The Lopez Lobos hit their first playoff game in true Lopezian style: cool, calm, and collected like a posse of home grown, organic heirloom cucumbers.
It was coach MR Buffum who was too nervous to touch his breakfast.
“I didn’t eat anything all day, until after the game was over,” he confessed.
Not surprisingly for cucumbers, the Lobos were fairly green when it came to the Tri-district tournament. Only Mica Arps and Colton Jardine could boast significant playoff experience. Notwithstanding, “the guys were super calm. I was amazed at how calm they were; they seemed to be really confident and just relaxed,” Buffum said.
The Lobos beat Northwest Yeshiva on Friday, Feb. 12, with a score of 64 to 36.
“We had a really balanced attack,” Buffum said.
William Carson led the scoring with 14 points, and Alex Buffum, Tucker Hoffman and Keldon Jardine contributed 11, 11 and 9 points each.
MR was pleased with the team’s rebounding. Alex nabbed 11 rebounds, while Arps grabbed 10 rebounds, Carson got 7, and Keldon swiped 6.
Coach Buffum remained uneasy when the Lobos were slow to build a lead, finishing the first quarter at 17 to 10. The Lobos were ahead 30-20 at half. But at the start of the fourth quarter, they came howling onto the court to bag ten points straight, and didn’t let up until the final buzzer.
“They were a scrappy bunch but we were definitely the better team,” MR said.
The Lobos had good reason for their sunny confidence on the court: in league they had withered almost every team in their path, except top-ranked Lummi, finishing their regular season second in the league, at 10 and 2 in league and 14 and 5 overall. Their largest point spread was 68-28, a 40-point win against Skykomish back in December. The top scorer for the season was Alex, followed by Arps, who led in rebounding. MR cited Carson and Jardine as regular point contributors.
If the Lopez boys win their next district game against first-place team Neah Bay, they are guaranteed a spot at the state playoffs. Four out of the eight teams at Tri-districts will move on to the state championships.
“Last year we only won four games (in the regular season); this year to come and finish second is a big jump. We have a pretty good shot; we’re in a pretty good spot; I like our bracket,” MR said. “I’ve seen teams come in here with a beautiful record and get knocked out.”
