Mountlake Terrace Grabs Final Playoff Spot Against Marysville-Pilchuck

Mountlake Terrace Grabs Final Playoff Spot Against Marysville-Pilchuck
By Steven Dion

Jackson High School served as host for two playoff games for District 1 from the Wesco League. The first was the 3A contest between Mountlake Terrace and Marysville-Pilchuck. In a seemingly wide-open classification moving forward in the state tournament, the winner of this game has a fair shot of continuing their run in the next round. With a nice crowd on hand, everyone in the building was in for an exciting game.

Mountlake Terrace established their variety of scoring options early as six Hawk players scored in the first quarter alone. This was largely due to MP’s inability to contain the interior. Terrace had an advantage from the three to five positions on the floor as their trio of forward/post combos at 6’6 or bigger were matched with Pilchuck’s smaller centers at around 6’4. The Tomahawks were able to get a boost from nice shooting from their guards Bryce Juneau and Josh Bevan. The pair combined for 19 of Pilchuck’s thirty first-half points. With a four point lead after the first half, Mountlake Terrace’s ability to feed a seemingly unblocked Greg Bowman would set the tone for the rest of the game.

When play continued, the Hawks continued their trend of cashing in on offensive rebounds. Crashing the boards in the attacking zone provided many of Terrace’s buckets. Marysville-Pilchuck got their shooting rolling as Michael Painter and Juneau produced the majority of their team’s scoring. Bryce Juneau at 5’10 and only a sophomore showed senior-like poise in this game as he led his team with 20 points. Carrying only a three point lead into the final quarter, Mountlake Terrace opened the fourth with a 14-0 run to essentially dash any hopes of MPHS rallying back. Loren Lacasse played a large role in that impressive run down the stretch. At the end of regulation, Terrace walked away with a 70-53 victory.

Top Performers:
Mountlake Terrace
Four players in double figures-Greg Bowman (23), Loren Lacasse (20), Yoel Tekle (12), Gabe Altenberger (10)

Marysville-Pilchuck
Bryce Juneau-19 points