LAKE STEVENS — If imitation is indeed the sincerest form of flattery the Lake Stevens Vikings should feel honored.
The Marysville-Pilchuck Tomahawks responded in kind to the defensive pressure of their hosts and came away with a gritty 46-43 triumph over the previously unbeaten Vikings in a Western Conference North Division showdown Tuesday night.
“Defensively Lake Stevens is relentless with guys flying around everywhere,” M-P coach Bary Gould said after his team improved to 2-2 in the division (4-3 overall). “They don’t care who you are and when they bring in new guys off of the bench it just raises it to another level … we wanted to take that from Lake Stevens and add it our repertoire.”
M-P’s Taylor Stevens, who led the Tomahawks with 16 points, echoed that assessment.
“There are teams that play defense and there are teams that play great defense,” said Stevens who scored 10 of his points in the second half and finished the game with seven rebounds. “That’s Lake Stevens … they just come out and get in your face.”
Lake Stevens (2-1 in division, 3-1) fell for the first time after winning its first three contests by a total of seven points.
“The last couple of years we’ve made playing tough defense a goal. Offensively it was not a clinic, but defense kept us in it,” Lake Stevens coach Mark Hein said. “They beat us on the glass and we shot 25 percent … they did a good job with their zone and we missed a lot of shots.”
Hein was impressed by Stevens who came into the fray averaging 24 points per game and again proved to be the chief catalyst for the Tommies.
“He’s a tough player,” Hein said. “We manned him and tried to take some things away, but he plays inside-outside, posts up, he’s aggressive so he gets fouled a lot and then makes his free throws so … he was just a huge factor.”
“If he’s not considered D-1, I don’t know who is,” Gould said of his 6-foot-6 center. “(Stevens) is tough inside, hits outside shots and can bring it up the floor … I think he’s going to make a nice three-man for somebody.”
After the first half ended in a 20-20 tie, M-P fell behind by three, but forged a four-point lead by the end of the third quarter.
A 3-pointer by Ryan Legg drew the Vikings within 33-32 in the opening minute of the fourth quarter.
Blake Scheller, who scored six of his eight points in the final quarter, grabbed an offensive rebound and made a short jumper to give the Tommies a three-point lead. With 4:40 to play, Scheller scored again off an assist from Colin Thomason (six points, seven rebounds) to put M-P up 37-32.
The lead grew to 41-35 after Stevens drove the right baseline for a basket and then scored with an assist from Ryan Lanphere.
A conventional three-point play by the Vikings’ Shane Pilon cut the gap back to three points, but Scheller converted a one-and-one with just over two minutes to play to bring M-P’s lead back to five.
The Vikings’ Dustin Adams answered by making a tough shot in traffic, but Thomason converted a pair of clutch free throws with 11.6 seconds remaining and the lead was back to five.
Lake Stevens proved it wasn’t finished when Jordan Carter buried a 3-pointer with 6.1 seconds to play to get the Vikings within 45-43.
Stevens was fouled on the ensuing in-bounds play and went to the line with 4.2 ticks remaining. He made the first of two shots in the double bonus, but missed the second.
Shane Kaska, a sophomore who led the Vikings with nine points and grabbed five rebounds, came up with the missed foul shot, but his desperation heave went awry.
M-P’s Blake Lovell added six points. The Tommies’ also got a lift off the bench from Nick Forsythe (four points) who made a shot three seconds after entering the game to provide a 6-5 first-quarter lead.
After falling behind by seven late in the first half, Lake Stevens battled back on a put-back by Kelly Kurisu (six rebounds) and a 3-pointer by T.J. Dodge (seven points). The Vikings drew even at the break on a put-back by Dodge that came just ahead of the buzzer.
At L. Stevens H.S.
M-P6141313—46
L. Stevens515914—43
Marysville-Pilchuck — Kelly 2, Scheller 8, Lanphere 2, Thomason 6, Lovell 6, Forsythe 4, Stevens 16, Greene 2. Lake Stevens — Pilon 4, Shoemake 2, Dodge 7, Adams 7, Carter 5, Legg 3, Kurisu 2, Kaska 9, Stickney 4. 3-point goals — Stevens 1, Dodge 1, Carter 1, Legg 1, Kaska 1. J.V. result — Lake Stevens 56, M-P 44. Records — M-P 2-2 in division, 4-3 overall. Lake Stevens 2-1, 3-1.
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