Resilient Lake Stevens boys basketball team outlasts Arlington

Published 10:57 pm Tuesday, December 13, 2011

ARLINGTON — It may have only been the fifth game of the year for both teams, but the Lake Stevens Vikings and the Arlington Eagles looked to be in playoff form in Tuesday night’s Wesco North boys basketball game.

When the final buzzer sounded, the Vikings had earned a 72-70 road victory, but it was far from easy.

“It’s a huge win,” Lake Stevens head coach Mark Hein said. “They are a good team, they are a really good team so we feel good about it.”

Another close Eagles-Vikings game didn’t shock Hein.

“We have a long history of great games every time we play them,” Hein said.

The Vikings fell behind by 10 after one quarter thanks to the hot shooting of Arlington’s Marcus Bryson. The Arlington guard knocked down three first-quarter 3s and added another early in the second quarter to help the Eagles take the early lead.

But the Vikings mounted a comeback in the second quarter thanks to a balanced offensive attack. With Dakota Tomson and Kevin Smith leading the way, the Vikings cut the Eagles advantage to just four at halftime.

“We have been really working on trying to move the ball more and at times we didn’t tonight, we settled in for some quick shots,” Hein said. “I thought in the third quarter we were really efficient offensively and that was probably the difference in the game right there.”

The Vikings slowed down the Eagles offensive attack by limiting looks from the perimeter, but Hein said they were never able to stop the Eagles outside shooting completely.

“I’m not sure we ever really had an answer for that to be honest,” Hein said. “We had to play a lot more zone than we are used to and we gave up a lot more open 3s then I would like, but our guys were resilient and made plays when they had to.”

The game was ultimately decided in the third quarter as the Vikings came out energized, beginning the second half on a 14-0 run to turn a four-point deficit into a 10-point lead.

Lake Stevens’ lead would stay at 10 points as the two teams went into the final quarter, but the Eagles finished the game much the same way they started it, keeping the Vikings on their heels.

Behind Terry Dawn, who scored 11 of his 30 points in the final stanza, the Eagles made things interesting.

With just over a minute on the clock and his Eagles trailing 70-65, Dawn got fouled and calmly stepped to the line and knocked down two free throws to make it a one possession game. After the Eagles committed two fouls to get themselves into the bonus, they fouled Christian Gasca, who went to the line for a one-and-one. Gasca missed the front end giving the Eagles one last opportunity to tie.

Dawn got off a contested three-point attempt with just over five seconds remaining in the game, but it fell well short. The Eagles fouled Gasca and this time he stepped to the line and calmly knocked down two free throws to ice the game.

Dawn added a three-pointer as time expired, but the outcome had already been decided.

Smith led the way for the Vikings with 20 points, Tomson chipped in 17 and Devin Stoen added 16.

Stoen’s second half effort helped the Vikings secure the win.

“He’s invested a lot of time into his game,” Hein said. “It certainly shows when he gets a chance to make a basketball skilled play.

At Arlington H.S.

Lake Stevens7232814—72

Arlington17171422—70

Lake Stevens—Smith 23, Stoen 16, Rahn 0, Tomson 17, Gasca 8, Sahoh 4, Pahukoa 4, Rothgeb 0. Arlington—M. Bryson 12, Smoke 6, Dawn 30, Goheen 0, Smith 2, Davis 3, Brummel 4, Boyden 13. 3-point goals—M. Bryson 4, Smoke 2, Dawn 2, Davis 1, Smith 2, Tomson 3. Records—Lake Stevens 2-1 league, 4-1 overall. Arlington 1-2, 3-2.