With just five games remaining on the regular season schedule, the Auburn Mountainview High School’s boys basketball team is looking to battle its way into the postseason with a big week against some of the heavy hitters in the South Puget Sound League 3A Division.
The Lions, 5-7 in league, 6-9 overall, are in sixth place in the SPSL 3A, behind Franklin Pierce, Peninsula, Clover Park, Lakes and Enumclaw. With the top-five teams moving on to the sub-districts, Lions head coach Jon Price said his team will have to battle hard and hope for an assist from other matchups in the league.
“We need some help,” he said. “We really need some help down the stretch. We’re getting better. This group had basically two varsity kids back from last year and two new kids who were transfers. We’ve done a good job at integration, but we’re in a good league. Clover Park is better than expected, Enumclaw is outstanding. It’s a talented league.
“I figure, we’ve got five to go – four in league – I think we have to go 3-1 in league,” he continued. “That means we have to knock off two teams that are above us in the standings. We’ve got Peninsula, Enumclaw and Clover Park.”
“We need to fight,” senior captain Seth Rumbaugh said. “We’ve got to battle Penninsula, Clover Park and Enumclaw. They’re all tough teams. We can beat Sumner on Friday (tonight) then battle all next week.”
Auburn Mountainview’s campaign for the final playoff spot began this past Tuesday with a 54-47 win over Bonney Lake in Lion country.
The Lions led 25-20 at the half before a scrappy Panther squad out hustled them in the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, however, the Lions regained their composure, leaned heavily on Bonney Lake defensively with their trap and came away with the 7-point win.
“Tonight our game plan was to use our athleticism and trap them,” Price said. “We just weren’t there early, but we pulled out of it in the late third and early fourth quarter. Then we made a run with our trap. I’ve got some long armed, quick, aggressive kids that make the trap effective for us. But any trap is unsound if you’re not flying around. Then you’re going to make mistakes. So when we’re in it, we’re really good. But sometimes we struggle with it. And we wanted to use our size inside.”
“We’re really good when we can maintain our focus defensively,” Price added. “We have a hard time doing that for 32 minutes. When we focus, we’re pretty solid. We had a nice run to open the fourth, and then we kind of lost it and let them back in the game. And we finished late.”
Junior Michael Patenaude and senior Donald Gilliam had a game-high 14 points apiece, with Javier Alexis adding 7 points.
“Patenaude is a real asset to have late in the game,” Price said. “He’s smart, and he’s aggressive going to the basket. He’s a scorer. You have your shooters and you have your scorers, and he’s a scorer. He knows how to get the basketball to the rim. I think he’s shooting 58 percent on the season from 2-point range. The kid knows how to get to the basket and he knows how to score.”
Currently Patenaude is the second leading scorer in the SPSL 3A, behind Lakes’ Andre Winston, Jr. Patenaude is averaging 17.2 points per game.
“And we got a nice game from some of our role kids,” Price said. “Gilliam, our big kid, had a nice game inside.”
Now, the Lions have to get their heads together for a late season run, which includes games against first place Enumclaw, as well as Clover Park and Peninsula.
“We’re a little bit schizophrenic,” Price said. “We’re really good at times, and not so good at times. We’ve got to bring what we did tonight in the early fourth quarter for 32 minutes. And that’s what were trying to get the kids to do is to bring that every night.”
ELSEWHERE:
• Kentwood 56, Jefferson 45: Joshua Smith continued to outdo himself Tuesday night, scoring a career-high 40 points in leading the second-ranked Conquerors (10-2, 12-4) past the Raiders (5-8, 6-9). Smith’s previous high came on January 20, when he poured in 39 points in a win over Auburn Riverside.
• Kentridge 71, Auburn Riverside 68: Shaquielle McKissic and Gary Bell combined for 41 points, leading the Chargers (10-3, 11-6) past the Ravens (6-7, 9-8).
Ryan Rogers continued to deliver for the Ravens, scoring a game-high 29 points. Mitch Hagerty added 14 for AR, which remained one game ahead of Kentlake in the win column for fifth place in the North.
• Federal Way 63, Auburn 45: Cole Dickerson led four Eagles in double-figures, scoring 17 points as top-ranked Federal Way knocked off the Trojans (9-4, 11-4). Jeff Gouveia led Auburn with 11 points.
• Kentlake 71, Tahoma 47: Jeff Budinich led the Falcons (5-7, 7-8) with 24 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks. Tahoma (0-12, 0-16) was led by Christian Behrens who finished with a game-high 28 points.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
• Kentlake 81, Tahoma 45: The Falcons (7-5, 10-6) posted a season high in scoring, getting 24 points from Morganne Comstock and 18 from Brona Nienow in a win over the Bears (3-9, 5-11). Kentlake can clinch a playoff berth with one more win.
Brittani Reiterman led the Bears with 14 points.
• Kentwood 61, Jefferson 46: The second-ranked Conquerors (11-0, 15-0) continued to cruise, getting 13 points from Kylie Huerta, 12 from Jessie Genger and 10 from Courtney Johnson in a win over the Raiders (8-4, 11-4). Jefferson’s Hannah Kiyohara led all scorers with 24 points.
• Auburn Riverside 84, Kentridge 22: The Ravens (10-3, 12-5) made quick work of the Chargers (1-11, 2-14), bolting out to a 19-2 first quarter lead and never looking back. AR’s Makenna Clark led all scorers with 26 points. Mercedes Wetmore added 20 points for the Ravens. Kelli Suguro paced the Chargers with 10 points.
• Federal Way 53, Auburn 31: The Eagles (9-3, 12-4) were led by Tyshana Burgess and Jacquie Evenson with 17 and 16 points, respectively. Auburn’s (4-9, 6-12) Heather Restrepo had a team-high 8 points.
• Bonney Lake 51, Auburn Mountainview 50: The Lions (6-6, 8-6) retained their grasp on the fifth and final playoff spot despite their loss to Bonney Lake (10-2, 14-2). Stephanie Smolinski had 14 points, with Ida Huners adding 13.
