Anderson, Mount Tahoma suffocate Lakes basketball, 66-45: Three takeaways
The Mount Tahoma High School boys basketball team defeated the visiting Lakes Lancers on Thursday night in a Class 3A PCL matchup, 66-45. Here are three observations from the T-Birds’ win.
SUFFOCATING DEFENSE PAVES THE WAY
It seems across all levels of basketball, many teams have opted into a zone defense in the half-court. Mount Tahoma? They’re not interested.
For the T-Birds, it’s in your face, old-school man-to-man defense, all the way.
“We don’t play zone,” said Mount Tahoma coach Jason Townsend. “That’s just not us. We have hard-nosed, defensive-minded guys and we’re fast and athletic. Let’s go out there and play. With the personnel we have, we’re a man team. If we can put some pressure and make them make decisions they wouldn’t normally have to, that’s in our favor.
“In practice, that’s what we do. We’re going at each other. All man-to-man. It’s working for us, so why change the recipe? It fits the personnel we have.”
It certainly worked on Thursday night. At half, Lakes had just 18 points on the scoreboard. In the first meeting between the teams earlier in the season, Lakes came away with an 83-69 win. This time around, the T-Birds nearly cut that scoring production in half.
“Just help the helper,” said Mount Tahoma guard Asjon Anderson. “We went to trap everyone. That really stopped them. … We had a different fire in us. We just wanted to win super bad. They did that at their home so we wanted to do it at our home.”
ONCE ASJON ANDERSON GETS GOING, HE DOESN’T STOP
It wasn’t a great shooting half for the sophomore guard in the first half, scoring just four points. But he finished with 20 points, exploding in the second half, knocking down big shots anytime Lakes made a bit of a run.
Anderson said he knew the shots would start to fall eventually.
“Just keep going and don’t give up,” Anderson said. “I just kept faith in my shot and knew it was going to fall.”
To Townsend, that what makes Anderson such a valuable piece of the puzzle for the T-Birds.
“He is an ultimate competitor,” Townsend said. “He hates to lose and he hates even more to play badly. He’ll give you everything on the defensive end, even if his shot isn’t falling. The defensive end of the deal is what helps him — he gets a steal or two, gets a couple layups and now he’s bouncing a little bit. In the second half, got a couple layups, open for a three, it goes in. Once one goes down, it’s lights out.”
Lezjaun Harris finished with 13 points for the T-Birds and Josh Joseph scored 10.
T-BIRDS SITTING AT NO. 2 IN 3A PCL PECKING ORDER
Wilson (10-0 PCL 3A) has been the class of the league this year, but Mount Tahoma (7-3) is sitting in second place, not far behind. Last week’s win over Lincoln gave the T-Birds the season sweep over the Abes and Thursday’s win against Lakes has Mount Tahoma feeling confident heading into the final stretch of the regular season.
“I’m never OK or satisfied with what we’ve done,” Townsend said. “Other teams now, they used to think, ‘Mt. Tahoma, they ain’t nothing.’ We’re not sneaking up on anyone anymore. We’re going to get everyone’s A-game.”
But Townsend said he feels confident the T-Birds will be prepared for the challenges that lie ahead.
“I prepare the guys to be their best, not just for the game, but in school, at home,” he said. “So it’s not being mediocre outside the court and then held at a higher standard on the court. It’s just second nature, be ready to compete in life and on the floor.”
