FEDERAL WAY – No two and out this time.
The red-hot and rolling Mountlake Terrace Hawks used a 13-4 fourth quarter run to pull away for a 62-50 victory over the Ferris Saxons in a Class 4A boys basketball state tournament game at the Tacoma Dome Wednesday.
Mountlake Terrace plays Curtis (20-6) in the quarterfinals at 8:30 p.m. tonight.
Terrace, 15-2 since a humbling holiday loss to O’Dea, used a balanced scoring attack and rebounding domination to subdue Ferris (21-5), which had advanced to the title game in each of their most recent state tournament appearances in 2001 and 2002.
“It’s a team consciousness,” Mountlake Terrace coach Nalin Sood said in reference to the satisfying group effort. “That’s something that will hopefully take us somewhere down here.”
Mountlake Terrace, which lost two straight games at state in 2003 and 2004, was led by Mike Boxley and Leigh Swanson who scored 12 points each.
Boxley grabbed eight rebounds and Swanson seven to key the Hawks 37-23 rebounding advantage.
Christiaan Hammond, who made all three of his 3-point attempts, added 11 points. Adrian Blake came up big as well with 11 points and six rebounds.
Andrew Mundt’s contribution included six points and six rebounds. Luke Hammond added six points and four boards.
After leading by just 31-29 at halftime, Boxley had a put-back basket and a 3-pointer to stoke a 9-0 Hawk run that resulted in a 44-34 lead by the end of the third quarter.
The Saxon’s, who were led in scoring by Jeremy Templeton with 14 points, opened the final period with a pair of quick buckets to close back to within 44-38 with just over seven minutes remaining to be played.
The Hawks were not about to let victory slip away.
“We knew we had to sustain and keep pushing,” Luke Hammond said.
“Our guys have been in that situation before,” Sood said of his senior-laden team. “They know teams down here don’t quit.”
Mountlake Terrace16151318-62
Ferris1217516-50
Mountlake Terrace-C. Hammond 11, Balch 4, L. Hammond 6, Blake 11, Boxley 12, Mundt 6, Swanson 12. Ferris-S. Stockton 4, Templeton 14, Rhodes 2, Shelby 5, Clift 7, Rath 2, Hallett 12, Wukelic 4. 3-point goals-C. Hammond 3, Blake 1, Boxley 2, Templeton 2, Hallett 1. Records-Mountlake Terrace 20-5, Ferris 21-5.
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