By Jeremy Martin

Ask any coach, and what they’ll tell you is that at the end of the day, a win is a win; giving full effort, executing a game plan and limiting mistakes is what matters most.

But in reality some games are bigger than others.

Jan. 28, Tuesday night’s boy’s basketball matchup between Chief Sealth International high School and West Seattle High was one of those nights; as the Wildcats came away with a season sweep against its neighborhood rival, wining 69-58 in an emotion filled and physical contest.

The lead changed hands multiple times during the opening two quarters, with Sealth controlling tempo early, but the Seahawks could do only so much to fend off an aggressive Wildcat club, led by the high flying antics of senior guard Deandre love

At one point during the first quarter Love had more dunks than Sealth had total made baskets.

The senior guard scored the Wildcats first ten points, eight of which came off fast break slams that brought the home crowd into a frenzy.

Love finished with six dunks, including three off mid court steals and another follwing a super nifty Malachi Cain pass that became part of lightening fast five point swing.

Leading a two on one break, Cain flipped the ball behind him to a trailing Love who flushed the rock home just as Cain was fouled by a sealth defender. The bucket was ruled good and Ruslan Burduzha stepped back and nailed a triple on the ensuing in-bound pass to finish off a rarely seen five point play.

Love finished with a game high 32 points, also contributing two steals and a block.
Joe Hey played strong downstairs, muscling his way to 12 points while Burdhuzha netted 11 points including draining two triples.

If the lion’s share of West Seattle’s offense came from Love, than Chief Sealth took the opposite approach to scoring, as the Seahawks utilized an extremely balanced attack that saw all but two players record a basket.

A team effort all around, but the squad was guided start to finish by Ahmed Mohamed. The junior center was a force in the paint, causing all kinds of trouble for a Wildcat team that relies more on perimeter play than on interior schemes.

The big man contributed a team high 24 points and 8 rebounds, doing much of his damage on put backs and quick spin moves.

Junior point guard Khaleef Griffin was instrumental in the second half coming up with several big shots including a fourth quarter, stutter step jumper that made his defender fall and cut the West Seattle lead to only eight points with under two minutes to play.

Griffin’s 12 points came entirely in the second half.

LJ Burns also had a strong second half, scoring six points by hitting two very deep threes for Chief Sealth, including a third quarter triple from beyond NBA range.