LAKE STEVENS — Entering Tuesday night’s opening round of the Class 4A District 1 boys basketball playoffs, the slate was wiped clean for every team.
Regular season records, personal stats, division titles — all meant nothing. Each team had the same chance to advance to the state tournament, either by winning its first two games or surviving the consolation bracket.
Lose twice and the season’s over.
Junior Shane Kaska scored a game-high 23 points and senior Sean Stickney added 19 points to help the Lake Stevens Vikings take the first step toward the state playoffs with a 65-55 victory over Snohomish at Lake Stevens High School.
“It was solid,” Vikings senior Ryan Legg said of the victory. “It was an all-around good game.”
Lake Stevens advances to face Mariner — a 53-52 winner over Marysville-Pilchuck in another first-round game Tuesday — in a winner-to-state game at 6 p.m. on Friday at Jackson High School.
Kaska scored 15 points and Legg had all 10 of his points in the first half to help the Vikings take a double-digit lead into the intermission.
“Usually we’re not a first-half team,” Legg said. “This game we definitely wanted to come out with a sense of urgency on defense, to stick it to them right away.”
But the Panthers fought back after the break, cutting the deficit to just four points at 46-42 by the end of the third period.
Junior Blane Ortiz scored eight of his 16 points in the third period to lead the Panthers’ attack, hitting from the outside with pull-up jumpers or driving the lane to the basket.
“I think we got a little too comfortable with our lead,” Stickney said. “We didn’t come out with that fire in the third period, but we got it back in the fourth quarter.”
Kaska and Stickney combined for 14 points, and senior T.J. Dodge added five more to help the Vikings push their lead back into double digits at 53-43 midway through the final period.
“In the fourth quarter we all looked each other in the eyes and said, ‘either we let them hang with us now or we step up,’” Legg said. “We stepped up.”
Junior Jonathan McGee scored 19 points for the Panthers and senior Reed Pecha had nine points — all on 3-pointers.
Lake Stevens (18-3 overall) won the Wesco North title and was the division’s top seed entering the district playoffs.
Snohomish (12-10) still has a chance to make the state tournament through the consolation bracket. The Panthers face Marysville-Pilchuck in a loser-out game at 6 p.m. on Thursday at Jackson High School.
The Panthers were the fifth seed from the North division, and advanced to the district playoffs by defeating Edmonds-Woodway 70-52 in a play-in game last Friday.
After the game Snohomish coach Len Bone got right to the point when asked what was next for his team.
“Practice tomorrow,” Bone said.
At Lake Stevens H.S.
Snohomish15101713—55
Lake Stevens2116919—65
Snohomish—Pecha 9, Wolfe 6, McGee 19, Ortiz 16, Mason 4, M. Scattaregia 1, VandenBosch 0, McGinnis 0. Lake Stevens—Kaska 23, Stickney 19, T. Dodge 8, Legg 10, Isaksen 3, Maw 0, Schneider 2, Finley 0, J. Dodge 0, Hanson 0. 3-point goals—Pecha 3, Ortiz 1, Kaska 2, Stickney 1, T. Dodge 1, Isaksen 1. Records—Snohomish (12-10 overall), Lake Stevens 18-3).
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