Archbishop Murphy off to strong start

EVERETT — Archbishop Thomas Murphy’s boys basketball team couldn’t have asked for a better start to the season under some trying circumstances.

The Wildcats head into tonight’s key Northwest A League matchup with Coupeville tied with the Wolves for first place in the league with a 3-0 mark.

Archbishop Murphy (10-3 overall) opened league play with a pair of road victories over Friday Harbor and LaConner, two teams that were picked ahead of the Wildcats by many observers.

“We knew it was going to be a struggle but getting those two games on the road was pretty important,” said Archbishop Murphy coach Jerry Zander. “It was a nice way to start.”

The Wildcats then kept their perfect league mark intact with a 61-54 home victory over Concrete Jan. 16. Senior guard Luke Hagel scored a game-high 22 points, while senior forward Wes Taylor scored 17 points and pulled down 11 rebounds.

The two road victories gave Archbishop Murphy a confidence boost but the players are doing their best not to dwell on their past accomplishments.

“That’s done right now,” Taylor said. “We have them (Friday Harbor, LaConner) coming to our place. So we have to still be at our best and beat them here. We have another tough road game against Coupeville … our team just had to come out strong and be really prepared for it.”

Though Taylor is the team’s leading scorer and is the focus of the opposition on defense, the Wildcats’ offense doesn’t revolve around one player.

Six different players have led the team in scoring this season.

Taylor was routinely scoring 25 or more points in several of Archbishop Murphy’s non-conference games to start the season. Now that league play has commenced, opponents know about Taylor and concentrate on shutting him down.

“It leaves the other guys open,” Zander said.

The LaConner game was tight throughout and eventually went into overtime. Jonathan Jensen scored 13 of his game-high 17 points in the last minute and a half of regulation and overtime to lead the Wildcats to the 50-45 victory.

Zander sees balance and depth as Archbishop Murphy’s biggest strengths.

“I’m pretty confident that no matter what happens — foul trouble or injuries — we have a guy who can step in and fill a role,” Zander said. “We have nights where some guys aren’t hitting. We have enough depth where we’re pretty confident that someone else can step forward and take the load.

“I think that’s a huge advantage for us as a team compared to a lot of the other teams we’re playing. We can go six or seven guys deep on our bench and not lose a thing.”

Sandwiched in between the Wildcats’ victories over Friday Harbor and LaConner was a non-conference game against Bellevue Christian, the team that knocked Archbishop Murphy out of the playoffs last season.

The Vikings jumped out to a 17-3 first quarter advantage before the Wildcats staged a valiant second-half rally.

Archbishop Murphy cut the deficit to six points but Bellevue Christian hung on for a 51-41 victory.

“It was a good test for us,” Zander said. “They just came out on fire and put us in quite a hole in the first half. But our kids fought back in the second half.”

The Vikings made six 3-pointers in the first half, which is a major concern for Zander, who also wasn’t pleased that Concrete connected on 10 3-pointers.

“That’s been a reoccurring theme during the year,” he said. “The teams that have either hung with us or beaten us … have got eight or more 3-pointers during the game.”

The other area of concern are turnovers. Zander wants to see 12 or fewer but instead the numbers are hovering around 17 or 18 per game.

The Wildcats simply have to concentrate more, Taylor said.

“A lot of them are silly mistakes,” he said. “I think it’s just us getting too excited during the game and letting the ball slip through our hands. Everyone on the team is guilty of it.”

In addition to the balanced scoring attack, the one area where Archbishop Murphy has excelled is rebounding. Only one team has outrebounded the Wildcats this season.

Archbishop Murphy had a 30-rebound advantage against Concrete and pulled down 10 more against LaConner.

With almost half of the season completed the league race is far from settled and there may be some changes in the standings.

“When you get into league, every game is tough no matter who you are playing,” Zander said. “The two teams know each other so well … it’s going to be a battle whoever you’re playing.”