Tommies struggle late, lose opener

Published 12:20 am Wednesday, November 28, 2007

MOUNT VERNON — After waiting so long, it seemed a bit cruel Marysville-Pilchuck had to wait an extra four minutes to score in its season opener Tuesday night.

Still, those four minutes aren’t what sunk the Tomahawks. No, what did them in was a drought later in the game.

And Michael Caswell.

After falling in an early seven-point hole, then climbing back to forge a real battle with Mount Vernon, Marysville-Pilchuck went cold again in the fourth period and lost 64-50 in a boys basketball contest at Mount Vernon High School.

The Tomahawks mounted just one field goal the first four minutes of the fourth, as the host Bulldogs quickly turned a six-point lead into a commanding 60-44 advantage.

“I hope those droughts are just part of it being early in the season,” M-P head coach Bary Gould said. “Basketball is a game of runs and the team that makes the fewest mistakes and the most runs is going to win. We had some ups and downs and they had some ups and downs, but their downs weren’t quite as down.”

Caswell, a 6-3 senior guard, scored 19 of his team-high 21 points in the second half for the Bulldogs. Included in those were 10 over a four-minute span, just when it seemed as if Marysville-Pilchuck was ready to make its move.

Mount Vernon needed every bit of Caswell’s effort, just to equalize the damage done by Tomahawks senior Taylor Stevens. The 6-6 center scored 27 points, pulled down eight rebounds and blocked one shot while dominating the paint.

“He had a good night. He’s a tough player,” Gould said. “He wasn’t playing a lot last year, but he was backing up a 6-10, Division I player. And he’s improved a lot.”

Stevens’ presence was significant enough to cause Mount Vernon to try a different strategy, spreading out on offense and applying trapping pressure on defense. That made it a game for the guards and enabled Caswell to take over.

“We have a couple different ways we can apply pressure, but it wasn’t going to be a big emphasis for us. We just wanted to do that because we didn’t want to go man against their big guys, but now it seems like it was a great idea,” Mount Vernon head coach Torey Swanson said. “I think we wanted to just wear them down with it and it paid off in the fourth quarter.”

Marysville-Pilchuck led 37-36 late in the third period, before Swanson rattled off five quick points and Matt Woodard scored on a putback to give the Bulldogs a 45-39 lead heading into the fourth.

In the final frame, the Tomahawks managed three free throws in the first three minutes, but didn’t get a field goal until a layup from Stevens at the 4:10 mark. By that time, it was 51-42. Another three-point play from Caswell sparked a 7-0 run and basically put the game away.

Stevens was one of two Tomahawks in double figures, as senior forward Colin Thomason finished with 13 points. Mount Vernon senior Eric Jensen also had 19.

After falling behind 7-0, the Tomahawks pulled ahead 11-10 late in the first and led 19-14 after a steal and layin by Stevens with 5:30 left before halftime. The Bulldogs responded with an 8-0 run and went into the break ahead 26-23.

At Mt. Vernon H.S.

M-P11121611—50

Mt. Vernon12141919—64

Marysville-Pilchuck—Stevens 27, Thomason 13, Scheller 4, Kelly 3, Greene 2, Lovell 1. Mt. Vernon—Caswell 21, Jensen 19, Kingshott 9, Walser 9, Woodward 7, Taylor 3, Baylis 2. 3-point goals: M-P—Stevens 2, Kelly 1. Mt. Vernon—Jensen 3, Caswell 2, Kingshott 1. Records: M-P 0-1 overall. Mt. Vernon 1-0.