“Even before they stepped onto the floor of their home court Friday night, players on the South Whidbey boys basketball knew they were in for two of the toughest basketball games of the season last weekend.On Friday, the Falcons hosted Nooksack Valley, the third-ranked 2A school in the state. On Saturday, South Whidbey squared off against Lynden Christian, the top rated 2A school in Washington.In the first game of the pair, life on the court got uglier than anyone could have expected as the 11-1 Pioneers punished the Falcons 104-53. Though the Falcons shot well from the 3-point line (7 for 11) and picked up 25 points from the brother pairing of Tim and Brian Gabelein, they could not find a way to shut down Nooksack’s net-hungry offense. The Pioneers scored at least 22 points in all four quarters of the contest while holding the Falcons to no more than 18.But the South Whidbey defense did learn a lesson from the game and came back the next night with some of the most smothering play of the season. Led by senior Brett Perkins, who Falcon coach Andy Davis credited with having his best defensive game of the year, the South Whidbey defenders stood solid against Lynden Christian, limiting them to a hard-fought 65-28 win. Falcon defenders took four charges during the game and grabbed as many rebounds as the Lyncs (33) as they held the number-one team in the state to under 70 points. Statistically, the Falcons played evenly with or better than the Lyncs in most categories. They outshot the Lyncs 46-43 and grabbed 14 offensive rebounds to the Lyncs’ four. The difference was in shooting percentages. South Whidbey could not score a single point in the first quarter of the game and made only 22 percent of their shots for the game. The Lyncs made 56 percent.Coach Andy Davis said the two-game series was the toughest weekend possible for his team.The 0-13 Falcons get a respite against softer competition later this week. They play Sultan at home on Friday night, then host Blaine on Saturday. “