Erase any doubt you may have had: These Hawks are for real.
And they have the Mountlake Terrace High School Holiday Tournament Trophy to prove it.
Not convinced yet? Just ask previously unbeaten Snohomish, who came into tonight’s game ranked No. 5 in the Seattle Times 4A poll.
Final score: Hawks 63, Panthers 41.
Snohomish senior guard Luke Hamlin, who came into tonight’s game averaging more than 24 points per game, was throttled by the Hawks’ stifling defense and held to a season-low 10 points. Fellow guard Kevin Yates led the Panthers with 13.
That was indicative of the tough man-to-man defense that the Hawks smothered the Panthers with tonight. No matter how hard Snohomish tried, they couldn’t get anything consistent going. In fact, the longest scoring streak for Snohomish during the entire game was just six points on back-to-back treys midway through the 2nd quarter.
On the other hand, the Hawks were typically balanced on offense with senior post Coby Russell leading the way with 19 points and 13 boards. Junior guard Blake Fernandez contributed 12, junior guard Marquis Armstead had 13 and senior post Ryan Shannon had 9. Russell was a man on a mission with several steals, blocks and two emphatic dunks – the most spectacular one coming on a two-thirds court pass from junior guard Jesse Zerom.
The Hawks went on a back-breaking nine-point run early in the 3rd quarter and never looked back. Terrace also had four runs of six points.
Besides being unbeaten, the Hawks kept another impressive streak alive – in each of their 10 games, the Hawks have held their opponents to fewer than 10 points in at least one quarter.
At the Terraceum:
Snohomish – 07 13 11 10 = 41
Mountlake Terrace – 16 16 20 11 = 63
Hawks: Jesse Zerom 3, Andrew Moisant 0, Blake Fernandez 12, Ryan Shannon 9, Michael Lotz 0, Marquis Armstead 13, Greg Bowman 0, Eric Moisant 7, Lauren LaCasse 0, Coby Russell 19.
Panthers: Kevin Yates 13, Luke Hamlin 10, Mitchell Stewart 0, Russell Crippen 5, Gabe Reichenberger 2, Josh Bauska 4, Josh Baird 5, Ty Carlson 2, Wyatt Harrison 0, Darian Caldwell 0.
