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Originally published Friday, February 3, 2012 at 11:17 PM
Snohomish stops Lake Stevens for share of title, 70-66 | Boys Basketball
The Panthers overcame early foul trouble to star player Luke Hamlin and got five three-pointers and 21 points from Gabe Reichenberger.
Special to The Seattle Times
DEAN RUTZ / THE SEATTLE TIMES
Snohomish's Luke Hamlin, center, fights through traffic. Hamlin was held to 15 points but the Panthers won.
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SNOHOMISH — After it was over and Snohomish had clinched a share of the WesCo North boys basketball title with a 70-66 win over Lake Stevens, coach and star player called it a friendly discussion.
At the time it was a lot more serious than that.
Snohomish guard Luke Hamlin picked up his second foul late in the first quarter and coach Len Bone quickly summoned him to the bench.
Hamlin stayed there for the entire second quarter despite several times making the case that he needed to get back in the game.
"He wasn't going back in," Bone said. "He could have told me he was going to give me 100 bucks, he wasn't going back in. I just think it's a lot different going into the second half with two fouls rather than three. I didn't think the game would be won or lost then, and we were going to need him."
With Hamlin on the bench, an 18-8 Snohomish lead melted and Lake Stevens led 27-24 with 2:45 before halftime.
"That was very difficult," Hamlin admitted. "It killed me. I know how to play with fouls, but coach had to make a decision. Fortunately, my teammates picked up the slack."
Snohomish regained the lead at 32-30 behind Mitchell Stewart's six points in the final two minutes before halftime, and Hamlin's long rest was over. He showed he was ready to return with a three-point play 18 seconds into the second half.
The Vikings rallied to tie it at 37, but a 9-0 run with Hamlin scoring four points gave the Panthers the lead for good.
Hamlin, who averages nearly 25 points, finished with 15 in his three quarters. Gabe Reichenberger, who came into the game averaging less than seven points, made five of Snohomish's 10 three-pointers and scored 21 points.
"Gabe was huge. He made a lot of shots and they were timely shots," Bone said. "He can shoot, but we just have a hard time getting him to shoot it sometimes."
Eighth-ranked Snohomish (15-5, 11-4) tied Stanwood for the division crown. Dakota Tomson scored 22 for the Vikings (13-7, 10-5). He had 15 in the first half, when he made all six of his field-goal attempts.
Even though Snohomish, Lake Stevens and Stanwood entered the final game of the regular season tied, Bone said he was only concerned about his own team.
"We play Cascade next week and that's about all that matters," Bone said.
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