Prep boys basketball: Hawks cruise to victory after strong first half against Lynnwood

With a defensive effort that limited the Lynnwood Royals to just two second quarter points, the Mountlake Terrace Hawks were able to jump out to a big 31-12 lead at halftime and then coast to a 58-44 Wesco League victory over the Royals Friday night at Mountlake Terrace High School.

Lynnwood went 0-for-6 from the field, had two shots blocked, committed six turnovers and was held to just two made free throws by a Hawks’ smothering defense during the game’s decisive second quarter.

Royals’ Coach Bobby Hinnenkamp pointed to the second quarter as the game’s crucial stretch.

“Terrace plays hard man-to-man defense,” he said. “That’s something that they’ve done for a long time and something that they are very good at. So, credit to them on the defensive end; but for us, we had a bad second quarter — and to me, that was the difference.”

While Lynnwood couldn’t get any offense going during the quarter, Terrace lit up the scoreboard with 17 points. Junior Brendan Hayes scored seven of his 13 points in the period to lead the Hawk offensive charge.

“You can’t play three quarters of basketball,” Hinnenkamp said. “We’ve got to play four quarters. When you get outscored 17-2, you know, it’s tough. I’m proud of the kids and the way they played in the second half and in that first quarter, but we’ve got to piece together a game.”

The 44 points Lynnwood scored in the game was more than 13 points below their season average and a goal-achievement for the Hawks.

“Defense is very important to this team,” said sophomore starter Mason Petersen. “We want to limit our opponent to under their (scoring) average.”

Despite the hole the Royals found themselves in, the squad battled back to cut the deficit to 11 points a couple times in the fourth quarter. But each time Lynnwood found some momentum late in the game, the Hawks were able to snatch it right back.

Petersen seemed to make the big shot repeatedly in the final stanza to keep the Royals at arms’ length. The 6-foot-2 guard struggled with his shooting touch early in the matchup, but never gave up looking to score, eventually going 4-for-5 and tallying all his 10 points in the game’s final eight minutes.

“I was missing every shot in the first half and the third quarter, so I just wanted to keep shooting (because) eventually I knew I would make one,” Petersen explained.

In total, four Hawks reached double-figures in scoring: Hayes and Khyree Armstead with 13 each, Petersen and Sean Kirk with 10 each.

The Royals were led by the 14 points of senior Eli Edwards.

Terrace also enjoyed a big advantage of the boards, pulling down 34 rebounds to Lynnwood’s 15, partly due to the absence of 5-foot-11 Alton Hammond who was missing from the Royals lineup due to a family commitment.

With the victory, the Hawks moved into third place in the 2A/3A Wesco League standings with a league mark of 7-2, a half-game ahead of 7-3 Edmonds-Woodway who was upset by Meadowdale 72-51 on Friday. The Royals fell to 3-6 in Wesco League play and 5-12 overall.

Prep Boys Basketball: Lynnwood at Mountlake Terrace, Jan. 27

Lynnwood     10          2        14        18        —          44
Terrace           14        17        13        14        —          58

Mountlake Terrace individual scoring: Khyree Armstead 13, Brendan Hayes 13, Mason Petersen 10, Sean Kirk 10, Brock Davis 8, Joey Gardner 4, Keegan Grayson

Lynnwood individual scoring: Eli Edwards 14, Alex Macias 9, Christian Vasquez 7, Ryan Rapanan 6, Joseph Habtemariam 3, Jordan Glover 3, Andrew Warren 2, Bryce Milne

Records: Mountlake Terrace 7-2 in 2A/3A Wesco League, 9-8 overall; Lynnwood 3-6 in 2A/3A Wesco League, 5-12 overall

Mountlake Terrace next game: versus Stanwood, Tuesday, Jan. 31, 7:15 p.m. at Stanwood

Lynnwood next game: versus Marysville-Getchell, Tuesday, Jan. 31, 7:15 p.m. at Lynnwood High School

–By Doug Petrowski

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Real first and last names — as well as city of residence — are required for all commenters.
This is so we can verify your identity before approving your comment.

By commenting here you agree to abide by our Code of Conduct. Please read our code at the bottom of this page before commenting.