STANWOOD — It’s been an up-and-down season for Lorin Vandegrift. Fortunately for the playoff-bound Lake Stevens Vikings, the 6-foot-7 Vandegrift was WAY up on Tuesday.
Coming off the bench, Vandegrift scored 10 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and blocked a shot during Lake Stevens’ 48-39 victory over the Stanwood Spartans. Lake Stevens, which outscored cold-shooting Stanwood 16-8 in the pivotal fourth quarter, clinched a spot in next month’s Class 4A District 1 tournament by winning the Western Conference 4A boys basketball game.
Vandegrift, a long-limbed junior center who slammed two dunks on Tuesday, senior center Gunnar Eklund (13 points, eight rebounds) and sophomore guard Dakota Tomson (12 points, including 10 in the second half) all scored in double digits for Lake Stevens, which improved its league record to 8-4.
Vandegrift, a starter most of the season until he was recently moved to the bench, was a game-changer, Lake Stevens coach Mark Hein said.
“We’re really happy for him. He’s been up and down a little bit this year,” said Hein, “but we all know what he can do. It was good to see him playing with a great deal of confidence.”
And Lake Stevens, which has won six of its past seven games, appears to have plenty of collective confidence. With three Wesco 4A games to go, the Vikings are in third place in the North Division behind Arlington (10-2) and Monroe (9-3). Seeding is still up for grabs, but all three teams have earned district berths.
Stanwood (6-6), Snohomish (4-8) and Marysville-Pilchuck (3-9) are fighting for the North’s only remaining district berth.
“Our focus right now is getting better every game,” said Hein, whose Vikings play at Arlington on Friday, and play Monroe and M-P next week. “We would love to move up a seed.”
Stanwood’s remaining league games are against Monroe, M-P and Snohomish.
After losing 52-47 at home against Stanwood last month, Lake Stevens won the rematch by outplaying Stanwood in the final period. The Vikings led by one point (32-31) after three quarters but built a 40-33 lead midway through the fourth and limited Stanwood to six points over the final 6 minutes, 30 seconds.
“I thought our defensive intensity was good. I felt like we had a lot of pressure on the ball,” Hein said. “We have some good depth and we were fresh down the stretch.”
Eklund, a burly 6-6 starter and one of 10 Lake Stevens players who got court time, scored seven points in the fourth, including a layin set up by a long pass that made it 46-36 with 58 seconds to go. It all but sealed the win for the Vikings.
Senior post Jordan Taylor (11 points, eight rebounds) and sophomore wing Cannen Roberson (nine points, 10 rebounds) were the top scorers for Stanwood, which shot a woeful 16 of 59 from the field (27.1 percent) en route to its third straight loss. The Spartans made just 7 of 34 field-goal attempts (20.6 percent) in the second half. They missed plenty of outside shots but also several layins.
“It’s a helpless feeling,” Stanwood coach Zach Ward said. “I thought our execution was OK in terms of running our sets and getting decent looks. We took a couple bad shots, but for the most part it felt like we got the ball in the spots we wanted to. The shots just didn’t go in.”
In a back-and-forth first half that featured five lead changes and three ties, neither team led by more than six points; Stanwood was on top 10-4 in the first quarter. Lake Stevens took a one-point lead, 22-21, to the intermission, fueled by Eklund and Vandegrift, who combined for a dozen points.
Playing with impressive aggression, Vandegrift’s big first half included two rim-rattling dunks, a tip-in and seven rebounds.
“It felt good,” Vandegrift said. “I owe a lot to my teammates because they’re the ones who fed me the ball.”
It was a confidence-building night, said Vandegrift, who explained that he essentially lost the game when his team played Stanwood on Dec. 9. He made a costly bad pass near the end of that contest, but that bad memory is long gone.
“This game was really big for me,” he said, “just to come back and support my team.”
At Stanwood H.S.
Lake Stevens 8 14 10 16 — 48
Stanwood 10 11 10 8 — 39
Lake Stevens—Tomson 12, Gasca 8, Dodge 2, Pahukoa 3, Eklund 13, Gellner, Vandegrift 10, Nelson, Dolphin, Stoen. Stanwood—Garcea 3, Thayer 3, Roberson 9, Harris 6, Taylor 11, Sears, Williams 5, Zipp 2. 3-point goals—Garcea 1, Thayer 1, Roberson 1, Williams 1. Records—Lake Stevens 8-4 in league, 10-7 overall. Stanwood 6-6, 7-10.
Mike Cane: mcane@heraldnet.com. Check out the prep sports blog Double Team at www.heraldnet.com/doubleteam and follow Cane on Twitter at MikeCaneHerald.
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