EVERETT — When four players are on the floor scrapping for a loose ball immediately following the opening tip-off, it sets a certain tone.
The district rivals never backed off from that telling early exchange, but it was the host Cascade Bruins — behind 34 points from sophomore guard Chris McGrath — who finally emerged with a 74-68 victory over the no-quit Everett Seagulls in a Western Conference North Division game Friday night.
Perhaps the most telling moment in the back-and-forth contest — Everett led after the first and third quarters, Cascade was up by three points at halftime — came during a timeout with just under seven minutes to play.
Cascade (1-2 in division, 1-3 overall) had taken a 54-53 lead after McGrath’s back-to-back buckets in the opening minute of the final quarter. As his team came off the floor for the timeout, first-year Cascade coach Jamar Williams greeted them.
“Fire up and get a win,” Williams exhorted his players.
“I just wanted them to have fun, express themselves and realize where we were at,” Williams said afterwards. “To go out and finish strong.”
The Bruins responded, turning that 4-0 start to the quarter into a 15-2 run that produced a 65-55 lead with 3:47 to play in the game.
Cascade’s whirlwind fourth quarter included two key putback buckets by Clint Walker, a deep-in-the-left-corner 3-pointer by Spencer Hancock, five points by Matt Reading and the ultra-cool McGrath who — despite a rollicking crowd — made all eight of his free throw attempts down the stretch.
Everett (1-2 in division, 1-5 overall) crept to within 72-68 on a 3-pointer by Rendel Jones (12 points) with 10 seconds to play, but McGrath calmly made a pair of free throws with 6.6 seconds remaining to seal the victory.
“It’s a great feeling,” Williams said after earning his first triumph as head coach after three losses. “Those guys have been working so hard. To get so close in our other games, but not have something to validate it hurt a lot. … Tonight was a testament to those guys for fighting through to the end.”
Williams also credited the effort of the Seagulls, who were led by Flynn Mattson’s 22-point performance.
“Take nothing away from Everett, they did a great job,” Williams said. “Aaron (Nations, Everett coach) made a great half-time adjustment, putting more pressure on the ball, taking away the pick and roll and drawing offensive charges.”
The furious pace of the game and the crowd noise was fine with McGrath, who used his quickness off the dribble drive to create opportunities from every part of the floor. He buried a trio of 3-pointers and scored 16 points in a first half that ended with Cascade leading 33-30.
“I liked it loud,” McGrath said. “It just makes me play harder and smarter. We played hard, Everett played hard, we just came out on top.”
“That’s the biggest crowd I’ve ever seen here,” Walker said. “It was intense and hard to focus sometimes because it was so loud.”
Walker, who had eight rebounds, drew the tough defensive assignment of trying to contain Everett’s Mattson, who seemed to be everywhere and scored 11 points in each half.
(Mattson) is tough,” Walker acknowledged. “I’d move my feet and put my hands up, but dang it, it was hard to try and guard him and stay out of foul trouble.”
“Mattson’s a workhorse at both ends,” Williams said. “We tried to front him, to double him, it didn’t matter.”
Walker’s second putback came after a teammate’s missed 3-pointer with 4:03 to play gave his team an eight-point cushion.
“My role is to crash the boards and this was crunch time,” Walker said. “The shot went up, I just jumped and it was right in my hands.”
“Those hustle plays are the difference between winning and losing a game,” Williams said.
The pep talk from his coach during the early fourth quarter timeout crystallized matters for Walker.
“We needed to wake up and live in the moment, play hard defense as a team and finish,” the 6-foot-3 senior forward said.
“It fired us up,” added Reading. “The first two games this season we were in the same situation, but we didn’t finish hard. … Tonight we did.”
Jordan Roark added nine points and three steals for Cascade. Stephen Homer contributed 10 points for Everett.
At Cascade H.S.
Everett12182315—68
Cascade6271724—74
Everett — Homer 10, Brown 7, Gunnerson 2, Grim 7, Murray 2, Nguyen, Jones 12, Mattson 22, Hennings 6. Cascade — Shewfelt 7, Roark 9, McGrath 34, Hancock 5, Joyce 4, Reading 9, McDaniels 2, Walker 4. 3-point goals — Homer 1, Brown 2, Grim 1, Shewfelt 1, McGrath 3, Hancock 1. JV result — Cascade 59, Everett 57. Records — Everett 1-2 in league, 1-5 overall. Cascade 1-2, 1-3.
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