MOUNTLAKE TERRACE — The Mountlake Terrace boys basketball team allowed 72 points in its loss to Shorewood on Monday, which didn’t sit well with the Hawks. Tuesday night, they had a much stronger defensive showing against Wesco 3A South-leading Glacier Peak.
It didn’t hurt having 32 points from Greg Bowman, either.
The Mountlake Terrace senior posted a double-double and the Hawks defense held the Grizzlies to 20 points fewer than Shorewood as they rebounded with a 65-52 league win Tuesday night at Mountlake Terrace High School.
“For us to be successful, the guys knew what they had to do on the defensive end,” Mountlake Terrace head coach Nalin Sood said. “We’re not going to win a lot of games giving up 72. We’ll have a chance at 52. That’s what it came down to today, was the determination and focus to play good defense.”
Mountlake Terrace decided before the game they wanted to limit Glacier Peak to a certain number of points. The Hawks were successful in that regard.
Barely.
“We actually put a number up on the board before the game that we wanted to limit them to: 52,” Bowman said. “That’s what it turned out to be.”
On the offensive side, Bowman scored 18 of his points in the first half and finished the game with 15 rebounds. Glacier Peak’s best offensive spurt — a 10-0 run in the second quarter — came largely while Bowman was resting.
He returned to the game and promptly ended the streak with a basket in the post for Mountlake Terrace.
“Greg’s one of the best players in the area,” Glacier Peak head coach Brian Hunter said. “He would be the best player on most teams, and that’s pretty special to have. The best game I’ve seen him play was tonight.”
The senior shot 8-for-8 from the field in the first half and didn’t miss a shot until two and a half minutes into the third quarter. Bowman quickly recovered with an offensive rebound and putback during a 7-0 Hawks run to start the quarter.
“I just attacked the lanes,” said Bowman, who also is a strong 3-point shooter. “They were giving me the drives — I think they were trying to take the outside shot away a little bit. I was just being aggressive and going to the hoop.”
After holding a one-point advantage at halftime, Mountlake Terrace began to pull away in the third quarter. The Hawks outscored Glacier Peak 35-23 in the second half. Mountlake Terrace post Loren Lacasse had 12 of his 20 points in the final two quarters and added eight rebounds for the Hawks.
“I think Loren did a good job,” Sood said. “He had 20 (points). That’s no slouch. He worked his tail off and did a great job rebounding and handling the ball for us.”
Sood said the quick turnaround from the Shorewood game was good for the Hawks, because it didn’t give them a lot of time to focus on the previous night’s loss.
“It was great to come back out because in practice all we’re probably going to do is be dwelling on the negative,” Sood said. “We needed to go back out and reestablish ourselves. Reestablish our confidence and what we feel we can do on the court. You’ve got to go take the test again. (Playing so soon) wasn’t the worst thing in the world.”
Mountlake Terrace (3-1 league, 8-2 overall) found its winning ways against a Glacier Peak (3-1, 9-3) team that was in first place in the Wesco 3A South standings. The Hawks’ win means that Mountlake Terrace, Glacier Peak and Shorewood are all tied with a 3-1 conference record. Which makes every league game all the more important.
“I think it was a big game,” Bowman said. “Down the stretch you’re going to look back at these games and you want to have them. It’s a tough league and you want to get any one you can.”
Trey Chambers had 18 points and Luke Neill finished with 12 for Glacier Peak, which had trouble dealing with the size of Mountlake Terrace’s players. The Hawks have three players listed at 6-foot-6 or taller. The Grizzlies have one. As a result, Mountlake Terrace out-rebounded Glacier Peak 30-17.
“The key to Terrace, Terrace wins games on offensive rebounds,” Hunter said. “If you look at their scoring, they have a tremendous amount of putbacks. They can really do some damage against your defense because you can play great defense, force a tough shot and they’ll get the rebound and put it back in.”
Hunter said that, like Mountlake Terrace, Glacier Peak will try to move on from this loss quickly.
“It’s so early. It’s (league) game four,” Hunter said. “There’s a lot of basketball left to play. ? It’s just a long season. Tomorrow is about getting better.”
At Mountlake Terrace H.S.
Glacier Peak 13 16 11 12 — 52
M. Terrace 17 13 16 19 — 65
Glacier Peak—Ty Deckwa 0, Bobby Brooks 2, Ty Kjellesvik 4, Brady Southard 8, Nick Allan 8, Luke Neill 12, Trey Chambers 18. Mountlake Terrace—Isaiah Green 5, Yonnas Tewolde 0, Prescott Day 0, Gabe Altenberger 0, Matthew Moisant 0, Greg Bowman 32, Loren Lacasse 20, Yoel Tekle 8. 3-point goals—Neill 1, Chambers 1, Lacasse 2. Records—Glacier Peak 3-1 league, 9-3 overall. Mountlake Terrace 3-1, 8-2.
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