Story and photo by Doug Petrowski

It was a night of big returns at Mountlake Terrace High School Friday night – the return of the Hawk’s costumed mascot, the return of senior Blake Hernandez to the line-up, and most importantly to Coach Nalin Sood, the return of a tenacious Hawk defense.

Mountlake Terrace turned a big defensive effort into a 48-35 victory over the Shorewood T-Birds in a 3A South Wesco boys basketball tilt at the Terracium.

“It really came down to our defense tonight,” Sood said after the game. “I think with about four minutes to go they had 31 points. If you can do that, regardless to what you’re doing offensively, you have a chance to be successful.”

The Hawk defense held the T-Birds to just three points in the third quarter while getting numerous fast break baskets at their own end. “You’re never going to run unless you play good defense,” Sood noted. “So all that started off of our defense, then we got high percentage shots.”

Junior center Greg Bowman was the beneficiary of many of those shots, scoring 19 for the game. Senior guard Fernandez, in his first action of the season after recovering from a broken wrist, added eight points.

Fernandez entered the game at the 6:22 mark of the first quarter, providing a big emotional spark to his teammates and the MTHS rowdy rooters student section. Fernandez dazzled with a number of sharp inside passes to set up easy points for his teammates, and hit a jumper at the buzzer of the third quarter that electrified the fans.

Sood was pleased to have Fernandez available to play again. “I’m going to enjoy coaching Blake this year, because you don’t get to coach a kid like him very often. I’m just happy he’s back. No kid, I don’t care who he is, should miss their senior year because of injury.”

Shorewood was led by the 16 points of 6-9 senior center Josh Hawkinson, who has already committed to attending Washington State University in 2013. “He’s a good player; Ken Bone (WSU basketball coach) is a smart coach to go get a kid like that,” Sood said.

Mountlake Terrace improved its 3A Wesco South record to 2-0, 5-1 overall. Shorewood drops to 2-1 in the league, 3-3 overall. The Hawks take on the Shorecrest Scots on Tuesday, Dec. 18, 7:15 p.m., at MTHS before a big showdown on the road with the 5-1 Glacier Peak Grizzlies on Thursday, Dec. 20. Both of next week’s games will be broadcast live on the Hawks Live Sports Network on MLTnews.com beginning at 7:05 p.m.

Mountlake Terrace quarter scores    18- 9-10-11 – 48

Shorewood quarter scores              9-11- 3-12 – 35

Mountlake Terrace Scoring: Greg Bowman 19; Blake Fernandez 10; Loren Lacasse 7; Michael Lotz 5; Marquis Armstead 5; LeTrae Sarden 2
Shorewood Scoring: Josh Hawkinson 16; Ben Andrews 6; Yonathan Michael 4; Zach Rattray 3; Taylor Freeman 2; Brandon Mar 2; Zane Hopen 2