EVERETT — Arlington head coach Nick Brown had a lot more fun in the second half of Saturday night’s non-conference game against Mariner than the first two quarters.
His Eagles players likely did as well.
After trailing by as many as 17 points, Arlington closed the gap in the second half and took the lead late in the fourth quarter to cap a 58-52 come-from-behind win at the Tank at Mariner High School.
“It’s a huge win for us,” Brown said. “These guys know that I believe in them. Tonight I had more fun in the second half and I thought they had more fun in the second half. The first half, we didn’t have much fun. You give teams open shots they’re going to hit those open shots.”
Mariner started the game with a 10-1 run and had a 17-3 lead by the end of the first quarter. The Marauders maintained a large lead until the third, when Arlington senior Nathan Aune helped jumpstart the Eagles’ comeback. Aune scored eight points in the period, as Arlington closed the gap to three, 41-38.
Aune continued his strong play in the final quarter, with seven more points — including two free throws with 4:30 remaining in the game that gave Arlington its first lead, 46-45. He helped the Eagles retake the lead with a basket and a free throw with less than a minute to go, and grabbed a rebound and added two free throws late to finalize the victory.
“He was huge,” Brown said. “He let the game come to him. He didn’t force it. When he lets the game come to him he’s tougher than hell.”
Aune finished with 15 points for Arlington (7-2 overall), which also got a double-double from Brennon Wiersma who netted 16 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Drew Bryson added 14 for the Eagles — nine of which came on 3-pointers as Arlington rallied back.
“We got good contributions from everyone,” Brown said. “(Wiersma’s) playing really well. He hasn’t been playing a lot but he just keeps carving out minutes for himself and it’s really hard to sit him down.”
After being outscored 32-18 in the first half, Arlington doubled Mariner’s point total in the second half, outscoring the Marauders 40-20 the rest of the way.
Brown said his halftime speech to his team wasn’t anything special.
“Honestly, I just said, ‘It’s time to figure it out,’” Brown said. “I’m not going to yell. I told them I’m not going to yell. I said, ‘If you’re waiting for me to yell, I’m not going to do it. I’ve already yelled.’ We’ve got growing to do. But this team can be good. I believe in this team. I’m not surprised by that win.”
Brown liked the resiliency from the Eagles, who were coming off a tough 73-66 loss to Burlington-Edison to close out 2014 last Tuesday.
“We had a tough week. I’ve been pretty hard on them and I thought they responded well today,” Brown said. “… That’s their win. That’s a good win for these guys. I’m very proud of them. It’s one of my happier wins, to be honest with you because I knew these guys can do it.
“I challenged them pretty much all week. We had a tough loss to Burlington and we had to look in the mirror a little bit to see what we’ve got. I think we showed some toughness and some fortitude. That thing you can’t measure is heart and we showed a lot of heart tonight.”
Kevin Villalobos and Erwin Dzeko scored 17 points apiece to lead Mariner (5-4). Dzeko had a double-double, grabbing 10 rebounds for the Marauders, who just ran out of gas according to head coach Eric Ensign.
“I think we just got tired and started making mental mistakes because of it,” Ensign said. “That was the biggest downfall for us. I think it was more us beating ourselves than them beating us.
“I think we might have just got a little careless in the second half. I think we got a little bit too confident, maybe, and thought we had won the game before we had.”
It was a role reversal for Mariner, which defeated Shorewood 54-52 on Dec. 13 after trailing by 14 points in that contest.
Said Ensign: “We did the same thing to Shorewood a month ago so we were on the other hand and I felt guilty walking out of that gym so we got our payback tonight.”
At Mariner H.S.
Arlington 3 15 20 20 — 58
Mariner 17 15 9 11 — 52
Arlington—Tylor Morton 0, Donavan Sellgren 8, Nathan Aune 15, Cole Kingsberry 0, Drew Bryson 14, Connor Bovard 0, Brennon Wiersma 16, Jeremy Bishop 5. Mariner—Ryan Mendoza 5, Greg Whitaker 0, Kevin Villalobos 17, Ravinder Anthal 6, Carlos Santiago-Cancel 0, Jalen Hayes 5, Erwin Dzeko 17. 3-point goals—Bryson 3, Wiersma 1, Mendoza 1, Villalobos 1, Hayes 1, Dzeko 1. Records—Arlington 7-2 overall. Mariner 5-4.
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