Three Wolverines scored in double digits as Friday Harbor clinched the No. 3 seed in the first-round of post-season play thanks to a 52-45 victory at home Saturday over Lynden Christian.
Though they led from start to finish, the Wolverines couldn’t shake free from a turnover-prone and inexperienced Lyncs’ squad until the final minute of regulation.
With 50 seconds remaining, Lynden Christian sliced a 7-point deficit down to four as sophomore Ryan Bovenkamp buried a 3-point shot from the corner. But the Wolverines responded by knocking down 6-of-10 free-throw attempts in the final 40 seconds to stymie the Lyncs’s comeback bid and seal the victory.
With the win, Friday Harbor improved to 8-6 overall and erased a two-game skid in which it struggled to score in both.
“The biggest thing we did tonight is we just went out and played basketball and had fun,” point guard Ryan Aylward said. “We weren’t great at the free-throw line, but we hit the ones we had to.”
With the victory, Friday Harbor sealed the No. 3 seed in the District 1 playoffs, while Lynden Christian tumbled to the No. 4 slot and will likely face Nooksack Valley in its post-season opener. The Wolverines will square off against the Cascade Conference’s No. 2, 1A team, either King’s or Coupeville.
There are five more league games left in the regular season.
The Lyncs, rattled early by the Wolverines’ full-court press and defensive pressure, committed a flurry of turnovers and trailed 10-4 at the end of the first period. But they closed out the second quarter on a 11-1 run and knotted the score at 23-23 with just under 10 seconds left in the half. Friday Harbor reclaimed the lead as Aylward drained a shot from beyond the 3-point arc just before the buzzer sounded.
Jordan Nash paced the offense with 13 points and six rebounds and fellow seniors Austin Scheffer and Pablo Lopez contributed 11 points each. Aylward had eight points and junior Parker Lawson added seven. The Lyncs committed two dozen turnovers which Friday Harbor converted into 21 points.
Lynden Christian (2-13) got 13 points from 6-6 senior David Doherty, eight from Bovenkamp and seven from Joey Spoelstra.
Next: The Wolverines hosted Orcas Tuesday (see results at SanJuanJournal.com), and host Shoreline Christian Saturday in a pivotal league match-up. Tipoff is 6 p.m.
Jan. 30
Darrington 55
Friday Harbor 48
The Wolverines tumbled from their perch at the top of the league standings in a 55-48 defeat Friday at Darrington.
Sharp-shooting senior Cory Hoveskland tossed in a game-high 23 points and forward Mike Paris tallied 12 in leading the Loggers to victory in a pivotal match up of Northwest 1A/2B League leaders.
Darrington improved to 7-2 in league and grabbed an edge over La Conner (6-2) and Friday Harbor (5-2) in the race for the title.
Senior Austin Scheffer led the Wolverines with 18 points, Jordan Nash tossed in 11 and Parker Lawson added seven. Sophomore Preston Ukra knocked down a pair from beyond the 3-point arc, both in the third period, to tally a season-high six points.
