Notes and Quotes: ‘No easy nights in the North’

Published 11:27 am Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Tuesday night’s Wesco North clash between Lake Stevens and Snohomish featured two 2-0 teams squaring off in their conference opener. Snohomish finished on top, 62-56, but the game was close throughout.

Every time Snohomish would make a couple of 3s, the Vikings would respond with a mini-run of their own to get the score back to within three or four. Lake Stevens refused to back down, and it produced an exciting night of hoops in Lake Stevens.

Lake Stevens head coach Mark Hein said his team knew the game would be tough, and expects that to be the case all season in the Wesco North.

“The takeaway here is there are going to be no easy nights in the North,” Hein said after the game.

Snohomish came out firing from 3-range, finishing 50 percent from beyond-the-arc (10-for-20). The Panthers ran a series of what Hein called “pick-and-pops,” where a Snohomish player would run into traffic, get a screen, and then “pop” back out behind the line and put up a 3-ball.

“They can shoot the ball,” Hein said. “They showed that tonight.”

However, the player with the most 3s came from the Lake Stevens side, and its bench at that. Senior Kevin Smith came off the bench a couple minutes into the first quarter and immediately swished a shot from long range. Smith finished with a team-high 21 points for the Vikings.

Smith couldn’t offset the 25 points netted by Snohomish senior Luke Hamlin, who started the season with games of 31 and 26 points. Lake Stevens tried to get extra pressure on him, putting the newly eligible football-turned-basketball player Christian Gasca on him.

“We tried to limit some touches,” Hein said, “but he’s still making big plays. Hamlin can score in a variety of ways.”

Hamlin made two 3-pointers, three free-throws, a few lay-ins and still had about six shots from the field.

“He makes me a good coach and us a good team,” said Len Bone.

Hamlin attributes his fast start to two things: “hard work and hustle.

“I try to anticipate where the ball’s going and beat the guy there. In a 1-on-1, I’m always going to beat the guy.”

He certainly did Tuesday night, and if this game is any indication, both Snohomish and Lake Stevens will be fighting for the top of the Wesco North standings come the end of the season. With three other teams starting Tuesday night undefeated (Arlington, Stanwood and Monroe) it’s conceivable that a team might win the division with five or even six losses.

And if Hamlin keeps tearing defenses apart, that team just might be Snohomish.