Monroe one win away

Published 10:12 pm Monday, January 31, 2011

LAKE STEVENS — For a team with big dreams, the Monroe boys basketball squad likes to keep things small. But there was no mistaking the smile on Bearcats coach Nick Wold’s face Monday night: This one was very, very big.

Wold watched his team put on an outstanding second-half display, bea

ting Lake Stevens in every way possible as the Bearcats defeated the Vikings 65-45, setting up a showdown Wednesday against Arlington for the Wesco North title.

“We knew we had Arlington on Wednesday, but as coaches we try to keep things short,” said Wold, whose team improved to 11-3 in the conference and 14-5 overall. “We focus on the next day, the next film session, the next practice. We don’t talk about how big a game is. We take it one step at a time.”

Still, for a team that has gone 7-13 each of the past two seasons, to be in position to win a league title and make some noise in the postseason is a new experience.

“This is definitely a new thing for our guys,” Wold said. “But they’re seniors now and they’re understanding how to win. And that’s what’s been really fun to see.”

Monroe figured out how to win Monday at halftime, turning a tie game into a rout thanks to a solid full-court press and efficient offense. The Bearcats held Lake Stevens to 5-for-26 shooting in the second half while Monroe opened up the game by going 11-for-17 in a third quarter that saw it outscore the Vikings 24-11. For the game, the Bearcats had just four turnovers to 17 by Lake Stevens.

And while leading scorers Cole Parker (15 points, 12 rebounds) and Joey Roppo (11 points) had typically steady games, it was two lesser-known guards – senior Slava Ulanovskiy and junior Carl Bunge – who stood out. Ulanovskiy made four 3-pointers and led all players with 17 points, and Bunge scored seven important points, including two big 3-pointers.

“I was really proud of Slava, he’s a guy that’s flown under the radar for us,” Wold said. “He’s worked on his game so much, to see him have a big game on a big stage was wonderful. And most teams have figured out that Carl is a really important reserve for us. As soon as he walks into the gym, he thinks he’s open.”

Lake Stevens (8-6, 10-9), which won the North title last season, stayed in the game despite 11 first-half turnovers thanks to the play of 6-foot-6 senior center Gunnar Eklund, who scored 11 of his 16 points in the first half (he also had 19 rebounds). But the rest of the Vikings struggled to get going offensively and Monroe’s press eventually got the Bearcats into an offensive rhythm.

Ahead 30-29 midway through the third quarter, Parker converted a three-point play, Bunge followed with a jump shot, Parker improvised a scoop-shot bucket and Ulanovskiy sank a three and all of a sudden a 1-point game was now 40-29 Monroe. The Bearcat lead never went under double figures the rest of the way.

“We came out with a lot of energy and defensively we really picked it up,” Parker said of the third-quarter effort. “We knew that Lake Stevens was going to come to play but our defensive energy was awesome.”

“We just tried to be active, provide weak-side help, nothing special,” Ulanovskiy said. “We just played hard.”

The game was quite a bit different from the first meeting between the teams, when Monroe edged Lake Stevens 58-56 on Dec. 17.

“It’s tough to be successful when you give up 43 points in the second half and you don’t take care of the ball,” Lake Stevens coach Mark Hein said. “They took advantage of all of our defensive mistakes and we struggled to score and you can’t do that because Monroe is playing very well right now.”

So, with Lake Stevens out of the way, is it safe for Monroe to look ahead to Arlington yet? Not quite.

“We weren’t worried about Wednesday tonight,” Ulanovskiy said. “Tomorrow we’ll watch film. Then we’ll practice. Then we’ll worry about Arlington.”

At Lake Stevens H.S.

Monroe 14 8 24 19 – 65

Lake Stevens 9 13 11 12 – 45

Monroe: Parker 15, Ulanovskiy 17, Roppo 11, Reilly 7, Bunge 7, Meeus 6, Drivstuen 2, Pham 0, Taylor 0, Turner 0, Friesen 0, Waller 0, Trujillo 0. Lake Stevens: Eklund 16, Tomson 3, Dodge 4, Gasca 5, Stoen 4, Paulson 8, Smith 5, Gellner 0, Nelson 0, Pahukoa 0, Vandergrift 0. 3-point goals: Ulanovskiy 4, Roppo 1, Bunge 1, Paulson 2. Records: Monroe 11-3 league, 14-5 overall. Lake Stevens 8-6, 10-9.

Monroe 0 0 0 0 — 0

Lake Stevens 0 0 0 0 — 0

Monroe—Roppo, Bunge, Pham, Taylor, Turner, Drivstuen, Peloquin, Ulanovskiy, Friesen, Reilly, Waller, Meeus, Parker. Lake Stevens—Gellner, Iverson, Nelson, Tomson, Gasca, Dolphin, Dodge, Paulson, Pahukoa, Vandergrift, Eklund, Stoen, Stone. 3-point goals—xxx. Records—Monroe x-x league, x-x overall. Lake Stevens x-x, x-x.