They win 1, they lose 1
Published 8:00 am Wednesday, January 30, 2002
One step forward and one step back. That’s the kind of weekend South Whidbey’s boys had on the basketball court.
The forward step came on Friday when the Falcons beat Lakewood 65-60 in front of a hometown crowd. The step back happened the next night, when the state’s second-best 2A basketball team, Lynden Christian, hammered South Whidbey in three of four quarters in a lopsided 73-41 Falcon loss.
Going into the weekend, the Falcons were in sixth place in the North Cascades Conference. Coming out of it, they were still sixth. But they were a better team for it, especially after taking out Lakewood.
“It’s kind of a statement game,” said Andy Davis, South Whidbey’s head coach.
Even though Lakewood Cougar big man Jake Poeschel lit into South Whidbey’s defense for 27 points, the Falcons shut down the rest of their rival’s shooters. At the same time, they put on one of their best offensive shows of the year.
Though busy much of the night limiting Cougar Brett Landman to 6 points — four weeks after Landman brushed him aside on his way to a 23-point night — Brandon Turner led all South Whidbey scorers with 18 points. Fortunately for the team’s bottom line, two of his teammates were close behind. Josh Coleman, who gave the Falcons a spark early in the game with some improbable shots underneath the basket, and Tim Gabelein combined for 31 points to set up a triple threat scoring impact against which there was no defense.
Still, the Cougars had momentum and scoring ability on their side. With a 19-point win over the Falcons in December still fresh in their memories, the Cougars built a six-point lead by the end of the first half. But with Landman shut down and guard Garrett Olson largely unproductive just 24 hours after he scored 30 in a win over Blaine, they didn’t have enough scoring fuel to go the distance. By the end of three periods the game was even at 47-47; the final quarter belonged to South Whidbey.
On Saturday night, the Falcons were a different team — and definitely not a better one. Against Lynden Christian the score was never close, even though both teams worked hard on defense.
“It wasn’t as bad as the score shows,” said Davis.
Lync scoring machine Paul Hafford did most the damage with a 30-point night, overshadowing the respectable 14 Gabelein put up for the Falcons. The only bright spot for South Whidbey came in the third quarter, when they managed to get the Lyncs under control beneath the basket and outpoint them 14-12.
That seemed only to push the Lyncs, who pushed like a river through a broken dam in the fourth to put the game away with a 20-9 quarter.
Now 4-7 in the NCC, the Falcons are still in playoff contention. They need at least three more wins over their last four games to stay in the post-season picture.
