MILL CREEK — Jackson fans knew it was only a matter of time.

After struggling through the first three quarters of a Northwest District 4A loser-out boys basketball game against Marysville-Pilchuck, Wolfpack senior guard Chris Keller finally got on track midway through the fourth quarter.

Keller scored eight points during a critical 12-0 run, as the Timberwolves pulled away from Marysville-Pilchuck to post a 61-50 victory March 1 at Jackson High School.

Under the stifling defense of Marysville-Pilchuck’s Dom Vandaveer, Keller was limited to only two points in the first half. Keller also missed his first three shots of the second half.

“(Vandaveer) was playing pretty good defense on me,” Keller said. “It was just kind of tough to get open and then when I was shooting the ball it just wasn’t falling for me.”

But Keller kept plugging away.

“You can’t quit when things are going bad,” he said. “You’ve got to keep trying.”

The game was tight through the first three quarters with both teams taking the lead at various points. The largest advantage for either team was six points.

Jackson had a 41-39 lead at the start of the fourth quarter but the Tomahawks tied the score and then took the lead on a putback by Jason Krischano. A 3-pointer by senior forward Mike Apodaca gave Jackson a 44-43 advantage before another Krischano basket put Marysville-Pilchuck up 45-44 at the 5:05 mark.

With the Wolfpack moving up the court, Jackson coach Steve Johnson was trying to call a timeout but the officials and his players apparently could not hear him above the roar of the crowd.

Keller buried his first and only 3-pointer of the night to put Jackson ahead for good.

“I didn’t see him (Johnson),” Keller said. “I guess I was the only one who didn’t see him.”

Apodaca sealed the Jackson victory by sinking four of six free throws in the last minute and a half. He also tied the score with his first of two 3-point goals in the third quarter.

“He really showed a lot of character and hit some huge 3-point shots,” Johnson said. “Then he made some free throws down the stretch …. I felt he stepped up big time.”

At some point, Johnson felt that Keller would be able to break free from Vandaveer, who up until the fourth quarter had done a great job on defense.

“It’s tough to keep up with a guy that long and to play that intense for that long, so I did feel eventually (Keller) would get loose and get some shots and to Chris’ credit he found a way to score,” Johnson said.

After his 3-pointer, Keller successfully posted up and then scored on a layup.

“We’ve been really encouraging him to try and find different ways to score and not always rely on the 3-point shot,” Johnson said. “When you’re a 3-point shooter and you have a good defender on you, they’re going to take away the three sometimes and you have to find different ways to score and he definitely did that and that probably was the difference.”

Johnson’s frequent use of his bench also played a part towards the end of the game, Keller said.

“We have a deep bench, so we don’t get tired as much sometimes,” he said. “I think we had more energy because of our bench.”

Jackson was led by senior forward Craig Chambers, who had a team-high 15 points. Keller and Apodaca each scored 10 points.

Marysville-Pilchuck (10-12 overall) was led by Nick Harris, who scored 19 points, and Vandaveer, who had 12.