LYNDEN CHRISTIAN - The Lynden Christian boys' basketball team may have gotten a couple of wins out of hosting the Cloud 9 Sports Christmas Tournament, but it sure didn't feel like a holiday to coach Roger De Boer.
The Lyncs never trailed on Thursday, Dec. 29, but they had to work to earn a 57-41 victory over Seattle Christian on Thursday, Dec. 29. Isaac Reimer got his second double-double in as many nights with 18 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Lyncs to the win, but LC knows it can and must play better when it returns to Northwest Conference play next week.
"We didn't find a flow during the first half last night (in a victory over Sumner), and we never really found one the entire game tonight," De Boer said. "I give credit to Seattle Christian for that tonight, because they did a good job of disrupting us, but we need to learn from these last two nights. We know we can play much better. The kids did a good job of battling, and we finally started to figure some things out in the second half."
Everything looked OK for the Lyncs (7-1) early Thursday, as Reimer and Nolan Wolffis each hit 3-pointers on their first two possessions to give Lynden Christian a quick 6-2 lead.
But the Lyncs seemed to slog through the rest of the first quarter to find themselves tied 10-10 at the end of the period.
The second quarter wasn't much kinder, as LC was only able to open up a 20-16 lead by halftime. Seattle Christian's scrappy defense forced the Lyncs into 15 turnovers in the game and disrupted a number of other possessions.
"We started off a little off, but we have some good leaders on this team," junior Nathan Meppelink said. "Nolan and Isaac do a good job of getting everybody on track, and then coach comes in and gets everybody fired up."
Meppelink carried that feeling out onto the court.
After Seattle Christian got a steal and a quick bucket from Joey Grachek, Meppelink took a feed from Wolffis, drove the lane and got the bucket despite being fouled. He converted the 3-point play to put LC up 23-18.
"Nathan is a guy we want to have attack the rim, and he's been doing a much better job of that recently," De Boer said. "He got in a little bit of foul trouble tonight, so he had to back off that, but that 3-point play was huge for us."
After that play, LC finished the quarter on a 14-6 run to stretch its lead to 37-24, and the Lyncs were able to pull away in the fourth to secure the victory.
Truman Van Dalen joined Reimer in double figures with 11 points coming off the bench, while Wolffis finished with seven points and six rebounds.
"Hopefully we can learn from these last two nights," Meppelink said. "We have to figure out how to get into the flow of games a little better and just play our game."
LC returns to NWC play on Monday, Jan. 2, when it hosts Blaine.
Reach David Rasbach at david.rasbach@bellinghamherald.com or 360-715-2271.
LYNDEN CHRISTIAN 57, SEATTLE CHRISTIAN 41
Lynden Christian 10 10 17 20 - 57
Seattle Christian 10 6 8 17 - 41
Lynden Christian: Nolan Wolffis 7, Nathan Meppelink 6, Austin Haan 3, Levi Vander Yacht 0, Truman Van Dalen 11, Jordan Van Kooten 3, Dustin Brandsma 4, Isaac Reimer 18, Cody Bierlink 0, Willy Scholten 2, Grant Wolffis 3. Team totals: 19-53 12-17 57.
Seattle Christian: Joey Grachek 2, Richard Jensen 17, Cody Miller 8, Jeffery Sutherland 0, Tyler Stein 0, Chris DeVries 10, Shawn Abe 4, Manny Sauer 0, Spencer Eble 0. Team totals: 17-59 4-7 41.
3-pointers: Lynden Christian 6 (Van Dalen 2, Reimer 2); Seattle Christian 1 (Miller). Rebounds: Lynden Christian 36 (Reimer 11); Seattle Christian 39 (Abe 9). Assists: Lynden Christian 8 (N. Wolffis 2, Meppelink 2, Vander Yacht 2); Seattle Christian 3 (Miller 2). Fouls: Lynden Christian 12; Seattle Christian 21. Turnovers: Lynden Christian 15; Seattle Christian 18.
