ARLINGTON – Arlington’s standout quarterback also knows how to pass and score, and rebound, too, on the basketball court.
Anthony Whitis, the recently named All-Wesco QB, had a double-double with 26 points and 10 rebounds to lead Arlington to a 63-42 season-opening win over Anacortes Friday.
He had to be close to a triple-double as he tallied numerous assists, too, mostly off fastbreaks. Arlington held the visitors scoreless for the first five minutes, taking a 6-3 lead at the 3:00 mark. Whitis hit a 3 then passed to sophomore Michael Tsoukalas on fastbreak on the way to a 15-8 first-quarter lead.
Whitis passed to Max Smith for a bucket, followed by Josh Gutierrez’s breakaway dunk that brought the crowd to its feet. Whitis hit two more 3’s, Caden Smith added another one, and Whitis’s old-fashioned three-point play after being fouled on another fastbreak put the home team up 35-18 at the half.
Arlington started the second half off with a bang as Whitis tossed an alley oop pass to Max Smith for two. The Eagles continued to break the Anacortes press, with Whitis getting another assist to Max Smith. Will Abram, the Eagles’ 6-foot-8 junior center, scored twice after grabbing two offensive rebounds as Arlington led 47-26 after three.
In the final stanza, Whitis had another old-time three-point play, freshman Quintin Yon-Wagner scored after snaring an offensive board, Whitis scored on a beautiful back-door pass from Caden Smith, and Gutierrez hit a 3.
Abram added 10 points in the victory. Gutierrez scored 9, Max Smith 6, Caden Smith 5, Gerit DeBerry 3, and Tsoukalas and Yon-Wagner scored 2 apiece.
It was a different story Monday for the Eagles at Ferndale.
The Golden Eagles sure looked golden in their romp over the Arlington Eagles 68-42.
Arlington’s offense just never got on track, falling behind 23-14 in the first quarter, then only scoring 6 in the second and 9 in the third quarters.
After hitting everything in sight the previous game, Whitis was held to 5 points.
Gutierrez led the visitors with 12. Freshman Yon-Wagner added 7, Joseph Schmidt 6, Caden Smith and Bryce Petersen 3 each, and scoring a bucket apiece were Tsoukalas, Abram and Max Smith.
Other basketball
Meanwhile, the Arlington girls team fell to Lake Stevens 59-44 Friday. They stayed even with the Vikings in the first half, trailing just 29-27. But the Viking defense shut the visitors down in the second half, holding them to 17 points.
Leading the Eagles was junior Allison DeBerry with a dozen points, followed by sophomores Josie Stupey with 10, and Abbey Hassing with 8, and junior Sierra Scheppele and sophomore Abby Schwark with 7 each.
In games Saturday, Lakewood’s boys beat Sultan 83-61. Machai Harris scored 23 points to lead the way. Alex Jensen added 17, and Alex Coleman 16 for the Cougars.
The Cougars led 21-11 after one quarter and just added on to the lead from there.
Other scoring for Lakewood included: Jared Taylor with 9, Sean Phillips 7, Kaiden Harrison 4, Ethan Saxtonand Spencer Neiffer 3 each, and Sergiy Nelson had 1.
The Cougar girls also beat Sultan 45-29. The home team outscored the visitors 16-5 in the second period to pull away.
Myriam Frechilla had 20 points, 11 rebounds and six steals for the winners. Malia Ryden added 10 points. Other scorers were: Riley Molloy with 4, Jasmine Graham, Mandy Harrison and Malia Schroeder 3 apiece, and Shealey Miller with 2.
Also Saturday, Bellingham jumped out to a 21-2 first-quarter lead at Marysville-Pilchuck to win going away 60-26.
Lauren Lewis’ 14 points led M-P. Alex Grimm added 5 points and Tahja Vaivaimuli 4 for the Tomahawks. Madyson Baxter tallied 3.
In girls basketball Saturday, Lakewood beat M-P 37-31. The Tommies trailed just 10-9 after one period, but the Cougars took off in the second quarter outscoring the visitors 18-5. Lakewood scored just nine points in the second half, but held on to win.
Myriam Frechilla led Lakewood with 16 points, Jasmine Graham added 8, and Riley Molloy chipped in seven. Malia Ryden had 3 and with 1 each were Nicole Miller, Jadeyn Graham and Natalie Krueger.
For M-P, Alex Grimm had 10, Miriah Summers 8, MacKenzie Konsor 6, Lauren Lewis 3, Madyson Baxter 2, and Georgia Bradley and Alissa Edge scored 1 each.
Last week, M-P lost to Kamiak 52-46 in boys basketball. M-P led at halftime 25-19, but was held to five points in the third quarter as the game was tied at 30-30. Kamiak outscored the visitors by 6 in the final stanza for the win.
Cameron Stordahl and Luke Dobler led M-P with 12 points each. Aaron Kalab had 8, Ethan Jackson 7, T.J. Severn and Brady Phelps 3 each, and Alec Jones-Smith 1. Tomahawk standout Raequan Battle did not play.
Wrestling
In wrestling Nov. 29 at Cedarcrest, the home team beat Marysville Getchell 54-30. Cedarcrest won the first four matches before Jacob Steele won by pin at 106 pounds. MG won the next two matches by forfeit. Cedarcrest took the next two matches by pin before Jack Gallagher won by pin at 138 pounds in 2:43. After another Charger was pinned, at 152 pounds Jesus Cabandas won by pin in 43 seconds. After another pin Freddy Reid won by pin in 2:44. at 170 pounds.
In boys wrestling Saturday, Arlington was 15th in the Edmonds-Woodway Invitational. Yelm won with 202 points.