Mount Si trips No. 9 Sammamish, 53-46 / Boys Basketball

SNOQUALMIE — One was gloom and doom. The other, boon and boom.

Two sequences in Friday's KingCo 3A/2A boys basketball game between the Sammamish and Mount Si told the tale.

The normally hot Totems missed two free throws and two bunnies in a five-second span early in the fourth quarter.

Earlier, the more fortunate Wildcats got a trio of three-pointers from Trent Riley in a span of 1 minute, 54 seconds to open the third quarter.

Riley, a 6-foot-3 sophomore guard, triggered the decisive run and finished with 17 points as Mount Si built a 17-point lead and dug in late for a 53-46 upset of ninth-ranked Sammamish.

The Totems never got rolling, thanks to the glue-like, man-to-man defense of the Wildcats (5-7 overall, 3-3 league).

"Our coach knew that they were all shooters, and the whole key to the game was just man (defense) and we just weren't allowed to leave our guys," said Riley. "I just stuck on my guy as tight as I could all game.

"Luckily, they were on an off night and we had a good enough game for a victory."

Riley's teammate, Dallas Smith, a 6-3 senior wing, provided 11 points, 10 rebounds, four steals and three assists.

"It was probably his best game of the year," said Mount Si first-year coach Steve Helm. "He was big."

If not for a late 15-4 flurry that got the Totems (8-4, 3-3) close, it might have been a lost cause from the start without injured starting point guard George Valle.

Valle was out with a mild concussion. Totems coach Wes Newton said he'd be back Tuesday when Sammamish hosts No. 6 Bellevue.

Dakota Olsen, who led Sammamish with 17 points, splashed in a three-pointer with 1:17 left, cutting Mount Si's lead to 49-43. Heading into a timeout, there was a ray of hope for the Totems.

"If you leave those guys open, they are deadly," Helm said.

But transition baskets from Mason Bragg and Levi Botten in the final 31.7 seconds pushed the Wildcats' lead to 53-43.

"This just shows that we can compete with the best," Riley said. "It sends out a message to the league that we can compete."

The Totems came in off a 61-57 loss to Inglemoor on Dec. 30 in the title game of the Bellevue College Holiday Tournament and a 58-54 league defeat at the hands of Juanita.

"You've got your ups and downs, and sometimes the lid's shut," said Newton. "We talk about that every day in practice. We've got to be ready to play and everyone is going to shoot at us."

Mount Si fell 61-55 to No. 6 Bellevue on Tuesday after keeping close most of the game. After close losses to ranked teams like Jackson and Bellevue, the Wildcats broke through with a signature win to go with a 65-55 win over Lake Washington, then No. 4 in Class 4A, on Dec. 10.

"I'm a first-year coach here, and so we're trying to build a whole new system," said Helm. "There's a lot for these guys to learn, and you don't learn it in five or six, seven, eight, nine games.

"But they are starting to catch on and learning how to compete."

Helm wanted to ride Riley's hot hand.

"When Trent gets on a roll, and he's only a sophomore, he's as good of a shooter as there is," said Helm. "He got in a little zone, and we knew that, and we said, 'Let's keep getting him the ball.'

John Steinberg, the Totems' leading scorer at 16.4 points per game, finished with 15.