Kaden Anderson was big again. But Enumclaw didn’t have trademark ‘D’ in loss to Lewis and Clark

Teams just don’t score on the Enumclaw High School boys basketball team like that.

Not like Griffin Effenberger for Lewis and Clark was, draining five 3-pointers in the first half. Enumclaw allowed 41 points in the first half and it had held four teams to fewer points than that in entire games this season.

All that, and the Hornets were still in this one.

Kaden Anderson scored 35 points with 13 rebounds but No. 8 Enumclaw’s late charge wasn’t enough to overcome a rough first half in a 69-59 loss to No. 10 Lewis and Clark in their Tacoma Dome opener on Thursday in the 4A state quarterfinals.

“I don’t know what it was,” Enumclaw coach Terry Johnson said. “We just weren’t moving quickly enough in our defensive rotations and in our help.”

Lewis and Clark advances to face No. 3 Federal Way in the semifinals at 9 p.m. Friday.

Enumclaw allowed just 44 points against No. 9 Skyview in a win on Saturday. The most points it has previously allowed was 57 in a win over Rogers in the district tournament.

That’s how the Hornets win games. They’re low scoring, physical dragouts that they pull off in the end.

But it trailed 41-29 at halftime Wednesday against the Tigers, who got 22 points from Effenberger (who didn’t make a 3-poitner in the second half) and 21 points, 13 rebounds from 6-foot-7 Naje Smith.

“We went out in the third quarter and told ourselves we had to hold them to 20 points in the second half,” Anderson said.

They were on pace to.

Because Enumclaw got back to what it does in the third quarter, outscoring the Tigers of the Greater Spokane League 15-10.

Anderson had 24 points and 10 rebounds entering the fourth quarter. The 6-foot-7 senior opened with a 3-pointer, then finished through a foul and hit a free throw to cut Lewis and Clark’s once 16-point lead to 54-50 before another stop and Bryson Engebretsen’s reverse layup on the other end cut the lead to two points with less than five minutes to play.

“He’s done that all year,” Johnson said. “He’s been so special for us all year. I was proud of him and proud of the entire team for not quitting.

“We just didn’t consistently have it throughout the game offensively and defensively to find a way to win.”

Lewis and Clark buried Enumclaw with a 9-0 run after that, with the dagger being Xavier Guillory’s steal and finish on the other end to make it 61-52.

Enumclaw heads to the consolation bracket, where it will play Curtis at 2 p.m. Friday with a chance to earn either a fourth- or sixth-place trophy.

“I thought we were going to pull it out,” Anderson said.

This story was originally published March 2, 2018 at 12:29 AM with the headline "Kaden Anderson was big again. But Enumclaw didn’t have trademark ‘D’ in loss to Lewis and Clark."