SHORELINE — For awhile, it looked like Lynnwood, the second-place team in the Western Conference South Division, was ripe for an upset by last-place Shorecrest Feb. 3.
When sophomore guard Yev Zuyev’s first-quarter ending shot from beyond half court swished to give the Scots a 22-18 lead, you had to wonder if it was Shorecrest’s night.
But the steady play of senior twins Jeremy and Nathan Rudd spelled double trouble for the Scots. Jeremy and Nathan each scored 19 points, as the Royals dominated the second half to come away with a 64-48 victory.
“They’ve been doing it all year long,” said Lynnwood head coach Landon Porter of the Rudd brothers. “In the first half they carried us, they made big shots to keep us in the game.”
The Rudds combined for 23 points in the first half.
“We were only able to hold them off for so long until they made some tough plays,” Shorecrest head coach Brian Fischer said.
Two Shorecrest scoring droughts, one of 4 minutes and 38 seconds in the second quarter, and one of 4 minutes and 35 seconds in the third quarter, proved to be the Scots’ undoing.
After clinging to a 32-30 halftime lead, the Royals scored 12 unanswered points after the break and outscored Shorecrest 20-8 in the third quarter.
“Our coach was just trying to fire us up to play better defense,” Nathan Rudd said. “They were really killing us on the boards.”
Shorecrest’s resident jumping jack, Jesse Hoffman, did much of the damage on the backboards for the Scots, snagging eight rebounds, five offensive.
In the end, though, Lynnwood held a 27-23 rebounding advantage.
In the first half, Shorecrest handled Lynnwood’s full-court pressure rather well, but eventually racked up 22 turnovers that proved costly.
“Our goal was to try to make it a half court game,” Fischer said. “Obviously their goal was to try to pick up the tempo, try to get us to run up and down. That worked in first half but then we kind of let up in the second half and those mistakes started to cost us a little bit.”
“That was definitely our best game of the year,” Fischer said. “We just have to build on that and limit our turnovers.”
Lynnwood sprinted out to a 6-0 lead, thanks to its press and two layups by Nathan Rudd and one by Jeremy Rudd. But Shorecrest fought back, led by a trio of 3-pointers by senior forward Spencer Larson to take over the lead.
“They played inspired ball in the first half,” Porter said of the Scots. “They played physical.”
Zuyev, with his ball-handling against the Lynnwood pressure, and Hoffman, with his aggressiveness on the boards, impressed Fischer.
“I think those two guys definitely improved their games during this game,” Fischer said.
The Royals had four players who scored in double figures. Besides the Rudds, Andrew Beatty had 11 points and Brennan Grubb put up 10 points.
Lynnwood knocked down seven 3-pointers, including three by Nathan Rudd and a pair from Jeremy Rudd.
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