Ferndale, Lynden Boys Open With Big Wins

For the Lynden boys basketball team it was business as usual, but for the Ferndale boys, an opening-round playoff win on Thursday, Feb. 13, was monumental.

The three-time defending Class 2A state champion Lions continued on their undefeated ways by crushing Sehome, 67-25, in their District 1 opening-round contest.

On the other side of the freeway, the Golden Eagles continued their rise from the ashes by notching their first playoff victory in three years, beating Meadowdale, 59-44, in their 3A district opener.

With the win in the loser-out playin-in game, Ferndale advances to the quarterfinals on Saturday, when they travel to play top seed Edmonds-Woodway at 7 p.m.

Whatcom’s other two 2A boys teams were not as fortunate, losing on the road to higher seeded teams. Squalicum fell to Anacortes, 61-56, and Bellingham lost to Burlington-Edison, 76-57.

That sets up a Sehome at Squalicum, loser-out game, while Bellingham hosts Archbishop Murphy in another consolation game. Both will be Saturday at 7 p.m.

For Lynden, it’s back to the familiar court at Mount Vernon High School, where the Lions will face Anacortes in a semifinal on Saturday at 7 p.m.

CLASS 3A BOYS

Ferndale Leaves Past And Meadowdale Behind, 59-44

Two years ago, Ferndale finished the season 1-19. After Thursday’s convincing victory over visiting Meadowdale, the Golden Eagles are 1-0 in the Class 3A district playoffs — and far from finished.

“This was great,” said Lincoln Thomas, one of three seniors who have played together since sixth grade and who endured the one-win season. “We finally put a full game together.”

The eighth-seeded Golden Eagles certainly did.

Being much taller than the quick Mavericks with quick trigger fingers, Ferndale coach Luke DuChesne planned to slow the pace down and try to keep the game in the 50s. His Golden Eagles did even better, holding ninth seed Meadowdale to its third lowest point total of the season.

“I thought it would be a grind it out and ugly game,” said DuChesne, whose team improved to 11-9. “But we overcame it. Defense will win games in the playoffs, defense and rebounding.”

Ferndale never trailed and held a nine-point lead through most of the first three quarters. But the Mavericks closed to the gap to 42-39 with six minutes to go, making the crowd nervous in the Eagles’ Nest.

But then the seniors took over. Senior Hunter Wills made a free throw, got a steal that led to a Mantaj Singh free throw, senior Jonah Brillowsky threw in a 3-point prayer as the shot clock expired, Singh hit two more free throws, and Wills put in an offensive rebound and a 3-pointer that capped a 12-3 run with 1:35 left.

All that was left was to make free throws and the Golden Eagles did — senior Tommy Mack sank two and Brillowsky made three — and Ferndale’s season continued.

Singh, the only non-senior starter, had a game-high 17 points and the junior wing was Ferndale’s go-to guy before fouling out with just over three minutes to go. But it was the seniors’ night to shine. Wills had 13 points including a pair of 3-pointers and 8 rebounds, Brillowsky and Thomas had 10 points and 7 rebounds each, and Mack had 7 points and a team-high 11 rebounds.

“Two years ago, they won one game,” said DuChesne, who came in last season and took Ferndale to the playoffs only to be eliminated in the first round. “The seniors really want to leave it better than they found it.”

While Meadowdale, which ended the season 10-12, presented a challenge, the Golden Eagles will take a step up in competition starting Saturday when they face Edmonds-Woodway and its impressive 21-1 record.

Ferndale played the Warriors and lost, 53-38, on Dec. 5, but as they say, everybody starts 0-0 in the playoffs … well, not the Golden Eagles, who are 1-0 and flying high.

“Now it’s one game at a time, one quarter at a time, one possession at a time,” said DuChesne. “Edmonds-Woodway is pretty darn good. But they have all the pressure.”

Thomas agreed: “We’ve got nothing to lose. We’ll give it our all.”

Ferndale 59, Meadowdale 44

Meadowdale 8 11 15 10—44

Ferndale 14 14 12 19—59

Meadowdale: Million 2, Ghirmay 15, Desta, Berhe, Botley 13, Lee, Pelote, Hernandez 5, Estifanos, Ezeonwuka 6, Miller 3.

Ferndale: Singh 17, Brillowsky 10, Wills 13, Vincent 2, Thomas 10, Mack 7, Grewal, Dhillon.

CLASS 3A DISTRICT 1 TOURNAMENT

Thursday, Feb. 13

First round

#8 Ferndale 59, #9 Meadowdale 44 (loser out)

#10 Snohomish 49, #7 Mountlake Terrace 43 (loser out)

#6 Sedro-Woolley 64, #11 Everett 60 (loser out)

#5 Marysville-Getchell 67, #12 Mount Vernon 54 (loser out)

Saturday, Feb. 15

Quarterfinals

Ferndale (11-9) at #1 Edmonds-Woodway (21-1), 7 p.m.

Snohomish (8-14) at #2 Shorecrest (19-2), 7 p.m.

Sedro-Woolley (12-6) at #3 Monroe (16-1), 7 p.m.

Marysville-Getchell (15-7) at #4 Shorewood (14-8), 5 p.m.

Wednesday, Feb. 19

Consolation games

7 p.m. (loser out)

Semifinals

At Marysville-Pilchuck

5 p.m.

7 p.m.

Saturday, Feb. 22

At Marysville-Pilchuck

Consolation semifinals

noon (winner third, to state regionals, loser out)

4 p.m. (winner third, to state regionals, loser out)

Championship game

8 p.m. (winner first, loser second, both to state regionals)

CLASS 2A BOYS

Lynden Defense Shuts Down Sehome, 67-25

The top-seeded Lions began defense of their state title by unleashing their defense on the eighth-seeded Mariners, forcing 19 turnovers, grabbing 19 more rebounds, and not letting Sehome reach double figures in any quarter.

Not that the Lynden offense took the day off. The Lions, who are now 22-0 and ranked No.1, made 50 percent of their shots from the field and all eight of their free throws, hit seven 3-pointers, and handed out 18 assists.

Nine different Lions got in the scoring column led by senior Brant Heppner’s 21 points and two 3-pointers. Junior Malachi Bowman had 15 points, sophomore Malachi Koenen had 9 points on three 3s, and freshman Jayden Navarre and junior Spencer Adams had 5 points each.

Heppner also helped Lynden outbound the shorter Mariners, 34-15, by grabbing 11 rebounds. His four offensive rebounds were three more than the entire Sehome team. Bowman added 5 rebounds and five different players had 3 rebounds each. Sophomore Gordy Bedlington added a team-high 5 assists for Lynden, and Adams had 4 assists.

The Lions now move on to the semifinals where they will take on Anacortes on Saturday at 7 p.m. Lynden won the regular-season meeting between the two, 72-48, a week ago.

Junior Nolan Wright led the Mariners (6-16) on Thursday with 10 points, junior Cole Turrell had 6 points, and junior Xavier Kelley had 5 points. Wright and Kelley had 4 rebounds each, and Wright had a team-high 3 assists.

Sehome drops into the consolation bracket and will play at city rival Squalicum in a loser-out game on Saturday at 7 p.m. The Mariners lost their regular-season meeting, 66-46, a week ago.

Lynden 67, Sehome 25

Sehome 9 6 4 6—25

Lynden 18 22 10 17—67

Sehome: Wright 10, Jackson, Tanovan 2, McAtee, Miller 2, Kelley 5, Mitchell, Watson, Duckworth, Turrell 6.

Lynden: Navarre 5, Bedlington 4, Price 2, Bowman 15, Ellis 2, Mar. Koenen, Mal. Koenen 9, Broersma, Jorgenson 4, Heppner 21, Adams 5.

Squalicum Comes Up Short Against Anacortes, 61-56

The Seahawks came into the first-round game having lost six of their past seven, while the Storm was on a five-game winning streak that started with a 57-52 victory over Anacortes on Jan. 24. But it didn’t matter as Anacortes held off Squalicum on Thursday in the game that counted most.

The fifth-seeded Storm, which fell to 11-10, trailed by eight going into the final period and rallied but couldn’t overtake the fourth-seeded Seahawks, who improved to 13-8.

Senior Marcus Nixon had a team-high 16 points, 11 rebounds, and 5 assists; sophomore Blake Elston had 15 points on five 3-pointers, senior Jaxon Hofer had 12 points on four 3s, including a pair in the fourth-quarter comeback, and sophomore Hunter Calloway had 7 points and 4 assists.

Squalicum will host city rival Sehome in a loser-out contest on Saturday at 7 p.m. The Storm won their regular-season meeting, 66-46, a week ago.

Anacortes was led by junior Micah Dickison’s 24 points and will take on Lynden in Saturday’s late semifinal.

Anacortes 61, Squalicum 56

Squalicum 13 15 14 14—56

Anacortes 16 17 17 11—61

Squalicum: Nichols 4, Calloway 7, Nixon 16, Hoffmann 2, Hofer 12, Elston 15.

Anacortes: Swapp 6, Willoughby 1, L. Roberts, S. Roberts, Andrew 13, Miller, Morgenthaler 17, Dickison 24.

Burlington Bests Bellingham Again, 76-57

It was closer, but not nearly close enough as the third-seeded Tigers beat the sixth-seeded Bayhawks for the second time in eight days. Burlington took the regular-season meeting, 76-48, on Feb. 5.

After falling behind by double-digits in the first quarter, the Bayhawks rallied to tie the score at halftime. Unfortunately, they couldn’t keep up with the Tigers, who outscored Bellingham, 48-29, in the second half.

Junior Joe Harward led Bellingham with 28 points and 7 rebounds, but no other Bayhawk reached double figures. Senior Harmon Wienkers and sophomore Calvin Van Hofwegen had 7 points each, and seniors Kincade VanHouten and Fabian Singh had 5 points each. Senior Gabe Van Hofwegen had a team-high 5 assists.

The loss dropped the Bayhawks (8-13) into the consolation bracket, where they will host Archbishop Murphy in a loser-out contest on Saturday at 7 p.m.

Junior Logan Heigert led Burlington (15-6) with 29 points, 25 of them in the second half. The Tigers move on to Saturday’s early semifinal and will play Lakewood, which beat Archbishop Murphy on Thursday.

Burlington-Edison 76, Bellingham 57

Bellingham 9 19 20 9—57

Burlington-Edison 20 8 29 19—76

Bellingham: Wright 3, Isaly, G. Van Hofwegen, Harward 28, C. Van Hofwegen 7, Gasca, VanHouten 5, Singh 5, Wienkers 7, Campos, Johnson 2.

Burlington-Edison: Whitlock 20, Lockwood, Heigert 29, Belisle, Thornhill, Arendse 4, Jamison, Booth, Feskov 14, Betz 9, Buchanan, Fleshman.

CLASS 2A BOYS DISTRICT 1 TOURNAMENT

Thursday, Feb. 13

Quarterfinals

#1 Lynden 67, #8 Sehome 25

#2 Lakewood 80, #7 Archbishop Murphy 40

#3 Burlington-Edison 76, #6 Bellingham 57

#4 Anacortes 61, #5 Squalicum 56