Wolverines thump Orcas 52-35

By Scott Rasmussen • February 5, 2009 3:57 pm
Vikings senior Sedrick Wooding finds an opening in the key and drops in two of his team-high eight points in Tuesday's 52-35 loss at Friday Harbor.
Vikings senior Sedrick Wooding finds an opening in the key and drops in two of his team-high eight points in Tuesday's 52-35 loss at Friday Harbor.

A ragged game turned into a blowout after the break as the Wolverines buried Orcas under a 25-point barrage and then ran away with a 52-35 league win Tuesday in Turnbull Gym.

Though short on style — the two teams together committed 46 turnovers — this one was never close.

Friday Harbor capitalized on a flurry of misfires by the Vikings early on and parlayed its size advantage down low into a 21-12 lead at the half. The Wolverines pulled down 49 rebounds, 22 more than Orcas, over the course of the game.

After the break, the Wolverines tallied 15 unanswered points, gave up only eight, and put the contest out of reach before the start of the fourth and final period.

With the victory, Friday Harbor remains on pace in a three-way chase for the Northwest 1A/2B League title and with four league games left to go. The Wolverines improved to 6-2 in league, matching La Conner, and are a half-game behind Darrington, at 7-2. They also swept their 2-game season series against Orcas, which fell to 2-6 in league.

Junior Parker Lawson tallied a team-high 13 points and grabbed nine rebounds — one short of a double-double — in just three quarters of play. Lawson, with the Wolverines up by 26, joined the rest of the starters on bench for the fourth period as Head Coach Rod Turnbull let the second-string seal the victory in the final eight minutes of regulation.

“I just seemed to be in the right place at the right time and the rebounds came my way,” Lawson said. “We’ve got a ways to go but It’s always good to get a win.”

Senior Jordan Nash, hobbled by a bout of flu, tossed in 11 points and point-guard Ryan Alyward added nine. Junior Mike Ausilio scored six points by knocking down a pair from beyond the 3-point arc and Preston Urkra contributed six as well.

The Vikings, sporting two-straight league wins, fell behind early and never overcame an abysmal first-quarter shooting performance. Still, they trailed by only three points at the start of the second quarter despite hitting only 1-of-14 shot attempts in the opening period. They shot 23 percent from the field for the game, knocking down 13-of-56 attempts, and 46 percent , hitting 7-of-15 attempts, at the free-throw line.

Senior Seadrick Wooding scored eight points to lead the Vikings on the offensive end.

Next:

Friday Harbor hosts the Crusaders of Shoreline Christian Saturday; tipoff is 6 p.m.