Mavericks overpower Royals

LYNNWOOD — Meadowdale coach Chad McGuire knows when his team is clicking.

The Mavericks’ points tend to come from an assortment of different players.

McGuire couldn’t have written a better script when Meadowdale hosted crosstown rival Lynnwood Tuesday night in a Western Conference 4A South Division boys basketball game.

Five different Meadowdale players scored during a 19-5 run in the fourth quarter that lifted the Mavericks to a 75-62 victory over the Royals at Meadowdale High School.

“We play our best basketball when we have five or six guys between six and 12 points,” McGuire said. “We were getting contributions from everybody. That’s when we play our best — when we have good ball movement and when we play unselfishly and we did that tonight.”

Meadowdale saw a 51-41 lead early in the fourth quarter cut to 51-47 before the Mavericks reestablished control of the game.

“We just stayed composed,” said senior guard Taylor Marsh, who led all scorers with 22 points. “Everybody finished their shots tonight. People were hitting outside (shots) and our big guys were finishing every look in the inside and knocking down (free) throws.”

Marsh connected on his fourth 3-pointer of the game during the Mavericks’ fourth-quarter barrage. Also scoring during the key stretch were Chris Rohrbach, Jake Linton, Tyler Milam and Larod Lover.

“We talked about keeping our composure and understanding that they’re going to make a couple of runs,” McGuire said. “When they make a run, let’s come right back at them and try to score and that’s what happened.

“They got to within four and then we held our composure and attacked their press and got a couple of layins and took it from a four-point game to an eight-point game.”

Colin Mattson finished with 15 points, while Rohrbach added 13. Lover had 10 points.

After battling to a 12-12 tie in the first quarter, Meadowdale (7-3 in the league, 9-3 overall) jumped to 25-13 lead with just under three minutes left in the second quarter. An 11-5 run by Lynnwood (5-5, 5-7) cut the lead to six points before Milam’s buzzer-beater basket gave Meadowdale a 32-24 halftime advantage.

“Anytime you get a win in this league you’re happy,” McGuire said. “It’s such a tough league night in and night out. It’s a battle.”

Lynnwood was led by senior center Drew Matzen, who had a team-high 26 points.

“Our scoring wasn’t as balanced as it needs to be,” Lynnwood coach Landon Porter said. “That’s something that we have to improve on because if we’re going to go anywhere, that’s what we’ve got to have. If you look at them, they had plenty of balance.”

The Mavericks’ game plan was to try to keep Matzen in check.

“We didn’t want him to have a big game and go off on us,” Marsh said.

McGuire praised the efforts of Mattson, who was the Maverick assigned to guard Matzen for most of the night.

“He did a nice job of just battling him,” McGuire said. “Matzen, no matter what you do, he’s going to get his points. He’s a great player.”

Meadowdale simply outplayed Lynnwood, according to Matzen.

“They outplayed us on every aspect,” he said. “They outplayed us on defense. They rebounded the ball better than we did. They played better offense. They made shots. Everything was clicking for them. We just didn’t come to play.”

Lynnwood will try to avenge an early-season four-point loss to Jackson in a 7:30 p.m. game tonight (Friday, Jan. 24) at home. Meadowdale hosts first-place Mariner in a 7:30 p.m. game tonight. The Marauders beat the Mavericks in double-overtime in their first meeting of the season.

“Mariner is very physical,” McGuire said. “They do a great job of game planning for you. They know exactly what you are going to do. We have to be ready to play.”