BY GERARDO BOLONG
Contributing Writer

Evergreen of White Center's deadly defense deflated Tyee 64-42 in boys basketball action in SeaTac on Mon., Feb. 2, to clinch at least a 2A third seed out of the 3A/2A Seamount League into the district tournament.

Currently, the Wolverines are tied with Lindbergh for the second 2A seed at 6-7 with one league match up left for both teams on Wed., Feb. 4. Evergreen travels to Kennedy Catholic while Lindbergh hosts Highline. If the teams end up in a tie, there would be a playoff for seeding purposes.

Leading 30-21 at the half, the Wolverines went on strafing runs to destroy their opposition in a 14-4 second half opening salvo to essentially break any resistance and speed through the gates to victory.

Defensively, Evergreen forced turnovers to gain high percentage shots. Offensively, crisp passing produced numerous back door layups as the Wolverines led by as much as 24 points in the quarter before cruising in the final quarter on the way to the key win.

"It's the first time we've played back to back complete games," said Evergreen head coach Tony White. "I told them they were lazy and not rotating on traps to cut the ball off. They began moving their feet more and started attacking."

Tyee charged to a leads of 5-0 and 8-2 in the first quarter before the Wolverines' disrupting defense ignited a 12-0 scoring run for a 14-8 lead after one quarter.

According to Totem head coach Brandon Horstman, this stretch of play was the stunner for his team.
"They were taken aback and never completely able to compete fully," he said. "I tried different schemes, time outs and other adjustments. Nothing worked."

Evergreen used a six -point run near the end of the second quarter as part of an 11-2 run to the halftime score after the Totems had fought back to tie the score at 19-all.

"We're doing awesome," said Joe Thach, who scored eight of his game high 19 points in the third quarter. "As a team we're playing well and sharing the ball. We have momentum and are ready for any team."

Anthony Berry-You notched eight first quarter en route to his 14 game points. Richard Nguyen completed the Wolverine double scorers with 10.

For the Totems, Abdi Mohamud was deadly from the perimeter with 18 points.
Tyee (3-10) still has a chance to tie Foster (3-9) for the fourth seed to 2A district. The Bulldogs have two games left and the Totems have one.