Mountlake Terrace plays tough, still falls to Foss

Published 11:40 pm Wednesday, March 4, 2009

TACOMA — The Mountlake Terrace Hawks’ game plan almost worked perfectly. All that was missing was a victory.

Despite successfully slowing the game down and preventing the speedy Foss Falcons from running them off the court, the Mountlake Terrace High School boys basketball team lost 42-39 against Foss Wednesday in a first-round Class 4A state tournament game at the Tacoma Dome.

Terrace (17-7) got within one point when Karsten Strieby made a 12-foot jump shot with 3.6 seconds to go. But Nate Walker made two free throws for Foss (21-5) and Terrace was unable to get off a 3-point shot before the buzzer.

“We had a chance,” Mountlake Terrace coach Nalin Sood said, “(but) I don’t think we’re going to walk out of here complacent with that because I didn’t see anything in the (tournament) program about moral victories.”

Strieby, a senior post, led Terrace with 17 points, 12 rebounds and three assists. He was six of 13 from the field and 5-for-7 on free throws.

District 1 runnerup Mountlake Terrace plays Eisenhower (25-2) at noon today in a loser-out consolation game.

Fueled by Strieby, Terrace played well in the third quarter and several times led by two points. Strieby, who scored just two points in the first half, erupted for 11 in the third period on a variety of driving layins and mid-range shots.

In the fourth quarter, he made one of two foul shots to tie it at 35-35 with 4 minutes, 31 seconds remaining. Foss responded with a 5-0 scoring run, but the Hawks hung tough.

Strieby’s final basket sliced Foss’ advantage to 40-39. That was the final bright spot for Terrace though.

“The game plan worked perfectly. We had a good opportunity to win, right to the end,” Strieby said, “and it didn’t work out.”

For awhile, it looked like hyper-quick Foss was going to throttle Mountlake Terrace. The Hawks were down 20-11 with a few minutes to go in the first half and struggled to get decent looks at the basket on offense. But Terrace closed the second quarter with a 7-0 scoring run.

Strieby ignited the burst with a driving layin (his only points of the half), and his fast-break assist set up Jaykob Sells for a three-point play that cut it to 20-18 with three seconds remaining before halftime.

Sells finished with seven points, five rebounds and two steals.

Foss’ top scorers were Walker (12 points, eight rebounds) and DeAndre Sutton (11 points, 10 boards).

“They’re an athletic and fast team,” Strieby said. “We just had to slow the game down and pound the ball down low.”

Terrace, making its first state-tourney appearance since 2005, achieved its goal of limiting Foss’ fast-break offense. “We thought if we held them under 50 (points) we’d have a chance,” Sood said.

“They were very good at getting back in the paint and protecting the back,” first-year Foss coach Mike Cocke said. “We really wanted to get out and go … and run, and they stuck to their zone.”

Cocke, whose team plays Curtis 7 p.m. tonight in the quarterfinals, praised Terrace’s Strieby, a 6-foot-7 post who showed he can score from a variety of angles.

“He’s a solid player,” Cocke said. “He’s got a little Dirk Nowitzki to his game.”

At the Tacoma Dome

M. Terrace711138—39

Foss8121111—42

Mountlake Terrace — J. Sells 7, Clingan 4, R. Sells 4, Strieby 17, Stracener 7, Champoux 0, Estrada 0. Foss — Payne 7, Walker 12, Byrd 0, Cruell 0, Brown 0, Lewis 0, McClain 5, Thompson 7, Sutton 11. 3-point goals — Sutton 3. Records-Mountlake Terrace 17-7. Foss 21-5.

Mike Cane: mcane@heraldnet.com. Check out the prep sports blog Double Team at cmg-northwest2.go-vip.net/heraldnet/doubleteam.