By Anastasia Stepankowsky

After a slow start Wednesday night, the Shorewood Christian Lions clinched an automatic bid to regionals with a come-from-behind 50-45 win in 1B boys basketball district action Tuesday.

Northwest Yeshiva put up a fight, leading for the entire first quarter and half of the second quarter, before falling behind Shorewood Christian the rest of the way.

“We sometimes have a tendency to have slow starts. But I think if we pick the pace up and get a faster start, that will help us out even more,” Shorewood Christian head coach Alfonso Gonzales said.

Both teams were ice cold to start. Northwest Yeshiva finally netted a field goal 2:15 into the game adding to two earlier free throws, making the score 4-0. Shorewood Christian didn’t score until JJ Young, who ended with 12 points on the night, finally netted a basket with 4:15 left in the quarter.

“We actually scouted them a little bit better this time. We worked on our defense and we pushed them out a little bit further. They’re a three-point shooting team, but I don’t think they’re an NBA-range, 3-point shooting team. We forced them to work the ball around a little bit and forced them to take (poor) shots,” Gonzales said.

Shorewood Christian took the lead halfway through the second quarter when sophomore Jovi Fevaleaki swished a three-pointer to make it 13-10. Fevaleaki tallied 11 points for the night.

From there on, Lions junior Stan Domingo led Shorewood Christian to 10-point leads for most of the remaining time. He ended with 20 points, including four 3-pointers.

“Everybody stepped up and our defense definitely did its job today,” Domingo said.

Shorewood often had Yeshiva on the ropes but couldn’t land a knockout. Yeshiva closed the gap to 46-45 in the last minute, but a basket by freshman Spencer Howell made the score 48-45 and helped seal the Lions’ win.

Gonzales is confident his team has peaked at the right time.

“We came at the end of the season strong winning out last four or five games against good opponents. Being league champs helps us out. I think everything is clicking right now, and we’re just excited to play. It doesn’t matter who we’re playing right now. We’re just playing our style and doing what we can to get a win,” Gonzales said.

Shorewood Christian plays Neah Bay at Mount Vernon Christian at 6:30 p.m. Thursday.