Terrace forced to turn to plan B

Published 11:47 pm Tuesday, November 30, 2010

MARYSVILLE — Forced to play an uptempo style due to the loss of 6-foot-9 center Ryan Swanstrom, Mountlake Terrace harassed the Marysville-Pilchuck boys basketball team into 24 turnovers while streaking to a 66-44 nonconference season-opening win on Tuesday night at Marysville-Pilchuck High School.

Swanstrom, a senior center, broke his ankle in the first hour of the first Mountlake Terrace practice this season, prompting head coach Nalin Sood to implement a scheme more focused on pressure defense and quick-hit offense.

“This is how we have to play,” Sood said. “We go into games thinking this is going to be our best chance to be successful. We conditioned for it, we practiced for it and some nights it’s going to work and some nights it’s not going to look that great.”

Senior post Julian Snow, who at 6-foot-1 was dwarfed by M-P’s Jeffery Miles (6-11) and Ryan Shannon (6-7), scored a game-high 20-points as the Hawks used a 14-4 run ending the third quarter to break open the contest.

“Even though we don’t have a lot of height, I still think we’ve got guys who can get to the basket, I still think we’ve got some interior toughness,” Sood said.

Snow provided the toughness Tuesday night, working hard for points in the paint and utilizing a frame more suitable for a football linebacker to clear space around the basket.

“We just had to move the ball and get to the open guy,” Snow said. “We just made that one extra pass and they found me down low against them.”

The Tomahawks (0-1 overall) failed to settle down against Mountlake Terrace’s (1-0) full-court pressure defense.

Shannon, M-P’s top returner from last season, struggled shooting from the floor. The junior netted 13 points, but didn’t score his first field goal until there were 7 minutes to go in the third quarter.

Miles, who played sparingly on junior varsity last season, according to head coach Bary Gould, made an impact with 17 points, but the Tomahawks failed to gain traction in their half-court sets.

“They’re not really trying to get steals, they’re just trying to work us up into a lather and make us rush some stuff and that’s exactly what we did,” Gould said referring to the Hawks’ pressure. “You can’t turn the ball over that often and expect to win a basketball game.

“Against the press, if you can run a disciplined, continuity offense — which we have — and set great screens, you’re going to get wide open lanes. We didn’t have the patience or the poise to be able to do that,” Gould added. “We’ll get better.”

M-P shot 30.6 percent from the field (15-for-49), while committing 24 turnovers (14 in the first half).

Junior guard Nate Williams hit two 3s in the fourth quarter to finish with 10 points for the Tomahawks.

Without Swanstrom until “late December or early January” according to Sood, Mountlake Terrace converted high-percentage shots on the fast break. The Hawks shot 48.1 percent (26-for-54) while barely losing the rebounding battle 32-31.

Along with Snow’s 20 points, sophomore Blake Fernandez and senior Zach Karels added 10 points each and senior Mitch Haldane pitched in 12 points including a 3-pointer with 4:47 to go in the game that gave Mountlake Terrace a 56-37 lead.

At Marysville-Pilchuck H.S.

M. Terrace10132122—66

Marysville-Pil.6111116—44

Mountlake Terrace — Johnson 0, Powell 7, Nguyen 0, Fernandez 10, Karels 10, Armstead 0, Haldane 12, Lambert 7, Snow 20. Marysville-Pilchuck — Shannon 13, Kiblinger 4, Co. Dockendorf 0, Williams 10, Oden 0, Apel-Henderson 0, Ch. Dockendorf 0, Miles 17. 3-pointers — Haldane 2, Fernandez 1, Williams 2. Records — Mountlake Terrace 1-0 overall. Marysville-Pilchuck 0-1.