STANWOOD — At halftime it felt a little like deja vu all over again for the Marysville-Pilchuck Tomahawks.
But, unlike last season when it lost a heartbreaker at the buzzer after surrendering a big lead, on this occasion M-P made its early advantage stand up and came away with a 59-44 victory over the host Stanwood Spartans in a Western Conference North Division game Friday night.
“All we talked about at halftime is we’ve been in this exact same position before, right here in this gym last year,” M-P coach Bary Gould said of the conversation he had with his squad after it built a 28-11 through two quarters. “Stanwood comes back and Derek Anderson gets a dunk at the buzzer to beat us. Those things stick in your memory.”
Instead of letting history repeat itself at their expense, the Tommies — spurred by the inspired play of point guard Blake Scheller — maintained a double-digit lead for very nearly the entire second half and used a superb performance at the free throw line (21-for-22 over the final two quarters) to ensure there would be no Stanwood comeback.
With the triumph, M-P (7-4 division, 9-6 overall) coasted into a tie for second place with Stanwood (7-4, 9-6) in the battle for a spot in next month’s district playoffs. The top-four teams in the division qualify for districts and lurking not far behind the Tomahawks and the Spartans is Lake Stevens (6-4, 10-4).
Scheller seemed to be everywhere, setting the tone with hard-nosed defense, scoring 11 points, providing six assists and seizing 10 rebounds — including four on the offensive end.
“Blake was running ragged on defense, chasing his guy (Kale Schmidt for the most part) through double and sometimes triple screens,” Gould said. “He played like he was possessed.” Three of Scheller’s assists and three of his rebounds came in the midst of a 16-2 Tomahawks’ blitz in the second quarter.
“I just saw some open gaps and thought I needed to get the ball to the guys,” Scheller said. “As far as rebounding, I just try to crash the boards whenever I can because not many guards block out.”
Scheller’s lone glitch was shooting a mere 9-for-10 from the foul line in the second half while his teammates were a perfect 12-for-12 at the line.
“Blake played great, but I just thought their whole team came out and had more energy than us,” Stanwood coach Zach Ward said. “We didn’t make shots and we didn’t make stops.”
Scheller’s antics complimented the fine play of Taylor Stevens who led the Tommies in both scoring (17 points) and rebounding (11).
After leading 12-9 after the first quarter, M-P went on a rampage in a second quarter that included eight points by Nick Forsythe off the bench.
“Nick really gave us a huge lift,” Gould said. “We just played a great first half. Defensively our goal was to shut down their two top scorers (Kale Schmidt and Zack Johnson).”
Schmidt scored 10 of his 12 points in the second half to tie Kyle Klempel for Stanwood team honors. Johnson, double-teamed throughout the game, did not make a field goal until the waning minutes of the game and finished with four points.
“Zack is an incredible player and he does all those intangible things, diving out of bounds for loose balls, rebounds and put-backs,” Gould said of Johnson who led the Spartans with 10 rebounds. “We thought if those other four guys can beat us then more power to them … but credit Stanwood because those guys don’t quit.”
“The second half was what I would like for four quarters, but it didn’t happen tonight,” Ward said. “When you’re down 17 at half that’s just a lot of ground to make up in 16 minutes.”
At Stanwood H.S.
M-P12161219—59
Stanwood921716—44
M-P — Kelly 6, Scheller 11, Lanphere 6, Thomason 9, Forsythe 8, Stevens 17, Elwell 2, Lovell, Greene. Stanwood — Klempel 12, Schmidt 12, Orcutt 1, Edlund 2, Johnson 4, Lawrence 8, Zweber 5, Williams. 3-point goals — Kelly 1, Thomason 1, Stevens 1. J.V. score — Stanwood 44, M-P 39. Records — M-P 7-4 in division, 9-6 overall. Stanwood 7-4, 9-6.
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