EVERETT — The only thing that would have made Makai Bloomfield’s senior night a bit sweeter was if he was able to throw down a second break-away dunk as he was putting the finishing touches on his performance in the fourth quarter.
The 6-foot-3 shooting guard nearly ripped the rim off after picking off a pass at half court, sprinting past a defender and throwing down a jam with under a minute left. On the following possession, he found himself in the same spot, catching a pass from teammate Macky James in transition, only this time his springs failed him as the ball bounced off the iron.
Bloomfield said his legs were tired on the second attempt, as he capped off the outing with 47 points (29 in the second half), five rebounds and two steals, boosting the Mariner boys basketball team past Lake Stevens, 85-64, in a regular-season finale on Thursday night.
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The win bumped the Marauders (13-7, 6-2 Wesco 4A) into a shared Wesco 4A league title with Jackson (14-3, 6-2).
“He’s a beast,” Mariner coach Tevin Dillon said. “He gets it done is what it comes down to, he just gets it done. I’m super proud of that kid and he deserves it.”
Fellow senior and backcourt mate Jailin Johnson handled the floor game for Mariner, collecting 10 points, five boards and five assists and James, a senior, chipped in 11 points.
Senior Marshall Adams was the bright spot for the Vikings (11-8, 4-4), pitching in 23 points and six rebounds while going 9-for-12 from the free-throw line. Senior Maddox Preder added 17 points.
“It means a lot to us,” Bloomfield said. “We came into the game wanting to cut down nets, just winning the whole league in the Wesco again is a big thing for us.”
In the opening stages of the first quarter, Lake Stevens made an early statement as Preder muscled in a layup to give the Vikings a 13-9 lead with 3 minutes, 48 seconds to go. The padding didn’t last long, as Bloomfield hit his first of three 3-pointers to put the Marauders ahead 17-15 and they wouldn’t trail again, heading into the second period on an 18-4 run to take a 27-17 lead.
“I feel like we came out a bit slow,” Bloomfield said. “But, we came together as a team and showed up on defense, especially in the second half.”
Johnson helped fill in the pieces as Bloomfield was held to only one bucket in the second frame, going for seven of his points in the quarter while dishing out three dimes as Mariner extended the lead to 41-27 at the midway point.
After intermission, Lake Stevens made an effort to get back within single digits. However, it wouldn’t come within 10 points until the fourth, when junior Javon McFerrin hit a mid-range jumper to pull the Vikings within nine, 63-54, with 5:54 remaining.
Bloomfield then went on his last scoring binge of the contest to take the game out of reach, backing down a defender in the paint for two before raising up for a corner trey that put the Marauders on top 72-58 with 4:07 left. He went on to score 11 of his team’s last 13 points the rest of the way, including 5-of-7 from the line.
With a Mariner group missing three senior all-league picks from last year’s team, which made a state tournament appearance, Dillon feels like his Marauders are in solid position moving forward.
“Just like we always do, I think we play with a lot of heart,” Dillon said. “The guys were scrappy and they got after it tonight, they definitely deserved it. Just super proud of them. … I think we’re growing and we got another good group coming up, I’m proud of the season and where we’re at. We wanna keep pushing it as far as we can, so we’ll keep working.”
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