SNOHOMISH — When the Panthers need consistency, they lean on The Rock.
Senior forward Jonathan McGee, AKA The Rock, according to his head coach, is the Snohomish High School boys basketball team’s most reliable player. He came through again for the Panthers on Thursday in a Western Conference North Division clash.
The 6-foot-5 McGee scored 13 points (six in the fourth quarter) and grabbed 11 rebounds to help lift Snohomish past the Arlington Eagles 56-51.
“Jon’s our rock. He’s averaging 10 rebounds a game and shooting over 50 percent and communicating (well),” said Snohomish coach Len Bone, whose team improved to 5-3 in division (6-6 overall).
Set up by Trevor Carlson’s assist, McGee scored from the left post with 1 minute, 40 seconds to go and gave Snohomish a 50-45 lead. Arlington had a few chances down the stretch but never got closer than four points the rest of the way. McGee hauled in a big defensive rebound with 16 seconds to go that helped seal it.
“I just like to think that when that ball goes up, it’s mine,” he said. “In practice I try to get every single board I can and it seems to transfer over to the game.”
“He’s been our one steady player. We’ve had other guys who have been kind of up and down but Jon’s been pretty much (always) there,” Bone said.
Arlington (4-4 North, 7-5) and Snohomish, both 4A schools, came into the game tied for fourth in the division. By the end of the regular season, the top four North teams will earn automatic berths into the 4A District 1 tournament; the fifth-place 4A team will advance to a play-in game.
Now that both teams are halfway through their 16-game division schedule, they can reflect a bit on what they’ve done well and what they need to work on.
“It’s just another step forward,” said McGee. “We’ve been having a little bit of a tough time since we have some younger kids trying to fill those shoes (but) they haven’t even played in a varsity game until this season, so they’re just totally stepping up.”
“If we keep taking those little steps forward,” McGee added, “we’ll go pretty far in districts and start getting some of our long-term goals going.”
Snohomish’s top scorer in the game was senior guard Blane Ortiz (17 points; 11 in the second half). McGee and Ortiz are the only Panthers who came into the season with varsity experience. Ortiz missed the first six games because of a team rules violation but has played well since returning.
“He was out for (making a) bad decision,” said Bone.
Whether he was slicing to the hoop, drawing contact and earning foul shots, or making smart passes, Ortiz made many good decisions on the court versus Arlington.
“He’s definitely helped us out with driving and getting guys to commit and dumping (the ball) over,” said McGee. “It’s nice to have someone else who also has experience to help move things along instead of just me barking at everybody.”
The Arlington-Snohomish rematch is on Feb. 11 at Arlington. It will be the final league game of the season for both teams. Before then, Arlington coach Nick Brown hopes his team progresses in several areas.
“We need to really make sure we just bring it every night,” Brown said. “It’s this thing where we’re really young and so we’re trying to figure out how to (give consistent effort each game).”
Four juniors led the way for Arlington: forward Blake Petersen (11 points), guard/forward Eric Carlson (10 points), guard Griffin Ginnis (10 points) and point guard Zach Cooper (seven points, two 3-pointers).
The loss ended Arlington’s win streak at four. Coach Brown pointed to unforced turnovers, struggles against Snohomish’s matchup zone defense and poor rebounding.
Arlington doesn’t have time to dwell on the defeat. The Eagles play at first-place Lake Stevens (8-0, 9-3) tonight.
At Snohomish H.S.
Arlington9111219—51
Snohomish1571816—56
Arlington — E. Carlson 10, Cooper 7, Petersen 11, Ginnis 10, Smith 3, Brummel 6, Davis 2, Ladines 2. Snohomish — Hamlin 7, Ortiz 17, Simpson 4, McGee 13, Steele 9, T. Carlson 4, Reichenberger, Sterley, Caldwell, Savage 2. 3-point goals — Cooper 2, Smith 1. Records — Arlington 4-4 in division, 7-5 overall. Snohomish 5-3, 6-6.
Mike Cane: mcane@heraldnet.com. Check out the prep sports blog Double Team at www.heraldnet.com/doubleteam.
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