Defense helps as M-P overcomes first-quarter slump

MARYSVILLE — Foul trouble, turnovers and shooting as cold as the snow heaps outside that had endured the week’s thaw. All three plagued the Tomahawk boys basketball team in the first quarter Jan. 2 as they hosted Mount Vernon. The boys trailed 15-7 after eight minutes with just two field goals. Their eight-point deficit might well have come from the eight points Mount Vernon extracted at the free-throw line.

January 6, 2009 5:22 pm
M-P guard Tyler Holm had nine points against Mount Vernon. At M-PHS Mount Vernon 15 4 5 9 33 Marysville-Pilchuck 7 13 13 12 45
M-P guard Tyler Holm had nine points against Mount Vernon. At M-PHS Mount Vernon 15 4 5 9 33 Marysville-Pilchuck 7 13 13 12 45

MARYSVILLE — Foul trouble, turnovers and shooting as cold as the snow heaps outside that had endured the week’s thaw. All three plagued the Tomahawk boys basketball team in the first quarter Jan. 2 as they hosted Mount Vernon. The boys trailed 15-7 after eight minutes with just two field goals. Their eight-point deficit might well have come from the eight points Mount Vernon extracted at the free-throw line.

“We kind of had a slow start. We played pretty good defense but didn’t make our shots, missed some lay-ins,” said M-P coach Bary Gould. “We had a heart to heart about being a varsity basketball player.”

And while Mount Vernon’s Ray Walser — who scored 12 of his game-high 20 points at the charity stripe — drew Tomahawk leader Nick Forsythe’s third foul early in the second quarter, the team got its act together, starting with a three-point basket from Tyler Holm and culminating in a six-point run that gave M-P the lead with Ryan Lanphere’s pair of free throws heading into halftime. M-P went on to win 45-33.

Although Forsythe’s foul trouble kept him on the bench a little more than usual, the senior still led the offense with 10 points. In what is becoming typical Tomahawk fashion, the whole team contributed to the win. Seven players scored points and five of them scored six or more. Six-foot eight-inch senior Spencer Elwell was a presence under the net, with at least a dozen boards and about as many blocked shots by his coach’s estimate.

Another bright spot for Gould was the spirit of sharing the team demonstrated. Once things started clicking for M-P, the players seemed to be on the same wavelength with Elwell nabbing an assist on a long pass to Frankie Busichio. Late in the game, on a similar play, Busichio notched an assist of his own on a bounce pass to Jordan Godsey.

“Unselfish play — that’s what we’re preaching,” Gould said.

M-P —Holm 9, Busichio 7, Soriano 3, Lanphere 6, Godsey 8, Forsythe 10, Elwell 2. Mount Vernon — Lee 3, Taylor 2, Denham 5, Walster 20, Barnet 3. 3-point goals — Lee 1, Holm 1, Godsey 1, Denham 1.