as close as the Mariners would get.
At Lynden Christian, the 9-1 Lyncs hosted 8-1 Burlington-Edison. The Lyncs rolled up 53 first-half points on their way to an 87-68 victory.
The Tigers strength is fueled by 6-6 junior Logan Heigert, and 6-8 senior Tim Feskov. They average 24 and 15 points per game, respectively. Feskov makes his living around the rim, as he did on this night, while Heigert can roam inside and outside.
The Lyncs usually come out firing, especially at home, and they did on this night as well. They hit four 3-pointers in less than four minutes, but three of those came from LC’s own big men. Luke VanKooten found comfort in the deep left corner, hitting his first two shots from behind the 3-point line. After a 3-pointer by sophomore guard, Gunnar Dykstra, the Lyncs 6-4 sophomore forward Kaden Veldman, scored on a 3-pointer of his own. The Lyncs led 14-7 and were only halfway done with their first quarter scoring.
Not to be outdone, senior guard Gannon Dykstra, began his 33-point night by scoring nine points in the opening quarter.
In the first half, the Lyncs were able to break through the Tigers press for open shots in transition. They hit nine 3-pointers in the first half and led 53-34.
Feskov was effective near the rim, scoring 12 of his 21 points in the first half. Heigert was the focus of the Lyncs defense and kept him from getting any offensive momentum, but still scored 18 points on the night, which included 8-8 shooting at the free throw line.
Sophomore guard Dawson Hintz hit two 3-pointers to start the third quarter for the Lyncs, as they built a 61-40 lead.
That was when the Tigers began to roll, as a 15-4 run got them back in the game. A 3-pointer by senior guard Spencer Betz right before the third quarter buzzer closed the LC gap to 68-60.
After that, the Lyncs went on a 19-2 run, as the Tigers could muster only two free throws through the first 6:43 of the fourth quarter.
Playing in his first home game of the season, Hintz scored 14 points and became the game’s “highlight reel.”
If there was any question about whether he was 100 percent after recuperating from a knee injury during football season, the two dunks he was responsible for, tell it all.
After a break-away two-hander in the first half, he thrilled the home crowd with a one-hander late in the game. The photo I have in my head is the 6-0 Hintz with eyes rim-high, and up to his elbow in rim. I don’t know if that was reality, but that’s the still photo in my mind.
Saturday afternoon, in Deming, Meridian led from start to finish in a sleepy, holiday break, 58-38 win over Mount Baker.
Here’s a lesson for post players: Run the floor! You probably don’t need to fill a lane, just get from key to key as fast as you can.
The Trojans 6-6 senior post, James Hedahl, could be the poster boy for that plan. He scored the first two buckets of the game by doing just that. He scored two more times in that manner, and could have had two more, if not for a blocked shot, and a mishandled pass. But if you do that, you will be rewarded.
The Trojans dashed out to a 19-4 lead, as their press and zone defense created easy opportunities. The first Baker field goal came with 3:40 left in the first quarter. That was the first of six straight points until Trojan senior guard, Jaeger Fyfe nailed a 3-pointer from the volleyball line at the quarter buzzer for a 22-10 lead.
The Trojans zone defense appeared similar to the zone the UW used under former coach Mike Hopkins. It looks circular, and if you can get the ball to the 12 to 15-foot area in the key, you can have an open, mostly uncontested, jump shot. It works at the collegiate level because they don’t practice 15-footers! It also works on your mind when the defense gives you wide open shots, without a challenge, and you miss them.
In this situation, MB senior forward Luke Smith benefitted from that open area. He missed his first jumper, but then connected on four others in the first half as the Mountaineers crept back to trail 31-22 at halftime.
Fyfe scored the first five points of the second half to give the Trojans a 36-22 lead. The margin reached 41-24 when 5-10 junior guard, Jordan Bailey, hit a runner in the key, and followed that with a steal and a lay-in. Sophomore post Kell Reardon hit a middle jumper, and when senior guard Chris Armbright hit a 3-point shot near the end of the quarter, the Mounties had run off nine straight points and trailed 43-35 after three quarters.
The run ended there as the Trojans 6-7 wing Talon Jenkins started the quarter with a 3-pointer, his first of the game, and the Trojans defense shut out the Mounties for the first 5:40 of the fourth quarter. Fyfe and senior guard Canyon James hit 3-pointers, and the Trojan lead increased to 20 points.
The Trojans improved to 4-1 in the NWC and 8-2 overall. They will host Lynden Christian on Monday, in a barometer of the top two 1A teams in the conference.
The Mountaineers are now 1-4 in the NWC and 5-4 on the season. They take a trip to South Whidbey on Monday, then host Blaine on Wednesday.
I love doubleheader day…
Saturday night, Lynden hosted Mount Vernon, where the Bulldogs edged the Lions 76-75 on their way to the league title last year. This time, it was the Lions logging 76 points, in their best offensive performance of the season, in a 76-53 win over the Bulldogs.
After spotting the Bulldogs a 3-2 lead, the Lions rolled off the next 17 points of the first quarter and the first two of the second for a 21-3 lead. Bulldogs senior guard Baron Dorsey hit a 3-pointer to end the run.
The night belonged to Lions 6-6 senior forward, Brant Heppner. Heppner scored at least nine points in every quarter, scoring from every distance and every angle, for a 39-point night. When he exited with 5:30 to play, the Lions led 74-38.
Michael Johnson, the Bulldogs senior guard who netted 33 points in last year’s contest, scored 17 on this night, mostly on hard drives to the basket. Dorsey scored ten points in the third quarter, and 13 for the game.
While the Lions offense has shown some inconsistency lately, their high-lo game was efficient against the Bulldogs defenses, as they hit 20-27 two-point shots for 74 percent. They also had 22 assists on 30 field goals made.
Saturday night in Oak Harbor, Sedro-Woolley came from 11 points down with 7:20 to play, to edge the Wildcats, 83-79.
The shot of the day was off the hands of Wildcats junior guard, Riley Jackson.
After Cubs junior forward Ethan DeJong scored on a lay-in with six seconds left in the half, a long inbounds pass was tossed over the Cubs press, down the right side of the floor. Jackson grabbed the ball after one bounce, and took two strides and let go a perfect 3-point running-bank shot from the right wing. The shot gave the Wildcats a 46-37 halftime lead.
Down by 11 early in the fourth quarter, the Cubs started their comeback. When junior guard Cliff Tadema nailed a 3-pointer, the Cubs had the lead for good, 73-72. That was part of an 18-2 run by the Cubs that finally ended when the Wildcats got on the board again at the two-minute mark.
The Wildcats got to within two of the Cubs after a 3-point shot by junior guard, Xavier Ochoa with 1:03 left. But the Cubs held on with defense and free throws the rest of the way.
Bellingham kept pace with the league leaders with a high scoring, 82-78 win at Nooksack Valley.
With roughly one-third of the league schedule played out, there are six teams within a single loss of each other. Right now, Lynden Christian looks like the toughest team to beat, with Lynden right there as well. But if I were either of those two, I would be wary of any of the close contenders, because here is only some of what’s on the schedule this week:
Monday: A big battle of the top two 1A teams in the league, as Lynden Christian travels to Meridian.
Tuesday: Burlington-Edison at Anacortes in the annual, “Tiger-Hawk Challenge.”
Wednesday: Lynden goes to the Cubs den to take on Sedro-Woolley.
Thursday: Pick any one of these…Mount Vernon at Ferndale in a 3A battle; Meridian at Anacortes; and Burlington-Edison at Nooksack Valley.
Friday: Sedro-Woolley at Lakewood.
Saturday: Bellingham at Lynden.
Finally, since we are about one-third of the way through the season, here is a “way-too-early” look at possible Most Valuable Player candidates in the Northwest Conference:
My top two, so far, are Lynden Christian senior, Gannon Dykstra, and Lynden’s 6-6 senior Brant Heppner.
Dykstra can score anywhere from outside the 3-point line, up to, and including, the rim. He can also create for teammates and lock down on defense.
As for Heppner, see the comments above. Heppner’s game has changed since last year, as now one of Lions two seniors, his leadership role has advanced, and his game is now baseline-to-baseline with a feathery soft touch, and rugged interior defense.
The list doesn’t stop there. We have many others who deserve some notoriety:
Micah Dickison, 6-4, junior, Anacortes
Joseph Harward, 6-3, junior, Bellingham
Logan Heigert, 6-6, junior, Burlington-Edison
Jonah Brillowsky, 6-6, senior, Ferndale
Talon Jenkins, 6-7, senior, Meridian
Michael Johnson, 6-2, senior, Mount Vernon
Xavier Ochoa, 6-3, junior, Oak Harbor
Ethan DeJong, 6-4, junior, Sedro-Woolley
Nolan Wright, 5-10, junior, Sehome
Marcus Nixon, 6-3, senior, Squalicum
Of those 12 players, there are six seniors and six juniors which will play well for next year’s depth and competitiveness.
~ Ted House
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