District: Lummi Splits, Squalicum Boys Win, Bellingham Falls 

The Lummi Nation boys came up short in their quest for a Class 1B district title on Thursday, Feb. 9, but the Lady Blackhawks won to take third. Meanwhile, the Class 2A boys district got started with Squalicum winning its play-in game, but Bellingham losing out.

For the Lummi Nation teams, the next step is the District 1/2/3 tournaments. The boys — who lost to Mount Vernon Christian, 45-40, in Thursday’s district final — will go in as the fourth seed. The girls, who defeated Darrington in overtime, 53-48, will be the No.5 seed and will host a loser-out contest on Saturday.

For the Squalicum boys, the next step is a trip to Lynden for a district quarterfinal matchup on Saturday at 3 p.m. The Storm earned their way into the double-elimination portion of the tournament by knocking off Sedro-Woolley on Thursday, 56-44.

Unfortunately, the Bellingham boys will have to wait until next season for their next game after losing to Archbishop Murphy in the play-in game Thursday, 56-41.

NEXT UP: Girls teams are in the spotlight on Friday. Ferndale moves on to the double-elimination portion of the Class 3A district tourney when the Golden Eagles travel to Stanwood. In the 2A quarterfinals, Squalicum is at Sehome and Cedarcrest is at Lynden. All games start at 7 p.m. Check out Whatcom Hoops for all the action.

Class 1B Boys

Mount Vernon Christian 45, Lummi Nation 40

Senior Richard Wilson and freshman Jerome Toby led a Blackhawks’ comeback but it wasn’t enough as Lummi Nation failed to repeat as district champion, falling to the Hurricanes in a rematch of last year’s final.

Wilson and Toby combined for all 11 Lummi points in the fourth quarter and would finish with 16 and 14 points, respectively, with each hitting three 3-pointers. Junior Mathias Johnson added 4 points but was the only other Blackhawk to score more than two points.

Mount Vernon Christian (18-5) would turn out to be almost a one-man team with senior Billy DeJong scoring 27 points and making four 3-pointers.

Despite the loss, the Blackhawks (17-7) remain in a good position to return to the Class 1B state tournament in Spokane, where they placed fourth last year.

The second-place district finish earned Lummi Nation (17-7) a fourth seed in the tri-district tournament. In addition to avoiding the loser-out first round, the Blackhawks will host a quarterfinal contest on Tuesday against the winner of Saturday’s Evergreen Lutheran-Crescent play-in game.

Should Lummi Nation win on Tuesday, the Blackhawks would not only move into the tri-district semifinals but would be guaranteed a top-four finish and a spot in the state regionals.

Mount Vernon Christian 45, Lummi Nation 40

Lummi Nation                         9       10       10       11—40

Mount Vernon Christian          9       16       12         8—45

Lummi Nation: Toby 14, Perkins, Francis, Johnson 4, Wilson 16, Edwards 2, Scott, Bailey 2, Powell 2,  Solomon.

Mount Vernon Christian: Silver, Faber, Rozema 5, Brunk, Bieghler 2, Lu. Millenaar 5, DeJong 27, Li. Millenaar 4.

DISTRICT 1 TOURNAMENT

Thursday, Feb. 2

Play-in games

#6 Fellowship Christian 59, #11 Cedar Park Christian (Lynnwood) 47 (loser out)

#10 Lopez 48, #7 Darrington 47 (loser out)

#5 Tulalip Heritage 46, #12 Providence Classical Christian 40 (loser out)

#8 Shoreline Christian 42, #9 Concrete 37 (loser out)

Saturday, Feb. 4

First round

#3 Orcas Island 82, Fellowship Christian 36

#2 Lummi Nation 65, Lopez 25

#4 Grace Academy 61, Tulalip Heritage 37

#1 Mount Vernon Christian 81, Shoreline Christian 33

Tuesday, Feb. 7

Consolation round

Lopez 52, Fellowship Christian 42 (loser out)

Tulalip Heritage 68, Shoreline Christian 56 (loser out)

Semifinals

Lummi Nation 59, Orcas Island 55

Mount Vernon Christian 77, Grace Academy 45

Thursday, Feb. 9

At Mount Vernon Christian

Consolation finals

Tulalip Heritage 80, Lopez 43 (loser out, winner fifth to tri-district)

Orcas Island 74, Grace Academy 22 (winner third, loser fourth, both to tri-district)

Championship game

Mount Vernon Christian 45, Lummi Nation 40 (winner first, loser second, both to tri-district)

Class 2A Boys

Squalicum 56, Sedro-Woolley 44

Ashton Engelhart was the man with the hot hand early, scoring eight points in the first quarter as the seventh-seeded Storm stormed out to a 15-4 lead. The senior guard would finish with a team-high 17 points thanks to a pair of 3-pointers and going 5 of 5 from the line.

Seniors Nick Watt and Xander Sledge added 9 points each and combined for three 3s. Watt and senior Jacob Donnelly also were keys for the Squalicum defense that limited the 10th-seeded Cubs to 17 first-half points.

Senior Kyle Heaton and junior Peter Albert had 8 points each for the Storm. Heaton was 5 of 6 from the line as Squalicum finished a blistering 13 of 15 on free throws.

The victory raised Squalicum’s record to 10-12 and avenged a 60-39 defeat to Sedro-Woolley earlier in the season.

“It’s always the goal to be playing your best at the end of the season,” said Squalicum coach Tyler Hannigan. “We got an opportunity to play a team we got thumped by earlier in the year and took care of business.”

As for playing defending state champion Lynden on Saturday, Hannigan said, “It’s a similar position to where we were last season, and we’re hoping we can make a little noise.”

Squalicum 56, Sedro-Woolley 44

Sedro-Woolley         4       13       11       16—44

Squalicum              15       17         7       17—56

Sedro-Woolley: Avey, Lee 4, Scheib 2, Cox 5, Thompson, Barretto, Reynolds 4, Peterson, DeJong 23, Roth 3, Aamot 3.

Squalicum: Donnelly, Jacobs 3, Nixon 2, N. Watt 9, Engelhart 17, Sledge 9, Heaton 8, Albert 8.

Archbishop Murphy 56, Bellingham 41

The ninth-seeded Bayhawks came out cold on the road against the eighth-seeded Wildcats with only two field goals in the first quarter, and by then they already were down by 13. Despite playing even the rest of the way, Bellingham couldn’t make up the deficit.

Junior Wyatt Stephan led the Bayhawks with 9 points, junior Ian O’Roarty and sophomore Harmon Winkers had 6 points each, and the team’s only senior, Grayson Stone, had 5 points.

The loss ended Bellingham’s season at 7-14.

Archbishop Murphy 56, Bellingham 41

Bellingham                             8       10       14         9—41

Archbishop Murphy             21       12       12       11—56

Bellingham: Tolle, Brethauer, Van Hofwegen 3, Craig 3, Stephan 8, O’Roarty 6, Vanhouten 4, Carpenter 2, Stone 5, Wienkers 6, Togage 4.

Archbishop Murphy: Galbraith 15, Ennis 5, Adams, S. Balen, C. Balen, Usui 5, Blachly 16, Lewis, Cham, Shin, Sievers 7, Sumpter 8, Smith.

DISTRICT 1 TOURNAMENT

Play-in games

Thursday, Feb. 9

#7 Squalicum 56, #10 Sedro-Woolley 44  (loser out)

#8 Archbishop Murphy 56, #9 Bellingham 41 (loser out)

First round

Saturday, Feb. 11

Squalicum (10-12) at #2 Lynden (17-3), 3 p.m.

#6 Burlington-Edison (8-11) at #3 Sehome (16-3), 6 p.m. 

#5 Cedarcrest (9-10) at #4 Lakewood (11-10), 6 p.m.

Archbishop Murphy (8-14) at #1 Anacortes (18-2), 7:30 p.m.

Tuesday, Feb. 14

Consolation games

First-round losers (loser out)

First-round losers (loser out)

Semifinals

At Mount Vernon

First-round winners, 5:30 p.m.

First-round winners, 7:15 p.m.

Consolation games

Thursday, Feb. 16

At Mount Vernon

Consolation game winner vs. semifinal loser, 5:30 p.m. (loser out)

Consolation game winner vs. semifinal loser, 7:15 p.m. (loser out)

Saturday, Feb. 18

At Mount Vernon

Consolation final

Consolation winners, 5:30 p.m. (winner third, to state regionals, loser out)

Championship game

Semifinal winners, 7:15 p.m. (winner first, loser second, both to state regionals)

Class 1B Girls

Lummi Nation 53, Darrington 48 OT

Senior Raven Solomon and freshman Jemma James hit 3-pointers and senior Aliesha Solomon added a bucket as the Lady Blackhawks outscored the Loggers, 8-3, in overtime to take third place in the district tournament for the second year in a row.

James would finish with 24 points and four 3-pointers despite sitting out nearly half the game because of foul trouble. Raven Solomon had 18 points and three 3s, and Aliesha Solomon had 11 points.

The victory improved Lummi Nation’s record to 16-3 and came with two of their starters out with injuries. While they had already secured a berth in the tri-district tournament, the victory wasn’t enough to give the Blackhawks a top-four seed and a first-round bye.

Instead, they will host Pope John Paul II of Lacey on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. in a loser-out game. Should the fifth-seeded Blackhawks beat the 12th-seeded Eagles (5-8), they would play Orcas Island on Tuesday, Feb. 14, in a quarterfinal contest. It would be the third time the two teams had played each other.

The top five teams in the 12-team tri-district tournament will advance to the state regionals on Feb. 24-25.

Lummi Nation 53, Darrington 48

Darrington                      8       11       13       13       3—48

Lummi Nation              14       11         7       13       8—53

Darrington: Monteith, Wright 18, Espeland, Hoglund 11, Dewberry, Apolinario, Beazer 7, Ross, Al. Cochran 12.

Lummi Nation: M. Morris, A. Solomon 11, R. Solomon 18, James 24, Kapuni-Lopez, Lawrence, Williams.

DISTRICT 1 TOURNAMENT

Thursday, Feb. 2

Play-in games

NW 1B/2B #4 Darrington 2, NW 1B #3 Lopez 0 (forfeit) (loser out)

NW 1B/2B #3 Concrete 54, NW 1B #4 Tulalip Heritage 39 (loser out)

Saturday, Feb. 4

First round

Darrington 50, NW 1B #2 Grace Academy 19

NW 1B/2B #2 Orcas Island 67, Concrete 13

Tuesday, Feb. 7

Consolation

Concrete 49, Grace Academy 14 (winner to tri-district “pigtail” game, loser out)

Semifinals

NW 1B/2B #1 Mount Vernon Christian 58, Darrington 16

Orcas Island 55, NW 1B #1 Lummi Nation 35

Thursday, Feb. 9

Pigtail game

Crescent 54, Concrete 23 (winner fifth, to tri-district, loser out)

Consolation final

Lummi Nation 53, Darrington 48 OT (winner third, loser fourth, both to tri-district)

Championship game

Mount Vernon Christian 55, Orcas Island 33 (winner first, loser second, both to tri-district)

Jim Carberry of Whatcom Hoops

Author
Jim Carberry is a former Bellingham Herald sports editor and author of several books on Whatcom County prep basketball. Follow him on Twitter @whatcomhoops and visit the Whatcom Hoops Facebook page.

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