Lake Stevens beats Jackson to keep state hopes alive

Published 10:29 am Wednesday, February 25, 2009

MILL CREEK — The Lake Stevens boys basketball team had every reason to be intimidated on Tuesday night.

Facing elimination while playing a “neutral site” game at their opponent’s gym, the Vikings also had to deal with the early return of one of the state’s top underclassmen in Jackson sophomore Brett Kingma, who missed six* weeks with a broken left arm.

As if that weren’t enough of a challenge, the game was played under the watchful eye of University of Washington basketball coach Lorenzo Romar, who was most likely on hand to see Kingma.

But intimidated?

Not the Vikings.

Lake Stevens (19-4) answered every challenge that came its way, using an early 9-0 run to pull ahead and lead the final 301/2 minutes en route to a 76-60 win over Jackson in a consolation semifinal of the 4A District 1 tournament. The Vikings, who posted the best record in the Western Conference and entered the tournament as the district’s top seed, stayed alive in the hunt for a state-tournament berth.

“Losing wasn’t an option,” said junior Shane Kaska, who scored a team-high 18 points while adding nine rebounds for the Vikings. “We just had to win. We had to get this one and the next one and go to state. That was the mindset.”

Kaska and senior center Sean Stickney combined for 34 points and 21 rebounds as Lake Stevens took advantage of its two-headed inside game. Kaska had six points during a third quarter that saw the Vikings pull ahead by 11 points, while Stickney helped Lake Stevens put the Timberwolves away in the fourth quarter.

“They just came out mentally tough and ready to play,” Jackson’s Kingma said. “We didn’t. We talked about it, but we didn’t play that way. We didn’t compete.”

Kingma, for whom Romar was presumably in the house, played his second game after missing six weeks with a broken left arm and showed the rust. Kingma hit just 1 of 8 shots in the first half and finished with nine points on 3-of-17 shooting for the night.

He scored 23 points in a win over Arlington earlier this week but couldn’t repeat the performance on Tuesday. Kingma took part in just four practices after breaking the radius bone in his non-shooting arm last month.

“It was supposed to be in a cast a couple more weeks,” he said Tuesday night, shortly after his team’s season officially came to an end. “I kept begging the doctor to play, and finally he said, ‘OK, but it’s at your own risk.’

“I was cleared a month-and-a-half early, but I really wanted to go to state. These seniors deserved it, but obviously it’s not going to happen.”

While Kingma was unable to show off his shooting touch, junior teammate Ryan Todd kept the Timberwolves in the game for most of the night. He scored 10 of his game-high 25 points before halftime, helping Jackson stay within three points, at 31-28, at the break.

But Lake Stevens simply had too much firepower, mostly in the paint. When Kaska and Stickney (16 points, 12 rebounds) weren’t dominating inside, Vikings wing men Ryan Legg (10 points) and T.J. Dodge (10 points, six rebounds and six assists) were driving the lane and finding ways to score.

Lake Stevens outscored Jackson (14-10) by a margin of 45-32 over the final 16 minutes to effectively knock the Timberwolves out.

Intimidated, the Vikings were not.

“We had no doubts at all,” Kaska said. “We were going to win the game.

“We’ve got one more until state, so we’ve got to bounce back and do it again (Friday against Stanwood).”

At Jackson H.S.

Jackson15131319—60

Lake Stevens15162124—76

Jackson—Kingma 9, Todd 25, Koch 5, Bray 1, Gat 4, Grisby 2, Wishko 3, O’Keefe 10. Lake Stevens—Legg 10, Schneider 3, TJ Dodge 10, Kaska 18, Stickney 16, Isaksen 8, Finley 6, Maw 5. 3-point goals—Jackson 4 (Kingma 2, Todd, Koch); Lake Stevens 0. Records—Jackson 14-10; Lake Stevens 19-4.

Stanwood 64, Marysville-Pilchuck 58

Kale Schmidt and Kaleb Orcutt spearheaded an 8-0 run at the beginning of the fourth quarter to help Stanwood pull away in a close game against Marysville-Pilchuck in Tuesday’s other consolation semifinal.

Schmidt scored 18 of his game-high 20 points in the second half, including a jumper that gave Stanwood (17-6) a 54-41 lead with 5:30 remaining in the fourth quarter.

The Spartans nearly lost the game at the free throw line, missing eight of 14 attempts in the final 1:30, but offensive rebounds from Eric Chabot and Zack Johnson helped Stanwood hold off the Tomahawks.

Schmidt led four players in double figures. Johnson and Jordon Solvberg had 11 each, while Chabot added 10 points. Orcutt came off the bench to score all three of his points during the pivotal run at the beginning of the fourth.

Marysville’s Spencer El well scored all of his team-high 13 points in the second half. Nick Forsythe and Nick Soriano added 12 apiece for the Tomahawks (14-8).

At Jackson H.S.

M-P15111517—58

Stanwood16131718—64

M-P—Holm 10, Busichio 2, Soriano 12, Forsythe 12, Elwell 13, Toler 3, Lanphere 5. Stanwood—Jamieson 2, Johnson 11, Schmidt 20, Solvberg 11, Chabot 10, Hushagen 5, Haugstad 3, Orcutt 3. 3-point goals: Soriano 4, Forsythe 2, Holm, Lanphere, 3 Schmidt 3. Records: Marysville-Pilchuck 14-8; Stanwood 17-6.

*Correction, Feb. 25, 2009 This article originally used the incorrect number of weeks Kingma was out.