Highline moved to a 6-0 lead to start a Seamount League boys basketball opening game Friday, before Tyee came back, overtaking that lead and leading the Pirates by as many as seven points, 26-19, midway through the second quarter.

But the Pirates switched things up defensively to go on to confuse and frustrate the visiting Totems, going on a 12-6 run to end the half and slowly, but surely put this one to bed, 70-61, by game’s end.

A lot of time is left for the Pirates to continue to build on this opener and for the Totems to realize a seven point lead is nothing against a quick, athletic, tall, defense-strong foe, like the Pirates.

“Our record was 7-13 last year,” said Robert Graham, Highline boys basketball coach. “But I really think we will be a lot better this season.”

Tyee was the better team in the beginning of this one, but soon that changed.

Nate Hawthorne, a 6-2 guard for the red and black Totems, spoke afterward of what went wrong following his team’s hot start to lead 21-16 after the first quarter.

It was looking good early on for the Sea-Tac area school, all through the first quarter, thanks to the Hawthorne siblings shooting lights out.

But then came the second quarter and it ended up being a 2-for-10 field goal quarter. Even being 4-for-7 in the first quarter with three-pointers, and 3-for-5 in the second, wasn’t enough to offset the woeful field goal percentage, 20 percent. But, with the Pirates making 5-for-9 shooting from the field while making 4-for-7 free throws, it didn’t matter they shot 1-for-6 from three-point land.  

“When they started pressing us (in the second quarter), we didn’t know how to react,” said Nate Hawthorne, who led his team with 19 points. “The kind of zone they were in, I think it was a kind of 1-2-2, or something. But it worked.”

Hawthorne, a senior and captain on the team that led his team with 19 points while brother Nick had 16.

“They began to rotate differently on defense, and started to slide,” Nate said. “We had to get open on offense.”

Graham said that his team was a little taken aback by the great start of the Totems and the dimensions shown early with both Hawthorne’s hitting shots smoothly, 15 of those 21 first quarter Totem points.

“We were a little too hyped up at the beginning of this game,” said Graham. “I think we figured Tyee, we would walk over them and blow them out. But I talked with Mike Bethea, the Rainier Beach head coach, and he said, “Rob, they’re scrappy.’”

Hawthorne mentioned that a couple players, “big guys,” are ineligible for playing now but will be back and that will solidify the team.

The Pirates started to turn the tide of the seven-point Tyee lead with 5:00 left in the second quarter with what Graham, not to mention the Tyee captain, Hawthorne, noted-defensive adjustment. But there was something else that entered the picture to help the Pirates change things around in this one -- Devonte Hill.

The 6-6 big man for the Pirates came into this game in the second quarter, not having played in the first quarter, and, he -- along with other big man, Jarrett Godina -- established a presence inside with a rebound and score that made it 26-21 with 4:45 to go in the second quarter. Right after that, he did it again, tipping in a shot. And, then he blocked a shot too in the 12-6 run that ended with the Totems up by one going into the locker rooms.

“You really want to know what I think turned the game, it was the big fellow (Hill),” Graham said.

“Yeah,” said Young.

So, Young was tough in the second quarter. He had six of his 10 points in that frame. Ending the third quarter for the Pirates was a circus shot runner from the right wing from senior Pirates captain Donald Cassell, making it, 50-40.

Cassell turned it on in the fourth quarter. He was scoreless in the first quarter and then in the second quarter picked up a third foul early so he sat nearly all of it. Then he scored 10 points in the last two frames, dividing points up each frame there, with his series of quick moves and short jumpers.

The second half was all Pirates. They came out after the halftime break and outscored the Totems, 15-4, to take a 48-36 lead on an Ingrahm bucket and foul. Nate Hawthorne hit a three-pointer for the Totems to make it 48-39 .

For the game, Highline shot 19-for-34 for 2’s (field goals) and 12-23 free throws. They also made just 2-for-14 from long range (3’s). But credit that good defense of the Pirates for getting hands in the face of the shooters. Most of the time, Tyee was doing a good job coming out on the Pirates’ three guys, too.