Stanwood takes down Lake Stevens 73-50
Published 11:39 pm Saturday, January 12, 2008
STANWOOD — Maintaining momentum after building a big lead is critical in the game of basketball.
The Stanwood Spartans boys team took a 19-point lead into halftime against the Lake Stevens Vikings, and Stanwood wing Kale Schmidt made sure the Spartans didn’t let down, connecting for 12 of his game-high 25 points in the third quarter as Stanwood pulled away for the 73-50 Wesco North victory on Saturday night.
Schmidt had two layups, a 15-foot jump shot, and a pair of 3-pointers in the final 5:00 of the third quarter as Stanwood opened up a huge lead over the Vikings.
“We’ve had trouble with (the third quarter) in past games and we just wanted to come out and put them away in the third quarter and just kept it going the whole game,” Schmidt said afterward. “People were getting me the ball and it just kept going in.”
Stanwood entered the contest tied for third place in the Wesco North standings, a game back of second-place Lake Stevens. With the victory, Stanwood moves into a tie for second with the Vikings.
The Spartans came out aggressive from the opening minutes and used their hot perimeter shooting to run out to a 19-9 lead after one quarter.
“I thought our kids came out with great intensity,” Stanwood coach Zach Ward said. “Guys were very active on defense…(Lake Stevens) didn’t get many open shots and we rebounded really well in the first half.”
Stanwood connected for five first-half 3-pointers and when they failed to drop, 6-foot-8 post Patrick Zweber and 6-3 post Zack Johnson were potent on the offensive glass to collect several second-chance baskets.
“That’s something we’ve worked on the last couple weeks,” Ward added. “We have a height advantage and I don’t think we’ve been using it enough, so we’ve been focusing on that the last couple weeks and our big guys came to play tonight.”
In contrast to the Spartans’ hot start, the Vikings struggled to establish their perimeter shooting and seemed flustered by the Spartans’ zone defense throughout the contest.
“(Stanwood) was more passionate and more ready to go at the beginning of the game,” Lake Stevens coach Mark Hein said. “That’s disappointing because that’s something we pride ourselves in a lot.”
Not only did Stanwood’s zone defense and rebounding advantage confound the Vikings, the Spartans also shredded Lake Stevens’ full-court press, something that pleased Ward.
“It’s something we work on,” he said. “Coming into the year we had some inexperienced guards, so it’s been a goal of ours all season to work on handling pressure.”
Lake Stevens scored four straight points to open the third quarter to climb to within 15 at 37-22 with 5:50 to play before Schmidt went to work. He had his transition layups and a 15-footer with 3:50 to play. His 3-pointers at the 1:40 mark and 10-second mark made it 53-30 Stanwood after three quarters of play, and Lake Stevens got no closer than19 the rest of the way.
“It was pretty important,” Schmidt said of the win. “We came in and we were ready to go at the beginning and we just didn’t let up the whole game.”
Stanwood’s Johnson added 16 points.
Sean Stickney had 11 points and Dustin Adams and Ryan Legg each had 10 to lead Lake Stevens.
“Stanwood just played spectacular,” Hein conceded. “They shot the ball incredibly well, they came out ready to go and they played great.”
At Stanwood High School
Lake Stevens 9 9 14 18 —50
Stanwood 19 18 16 20 —73
Lake Stevens—Pilon 4, Russum 2, Dodge 5, Adams 10, Carter 6, Legg 10, Elfeghih, Kurisu 2, Stickney 11, Schneider. Stanwood—Klempel 6, Schmidt 25, Orcutt 3, Edlund 6, Williams 6, Johnson 16, Lawrence 4, Zweber 5 Haugstad, Zipp, Chabot 2, Hushagen. 3 point goals—Adams 2, Schmidt 5, Orcutt 1, Klempel 1, Zweber 1, Dodge 1, Stickney 1, . Records—Lake Stevens: 6-3 league, 10-3 overall. Stanwood: 6-3, 7-6.
