It’s a good year to be a Hawk.
Senior starter Ryan Shannon, who transferred from Marysville-Pillchuck this year, may be the one piece needed to bring a run to the state championship. The Hawks have gone to the playoffs many times since winning it all in 1977, despite a solid history as a strong team and finishing as high as 3rd place, it seems they are never able to win that elusive title.
Tuesday night was the first step in the quest for the title, as the Hawks beat the Inglemoor Vikings 57-41.
Returning junior guard Marquis Armstead led the team with 19 points. Shannon, in his first game as a Hawk, got a double-double, with 11 points, despite having a slight injury scare just 3 minutes into the game. After Shannon went up for a rebound, he fell face first onto the floor where he appeared to be inadvertently kicked. Shannon was able to get up and walk on his own, but he was clutching his face and looked like he was in some serious pain. He returned to the game a few minutes later. Another possible injury occurred with just 2.5 seconds left in the 3rd quarter, when he nearly got body slammed by an Inglemoor player after going up for a block.
After the game, coach Nalin Sood said, “As a coach you’re always concerned, and you’re just hoping ‘get up, get up, and get up’. We have guys that are aggressive to the basket, and to do that, sometimes (injuries) are going to happen… some of our guys have a fearless attitude, and that’s the risk you take, and I’m glad we have guys like that, that are on our side, and I know (junior guard) Jesse (Zerom) and Ryan wouldn’t shy away from doing that same play five minutes later.”
The whole team did a good job on communication for the first game of the year. Big men Loren LaCasse, and Greg Bowman (both sophomores) dominated the glass and controlled the paint. The Hawks held the Vikings to just two points in the second quarter, and were leading 47-22 at the end of the 3rd. Apart from a few mishaps, the Hawks made many solid, smart, and sometimes amazing passes to find the open man for the easy shot. They even out-scored Inglemoor 30-6 from the beginning of the 2nd quarter to nearly the end of the 3rd.
With all of Terrace’s scoring and lock down defense coming into play, the rest of the season looks to be an exciting one indeed.
Shannon said his expectations are “to get to the Tacoma Dome for sure. I haven’t been able to yet, and I feel we have the pieces here to do it.”
There is a lot of hype around this year’s team, as they were ranked No. 1 in the WESCO 3A division in the high school fall league, going undefeated, with a solid core made up of Shannon, Armstead, and fellow returning junior guard Blake Fernandez. All three finished with double digit points Tuesday, which is a good sign as they will have to help carry this team to the postseason, along with senior post Coby Russell, who did not play Tuesday night.
Sood said, “This game is all about assessing where we’re at. You want to see us go against another team so you can sit down afterwards and see where you need to get better.” From the looks of this game, this will be an elite team by the end of the year. There is enough depth and talent to compete with anybody in the state.
