Critical mistakes caused Evergreen Lutheran to drop a 47-45 verdict to Vancouver Christian in opening round boys basketball action of the Evergreen Lutheran-hosted Great Western Shootout Tournament on Thursday.
"We rely a lot on our sophomores," said Eagle head coach Dave Habeck. "This early in the season, they make sophomore mistakes."
A trio of three-point goals catapulted Evergreen Lutheran to an 11-4 first quarter lead before Vancouver Christian took advantage of Eagle confusion on defensive assignments to find players open for deadly outside shots.
Twelve consecutive points had the Light showing the path to a 16-11 lead after one quarter. Pressure defense and better positioning for rebounds resulted in a 5-0 Eagle run to open the second quarter and bring EL into a 16-16 tie. With the Eagles missing inside shots, the Light renewed itself with eight consecutive points for a 24-16 margin.
Trailing 27-18 with 1:21 before halftime, the Evergreen Lutheran deficit was trimmed to 27-26 by halftime on the strength of outside shooting. Consecutive three-pointers by Wyatt Weimer and Sam Shannon followed by an outside goal from Weimer composed the rally.
After suffering through a torturous third quarter in which Vancouver ouscored Evergeen Lutheran, 4-1, the teams got back on track in the fourth quarter.
The Eagles flew to the first five points of the quarter to regain the lead at 32-31 before even battling ensued. Eventually, Vancouver Christian exploded for a 6-0 surge to lead 42-35 with 2:32 left. Trailing 44-37, Evergreen made a final, frantic rally, but its last field goal at the buzzer left the team two points short of a tie.
"In our first two games, we've been slow on offense and defense," explained Habeck. "We have improved our pace and were more aggressive on defense. This was a step in the right direction."
Jayson Kjenstad led EL with 12 points. Chris Gallardo had 10 points and six steals while Rolan Wedde notched 10 points. Weimer added nine points and nine rebounds. Justin LaCasse paced VA with a game high 13 points.
