M-P coach jumping for joy in district win
Published 11:26 pm Wednesday, February 13, 2008
MARYSVILLE — When Bary Gould jumps up from the bench, it means his Marysville-Pilchuck boys basketball team either did something wrong or did something really well.
Wednesday night, with the way the Tomahawks were passing the ball, it was almost always the latter. And Gould sure did a lot of jumping.
Marysville-Pilchuck gave its coach much to applaud in a first-round 4A District 1 contest, as it carved up Jackson’s defense en route to a 69-57 victory. Whether it was against a man-to-man defense in building a lead, or a trapping defense in keeping a lead, the Tomahawks found open looks all night.
“That’s a huge part of every set we run,” Gould said. “It’s no big mystery what we do. We run a flex and we need to hit guys when they’re open for it to work. We did find the open man tonight.”
With the win, Marysville-Pilchuck moves on to face Edmonds-Woodway in a winner-to-state semifinal at 8 p.m. Saturday. Jackson will take on Lake Stevens in a loser-out game at 2 p.m. Saturday.
Twice in Wednesday night’s victory, the Tomahawks just beat period-ending buzzers with 3-point buckets. The first one, by Blake Scheller, gave Marysville-Pilchuck a 16-15 lead at the end of the first quarter and marked the final time it would trail. The later one, by Nick Soriano, made it 50-36 to end the third and marked the Tomahawks’ largest lead.
Those were two of only three 3-point shots Marysville-Pilchuck had the entire game. The rest of the time, the Tomahawks simply drove the lane and dished off to post players for easy layups or guards for short jumpers.
They made it look elementary.
“Having the lead made a lot of difference,” point guard Ryan Lanphere said. “When we have the lead, the crowd is into it and our emotions are high. And it’s just so much better than having to worry about coming back.”
Taylor Stevens once again led the Tomahawks with 27 points and eight rebounds. He got going early, dropping in four of his team’s first six field goals. His three-point play on the third possession of the second period made the score 22-15 and four more points from the 6-foot-6 senior before the end of the half helped Marysville-Pilchuck take a 34-27 lead into the break.
A putback by Stevens and a 3-point bucket from Colin Thomason to start the second half made it 39-27, and gave the Tomahawks full control of the game.
In the fourth period, Jackson attempted a trapping defense. But with Marysville-Pilchuck’s ball handling — and, of course, exceptional passing — the effort was to no avail.
“We put a message on the board before the game, defining the word ‘poise’,” Gould said. “We knew they wanted to press us and cause us to hurry, but our poise was great.”
Gould added that the district victory was special for his six seniors. M-P went two and out at district last season.
“It’s huge. It’s the first time we’ve experienced this in three years and it’s incredible,” he said. “The guys have been hearing over and over again that, if Marysville-Pilchuck can’t win a district game with two Division I kids, how are they going to win without two Division I kids. They’ve been out to prove people wrong.”
At Marysville-Pilchuck H.S.
Jackson15121121—57
M-P17171419—69
Jackson — Todd 17, Kingma 14, Bray 12, Sullivan 6, Gootee 6, Oh 2, Koch, Gay. M-P — Stevens 27, Scheller 16, Thomason 15, Forsythe 6, Soriano 3, Lovell 2, Lanphere, Kelly, Greene. 3-point goals — Kingma 2, Scheller 1, Thomason 1, Soriano 1. Records — Jackson 11-11 overall. M-P 15-7.
