Last week, No. 10 Spanaway Lake boys stumbled. This week, they resurfaced with two wins

Opponents are starting to understand a phenomenon brewing in the 3A Pierce County League.

It is called the “Lincoln Treatment.”

The 10th-ranked Spanaway Lake boys discovered that last week in a hard-fought loss to the Abes: The legs do not come back as quickly.

And Lakes High School felt the same way Friday night after losing to No. 3 Lincoln two days before.

Fortunately, the Sentinels are a week removed from their stumble, and blew out the Lancers, 84-51, on Friday in Lakewood.

Five Spanaway Lake players scored in double figures, led by Isaiah Turner’s game-high 21 points. Divante Moffitt and Quincy Wilson added 12 apiece, and Jordan Garner chipped in with 11 as the Sentinels gave a clinic in transition offense.

“They just got done playing Lincoln, so we knew Lakes would not be as fresh,” Spanaway Lake coach Dominic Batten said. “We like to run. I thought we did that well, but sharing the basketball — getting it ahead, going over the top and making the pass rather than shoot.”

Trailing much of the game, Lakes (5-8, 3-5 in 3A PCL) had its window to jump back into it early in the second half, cutting it to 40-34 on Kyreice Miller’s 3-pointer.

But that keen Sentinels’ passing found open 3-point shooters. Turner hit two from long range. Ja’Ontay Foster repeated it. And Garner, who tallied eight of his points in the decisive 20-5 run to close the third quarter, also had one of the team’s four 3-pointers in the quarter.

Spanaway Lake (11-2, 6-2 in 3A PCL) made 10 3-pointers in the game.

“The key to the game was to push in transition,” Turner said. “We executed that, and we got it done tonight.”

First-year Lakes coach Jordan Barnes recognized early that his team did not have the same pep in its step as earlier in the week.

“Our transition defense was terrible,” Barnes said. “But it happened to them last week, and it happened to us this week — Lincoln wears you down.”

The one thing Turner kept reiterating as the Sentinels start the second half of league play — with road games at Lincoln and Wilson looming — is maintaining composure. They certainly did that Friday, shooting 46.4 percent from the floor (32 of 69) while forcing 17 Lakes turnovers.

“We definitely need discipline ... and execution,” Batten said. “We are getting to the point now that we are looking a lot tighter and playing a lot more disciplined.”

This story was originally published January 12, 2018 at 9:49 PM with the headline "Last week, No. 10 Spanaway Lake boys stumbled. This week, they resurfaced with two wins."