Mountlake Terrace boys beat Snohomish, stay undefeated

MOUNTLAKE TERRACE — On paper, Friday night’s boys basketball game between the Mountlake Terrace Hawks and the Snohomish Panthers had all the ingredients for a classic high school basketball game.

Each team came in with an 8-0 record and a top-10 state ranking.

What resulted was a surprisingly dominating performance by the Hawks, who dismantled Snohomish 63-41, handing the Panthers their first defeat of the season.

“Driving over here I didn’t think that at all,” Hawks head coach Nalin Sood said of the lopsided outcome. “There is just too much respect for not only their team, but their program. I was excited to play them regardless of the outcome. I knew we could grow from this basketball game. We had some success tonight, things went our way, but it was because we played well. They are a good basketball team.”

The Hawks jumped on the Panthers from the opening tip. Terrace used unrelenting defensive pressure and balanced scoring to build a 16-7 lead after one quarter.

Sood said his team came out focused, which is exactly how the Hawks needed to play against a good Snohomish team.

“Tonight, if we didn’t have good focus, it was going to be a bad night for us,” Sood said. “And I thought our guys did a great job.”

The Hawks never gave up more than 13 points in any quarter.

“They did a great job defensively,” Snohomish head coach Len Bone said. “They made us uncomfortable and impatient and took us out of what we were trying to do.”

Blake Fernandez led the Hawks in scoring in the first quarter with six points and followed up with a six-point second quarter to give Mountlake Terrace a 32-20 lead at halftime. All of Fernandez’s 12 points, several of which came off steals, came in the first half.

“Things like that get the crowd going,” Fernandez said. “Once we had the crowd behind us, I really don’t think Snohomish wanted any part of it. We just had to keep up the intensity. I mean they are a good team, but I don’t think they have seen a defense like Terrace has this year yet and so I think we caught them a little bit off guard.”

Snohomish’s leading scorer, Luke Hamlin, scored just 10 points in the game, well below his 20-plus average. Fernandez, Ryan Shannon and Marquis Armstead took turns defending Hamlin.

“Ryan did it and so did a couple of other guys,” Bone said. “They’ve got a lot of guys that can defend and they do it as a group, too. So, they are not easy to score on.”

Sood said the Hawks’ respect for Hamlin helped them keep him in check.

“You are never going to shut him down and I’m sure glad we aren’t playing him tomorrow night,” Sood said. “Our guys got a chance to watch him. They know what kind of player he is. We have tremendous respect for him and if we didn’t respect him, he would have gotten 30. And the next time, if we ever play them again, he could.”

Coby Russell continued his solid play inside for the Hawks, scoring 19 points. Russell led the way, but the Hawks exhibited great balance, with five players scoring at least seven points.

“Every coach preaches it, but if your kids don’t believe it, it’s not going to happen,” Sood said. “I’ve preached it and it hasn’t happened before. So, it is a credit to these guys that they believe in it.”

Shannon, who scored nine points, said the players aren’t concerned with who scores.

“It doesn’t really matter,” Shannon said. “We have a bunch of guys that can put the ball in the basket, so whoever is open is going to take the shot.”

Kevin Yates led the Panthers with 13 points.

Bone said the Hawks figure to be a tough matchup for whoever they play this season.

“That’s a hard game for anybody,” he said. “That’s a good team, well-coached and plays hard and plays together.”

Bone said after the game that it is important that the Panthers learn from their first defeat.

“We better,” Bone said. “If we don’t, we are missing an opportunity.”

Sood said he’s careful not to think too far ahead, but one thing became clear Friday night.

“I learned tonight that against good teams we can bring the focus needed to hopefully have a good night and be successful,” he said.

Aaron Lommers covers prep sports for The Herald. Read his live blogs at www.heraldnet.com/prepzone, follow him on twitter @aaronlommers and contact him at alommers@heraldnet.com.

At Mountlake Terrace H.S.

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Snohomish—Yates 13, Hamlin 10, Stewart 0, Crippen 5, Bauska 4, Baird 5, Carlson 2, Reichenberger 2, Harris 0, Caldwell 0. Mountlake Terrace—Zerom 3, A. Moisant 0, Fernandez 12, Shannon 9, Armstead 13, Bowman 0, E. Moisant 7, Lacasse 0, Russell 19. 3-point goals—Yates 3, Hamlin 2, Crippen 1, Baird 1, Zerom 1, Armstead 1, E. Moisant 1. Records—Snohomish 8-1, Mountlake Terrace 9-0.