By Ed Shepherd
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT

Evergreen coach Tony White looked exasperated, arms going every which way, frustration on his face, trying to explain to his senior leader, Joseph Thatch during a timeout early in the fourth quarter that Thatch needed to do things differently as the Wolverines trailed, 38-36, to Foster.
Thatch did, helping the Wolverines break through after that timeout and go on to a 65-56 win over the visiting Bulldogs Friday.

Quickly, the Wolverines (4-6 in the Seamount League) have four games left in their regular season -- at Highline on Wednesday, before coming home for Renton, and then Tyee and Kennedy after that.
"The next three games will determine if we go to the playoffs or not," said White.

The Bulldogs dropped to 3-8 and are behind Tyee's 3-6 mark. They need to win their games and get help from Tyee, too, but, their chance is more remote of making the playoffs. Top four Seamount 2A teams go on to the postseason, plus the two 3A teams, Kennedy and Hazen, who are 1-2 in the league. Foster is the fifth place 2A team and Highline is the sixth at 1-10. Foster and Tyee don't play each other head-to-head, either, their final three games, with Foster's next game at home versus Lindbergh Wednesday before Friday at Highline and the following Wednesday at Renton to finish the regular season.

But what was Coach White trying to get across to Thatch in that emotional talk to his leader, during a timeout early in the fourth quarter?

"I was trying to tell him to get to the basket, don't settle for jump shots, that bails them out," said White, who had called a timeout with 7:50 left in the fourth quarter. The Wolverines had just gotten down by two points after Bulldogs' freshman Musa Leigh swished a three-point shot.

What White was saying to Thatch -- who finished with a game high 19 points and 10 boards, too, was about the bailing out of the Bulldogs at the tail-end of the third quarter. It was where Thatch took two shots, in Wolverines' possessions. They were short jump shots, 10-15 feet away from the rim, that missed going in the basket.

But, things changed for Thatch in the fourth quarter, after a nice talking to by his coach. Because, after Leigh's three-pointer and White's time out and White's emotional talk to Thatch, the 6-4 senior forward Thatch scored a three-pointer to make it, 39-38, Wolverines.

And then the Bulldogs' next possession the Wolverines' pressure defense created a Bulldogs turnover. Thatch, then, received a nice pass from senior forward Calvin Thai. And, with pressure from behind on Thatch, dribbling the ball, he didn't pull up for the jumper, or three ball -- he drove into the paint and laid the leather up and in to make it 41-38 with 7:15 left in the fourth quarter.

Coach said what, to Thatch, exactly, in that early fourth quarter timeout?

"He said, 'Joseph, fix it,'" said Thatch. "I took it to heart. I did everything in my power to help the cause of my team."

Fix what?

"I was playing sloppy, making bad passes, silly turnovers," said Thatch.

Then the Wolverines, with that three-point lead almost, a minute into the fourth quarter, would cause another turnover on the Bulldogs, thanks to a heated full-court press by Brandon Valencia, Richard Nguyen, Anthony Berry-You, Thatch and Thai. That turnover led to a Nguyen basket to make it 43-38 Evergreen, it's biggest lead of the night.

Then Foster, just not handling the pressure well, turned the ball over again against the Wolverines. Foster took fairly good care of the ball the first two quarters, two tournovers in the first, two in the second, then three in the third and seven in the fourth.

Coach White employed pressure defense in the first quarter, too, for the Wolverines, but, it wasn't working. The Bulldogs were breaking the press and getting some easy buckets.

"The full-court pressure, we changed it up at halftime," said White. "Actually, we started the beginning of the game with it, but guys weren't rotating, were flat-footed, and their guys were getting by ours. So we made an adjustment -- a couple guys changed positions. Took our point guard, Calvin Thai, and moved him in the middle, and Richard Nguyen went to the point."

That's just speaking of defensive formation, not offense, to be clearer.

So, back to the Nguyen score, that made it, 43-38, Wolverines, but the Bulldog were game all game, showing a resolve to constantly fight back when the Wolverines scored. The Bulldogs scored on Leigh's second three-pointer of the fourth quarter, so it was not over yet at 43-41 Wolverines. But Nguyen came right back right again and hammered home a three-point shot, helping his team to a 46-41 advantage.
Then, more full-court pressure by the Wolverines led to another Bulldogs turnover, and Berry-You got the ball and scored it inside to up the Wolverines to a 48-41 lead with 6:30 left in the fourth quarter.
Turnovers really hurt the Bulldogs and there was explanation, too, for why their coach, Isaac Tucker, said that his team began to fall apart in the third and fourth quarters.

"If you're turning the ball over, nobody is going to score," said Tucker, who explained that his two leading scorers were out on ineligibility, grades, and he was starting three freshmen and putting another couple into the play rotation as well.

The Bulldogs got a score from junior, Othniel Fluorine, next to cut the lead to 48-43, Wolverines. But, the Wolverines' momentum was too strong as a Thai shot inside off the glass missing was rebounded up and in by Valencia, who was fouled. He made the bonus at the free throw line, and, it was 51-43, Wolverines, with four minutes to play in the fourth quarter.

The Bulldogs' Hill, who led his team with 12 rebounds and 10 points, just didn't get the ball in the second half because of all those turnovers and finished the game with only those 10 first-half points. Credit the Wolverines' defense for blanketing him and discredit the Bulldogs, so to speak, for not figuring out how to handle the pressure of the Wolverines' full-court press in the third and fourth quarters.

"We had plays to run, but made bad passes," said Hill. "We couldn't run the plays that coach wrote up."
So, after Fluorine scored for the Bulldogs with 3:30 left in the fourth, making it, 51-45, and Leigh 51-47, the momentum-driven Wolverines got scores from Nguyen, 53-47, with 2:50. Thatch came right back and made a layup to up the lead to 55-47 with 2:20 to go in the game.

But, credit the Bulldogs for having heart. They kept trying, as freshman Elijah Nnanubu scored a three-pointer to make it 55-50 with 1:30 to go in the game.

"Their young guys are going to be really good," said White of the Bulldogs' freshmen. "They're going to be scary in a couple years."

The Wolverines' Thatch pretty much sealed the win next with a layup and foul and free throw to stretch the home team's lead to 58-50 with a minute remaining. Then, off a turnover, Nguyen got the ball, driving, fouled, made the first free throw, but missed the second free throw. But who was there to leap up and grab the ball off the glass? Thatch. Getting the rebound, he scored it up quick to the cylinder, making it 61-50 Wolverines

The Bulldogs' Leigh, who made 3-for-5 three-pointers in the fourth quarter, made a long-range bomb with 35 seconds left, cutting the Wolverines' lead to 61-53. But time was not in the Bulldogs' favor as they had to resort to fouling to try and stop the clock. And the Wolverines, who made 11-for-14 free throws for the game, made 4-for-6 from the stripe in the final 30 seconds to seal the win.

The Wolverines shot 21-for-37 for the game from the floor, or 57 percent, and 4-for-14 for threes (29 percent) and 11-for-14 for free throws (79 percent). The Bulldogs shot 19-for-27 for twos, or 70 percent. So, good shooting there, and threes were 7-for-11, so, good there, too (64 percent). And, free throws were 4-for-7 (57 percent). Turnovers, after halftime, were the visiting team's undoing in this one.

After Thatch's game-leading 19 points for the Wolverines, Valencia had 13, Nguyen 12, Berry-You nine, Thai six, Denzell Presley five and Henrok Gebreyhaness one. The Bulldogs were led by the 15 of Leigh followed by 10 from Hill, nine from Jaloni Garner, eight from Elijah Nnanubu, six each from Ali Ahmed and Flourine and two from Patrick Saau.