DAVID RASBACH - THE BELLINGHAM HERALD
BURLINGTON - Halfway through the regular season, and the Sehome boys' basketball team has found its identity. The Mariners may have discovered their forte because of a failed experiment, but at least now they now know what will work best to win ballgames for them. And in the end, the experiment didn't end up hurting them too much. A second-half switch to a zone press helped Sehome claw its way back from an 11-point halftime deficit, and the Mariners ultimately survived two overtime periods to claim a 73-70 Northwest Conference victory at Burlington-Edison on Monday, Jan. 2.
Konstantin Andrushenko led the way for Sehome with 19 points, while Gabe Sanchez had 11 points all in the fourth quarter or overtime after getting in some early foul trouble. "We were pressing in the first half, but we were using more of a man-to-man press," Sehome coach A.J. LaBree said. "We've used the man press against Burlington before and had some success with it, so we figured we try it again tonight. But we just didn't play all that well in the man press. We seemed a little flat again. We made the switch back to zone press at halftime, and that's what we're kind of known for. It ended up helping us get back in this game." The switch definitely seemed to cause problems for the Tigers (8-2, 1-2), who consistently struggled to get the ball over the time line and set up in their half-court offense, which was so effective in the first half. Sehome forced one 10-second call in the second half and should have had another. "Everybody just knew where they were supposed to be in the zone," Andrushenko said. "In man, you can lose your man, but in zone, everybody has their place. We're more comfortable in the zone." Not only did it make Sehome better defensively, it seemed to light a fire under an offense that shot only 9 for 32 in the first half. "Kon was the only one that seemed to play intense in the first half," LaBree said. "That's not good for us. We have too much balance on this team to rely on one guy. In the second half, Kon kept it up, and some other guys really joined in. Gabe hit some big shots for us late after he was in foul trouble early. Noah (Cyr-Moore) got some good drives to the basket and Riley Fraser and Charles Linneman both hit some big put-back buckets for us." By the end of the third quarter, Sehome had cut the deficit by four to 48-41. After spotting Burlington the first bucket of the fourth quarter, the Mariners scored eight straight to cut the Tigers' advantage to one. Andrushenko got things started by hitting one of two free throws. Sanchez then hit a 3-pointer for his first points of the game, before Cyr-Moore drove the lane for two more. Drew Ronson then hit a pair of free throws to make it 50-49. After trading buckets with Burlington, Sehome tied the game up for the first time since the first quarter on a put-back bucket by Ronson, and Andrushenko's 3-pointer with 1:08 to play in regulation gave the Mariners a 56-55 lead. Burlington answered with a Browning drive, but Linneman converted a 3-point play on a put back to make it 59-57 with 14.2 seconds to play. But the Tigers forced overtime, when Aaron Watts put back a Nathan Haddock miss with 2.9 seconds remaining.
In the first extra period, Sanchez hit a 3, and Cyr-Moore followed with a pull-up jumper to give Sehome a 66-62 lead with 49 seconds to play, but Taylor Nelson hit a pair of free throws with 38.1 seconds left to pull the Tigers within two. Watts then jumped in front of a pass to get the ball back for Burlington, and Ronson was whistled for a foul on Nelson behind the 3-point arc. "I think I lost about five pounds from this game," LaBree joked. "We faced a lot of adversity tonight, and the kids did a good job of not getting down." Nelson missed the first of his three free throws, but made the last two to send the game to a second overtime tied at 66. In that extra period, Sehome jumped ahead when Andrushenko made one of two free throws and Fraser tipped in a missed shot to make it 69-66. Cyr-Moore and Sanchez then combined to make four of six free throws in the final minute to help Sehome hold on for the win. "We just believed in each other," Andrushenko said. "Things didn't always go our way tonight, but we'd huddle up and just tell each other to stay focused and play better. We had a lot of different guys step up tonight." Among them was Cyr-Moore, who finished with 12 points. Ronson had nine points and 11 rebounds, Fraser finished with nine points and six rebounds and Linneman added eight points and five rebounds. "This is a big win for us," Andrushenko said. "It's early, but Burlington is always a good team in basketball, and this gives us some confidence." Browning led Burlington with 23 points and 10 rebounds, while Watts had 11 points and seven rebounds. Sehome next hosts Mount Baker on Thursday, Jan. 5.
Reach David Rasbach at david.rasbach@bellinghamherald.com or 360-715-2271. SEHOME 73, BURLINGTON-EDISON 70 (2OT)
Burlington-Ed. 12 12 17 18 7 7- 70
Sehome 13 22 13 11 7 4- 73
Sehome: Drew Ronson 9, Evan Miksovsky 0, Jake Slesk 3, Lawrence Strasser 0, Konstantin Andrushenko 19, Noah Cyr-Moore 12, Charles Linneman 8, Riley Fraser 9, Gabe Sanchez 11, Jake Schacht 2. Team totals: 26-69 17-29 73.
Burlington-Edison: Brandon Stanksy 2, Taylor Nelson 16, Nathan Haddock 5, Dalton Schwetz 3, Isaak Davies 4, Daron Browning 23, Aaron Watts 11, Jeremy Canniff 6. Team totals: 20-59 25-33 70.
3-pointers: Sehome 6 (Andrushenko 3), Burlington-Edison 5 (Nelson 3). Rebounds: Sehome 41 (Ronson 11), Burlington-Edison 43 (Browning 10). Assists: Sehome 7 (Sanchez 3), Burlington-Edison 14 (Haddock 5). Fouls: Sehome 23, Burlington-Edison 21 (Watts fouled out). Turnovers: Sehome 9, Burlington-Edison 10.
Read more here: http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2012/01/02/2334001/prep-boys-basketball-sehome-rallies.html
Read more here: http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2012/01/02/2334001/prep-boys-basketball-sehome-rallies.html
