By Ed Shepherd
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT

Kennedy Catholic wolfed down the Evergreen Wolverines Friday, getting out to a 27-7 lead after the first quarter en route to a 73-40 chewing of the home team Friday.

The Lancers improved to 11-2 overall, and 7-0 in the Seamount, while the Wolverines dropped to 2-4 in league and 3-10 overall.

"We took care of what we should have taken care of," said Lancers coach Don Hoffman.
Munch. Munch. Munch.

The biggest eater, so to speak, was Parker Diller, as the Lancers senior really led his team, scoring-wise, early on, getting 13 of those 27 first quarter points for his team. And he gobbled up game scoring honors, too, with 19.

But Hoffman didn't single out any players on his Lancers squad.

"Everyone played well," said Hoffman. "Everyone shot well."

The first quarter. It really was the crushing blow. The Wolverines missed every single two-point field goal shot they took, 0-for-6 in the first quarter, as the Lancers snapped in 7-for-10 shooting in the same frame.

After Michael Sasonoff's layup opened the scoring of the game, giving the Lancers a 2-0 lead, Diller made a short jumper for a 4-0 lead. Then, getting on the board, the Wolverines shot 1-for-2 fron the free throw line before the Lancers' Diller lined up behind the arc, in the corner, for a three-point swoosh, off a pass from AJ McGrew. So it was 7-1 Lancers. Diller, then, made a 15-footer, from up top, to up the lead to 9-1. The kind of start that begs for reasoning, Diller having seven of his team's first nine points.

And, Diller reasoned.

"Being a shooter," said Diller, "you have to have a lot of confidence. Preparation into it."
Works.

Sasonoff reentered the picture with a nice inside bucket, off a nice bounce pass from McGrew, to make it an 11-1 lead with 4:25 left in the first quarter. If one wants to notice, McGrew was not the Lancers' point guard either, just helping out his team any way he could, in addition to scoring 10 points himself and leading all rebounders with 11.

"I, personally, like to attack the basket or look to shooters because they know when I attack the basket I will be looking for them," said McGrew, a 6-4 forward on the team.

So, about halfway through the first quarter, the Wolverines coach called a timeout to try and keep some semblance of structure to his team's game. But, to not avail, as coming out of the timeout the Lancers scored more and more, with McGrew making a basket inside, driving the lane, before Diller hit his second three-pointer of the game. And, that scoring made it turning toward a blow-out, with the Lancers ahead, 16-1, with 3:00 still to play in the first quarter.

And, not done yet doing damage, Diller, still with the hot shooting hand, drove the lane, making a floater, getting tapped on the arm, going to the foul line, making the bonus shot from the stripe, changing the score to 19-1.

Then, after the Wolverines scored a three-pointer, making it 19-4, Diller whooshed in another three-point shot, further crumbling the Wolverines' chances, mortaring his club to a 22-4 advantage. Then, Emilio Mancol, off the bench, hit a three-pointer, making it a 25-4 score with a minute left in the first quarter. So, that's not everyone shooting well for the Lancers, but it's pretty good, for just one quarter.

"Shooting was pretty hot this game," said Hoffman.

And, after a Mcgrew inside score for a 27-4 Lancers lead, the Wolverines did score the final points of the first quarter, getting a three-ball to make it 27-7. Although no two-point field goals for the Wolverines in the first quarter, they did shoot 2-for-4 from three-point land. The Lancers beat them in that area too, shooting 3-for-4 for three-pointers in the first quarter.

So, by the start of the second quarter, the demolition was fairly well done as the Lancers just kept on scoring in the second quarter as the Wolverines scored, too, with 19-19 the numbers for each team that frame. However, that still left that first quarter difference of 20 points favoring the Lancers. So, after two quarters in the books, the Lancers led, 46-26.

The third quarter the Lancers outscored the Wolverines 2-for-1 ratio style. Behind McGrew's two scores, off misses, snagging the ball off glass and putting it up and in, and his steal, too, the Lancers outscored the Wolverines, 14-7, in that frame and led 60-33 after the third was through.

The fourth quarter the Lancers just kept on scoring more than the Wolverines, blowing the foe's house down by the end, a 33-point difference.

Diller says his team is going in a right direction this season because of many reasons, but he lent meaning to a trio of 'E's' for good explanation.

"We want to get better every day," said Diller. "We shared the ball in this game. We came into this game with a good win over Hazen. We want to start every game with energy, effort, and, execution, the three 'E's."

The Lancers beat visiting Hazen, 64-56, in the game Diller mentioned, as both teams were undefeated going into that game, so Hazen's record dropped to 6-1 and the Highlanders are second place in the Seamount behind the Lancers.

The team's looking toward getting to where it almost got last year -- state.

"Our goal is to get to state," said Diller. "We lost in regionals (round of 16) last year to University in Spokane. Close game, went down to the last minute."

Coach has things moving rightly so?

"Coach does good schemes," said Diller. " Michael and AJ are good down low, good passers. We have good team chemistry. We need to keep working on things."

The Lancers did not lose too many players off last year's team either, so, that is good news for them.
"We have most everybody back, we lost one kid," said Hoffman. "We need to keep working hard, doing things. Keep getting better."

The Lancers next go to Foster for a 7 p.m. game on Wednesday while Evergreen hosts Tyee at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.

After Diller's game-high 19 came Sasonoff with 17, Mcgrew 10, Mancol 9, Emmett Abdian 7, Jacob Thurber 4, James Jolly 2 and Zac Martin 2. The Wolverines were led by Joseph Thach's 15 points.