BELLINGHAM - Letting a nine-point lead slip away during the final three minutes of a game is always a bitter pill to swallow. But it's a lesson that's a whole lot easier to get down now, than it would be next week, when the Class 2A Northwest District Boys' Basketball Tournament rolls around.
"I wish we had learned this lesson a whole lot earlier," Squalicum senior Nathan Mattix said.
Mattix turned in an unforgettable night on Thursday, Feb. 2, scoring a career-high 20 rebounds and grabbing seven rebounds in a Northwest Conference game against Anacortes, but it's a game he and his Storm teammates will want to purge from their memories, as the Seahawks came back to steal a 61-59 victory.
The loss means Squalicum (16-3, 9-3 NWC) now needs a win over Sehome on Monday, Feb. 6, and a whole lot of help to get a top-two seed into the district tournament.
About midway through the fourth quarter on Thursday, it seemed like it would be the Storm, not the Seahawks (14-5, 10-2) in the driver's seat for a high seed into the postseason next week.
After trailing early, Squalicum kept Anacortes at arm's length for most of the next three quarters. The Seahawks never got closer than three points after surrendering the lead in the first period, and when they finally did get within one possession in the first two minutes of the fourth, Squalicum responded by ripping off a 6-0 run in typical Storm fashion on its next three possessions to make it 56-47 with 4:30 to play.
B.J. Chunphakvenn started the run with a steal and was fouled at the other end. He made one of two free throws. After an Anacortes miss, Mattix grabbed an offensive rebound and kicked it out to Neilan Pierce for a 3-pointer. Chris Qualls grabbed another offensive board on the Storm's next possession and put it back for the nine-point lead, forcing Anacortes to take a timeout.
"We thought we had it," Mattix said. "The truth is we can't think that way. We take a lot of pride here at Squalicum that we can put games like this away late, and maybe we had too much of that tonight. That's something we can't do. Not so much having pride in what we do here at Squalicum, but our hubris was too great, tonight. We have to make sure we play hard through to the finish."
It took Anacortes a few more possessions to get things rolling, but when they did, the Seahawks finished out the game on a 14-3 run.
Billy King got things started with 2:59 to play, when he made a free throw and grabbed his own miss on the second. That allowed Sam D'Amelio an opportunity to hit a 3 and trim the lead to 56-51.
After a Squalicum miss, A.J. Yost, who led Anacortes with 17 points including eight in the fourth, drove the lane for a layup to cut the Squalicum's advantage back to three, 56-53. D'Amelio then erased that advantage getting a steal and pulling up to hit his third 3-pointer of the game with 2:12 left to play.
Chris Qualls hit one of two free throws at the other end to give the lead back to Squalicum, but two possessions later, King hit a bucket with 1:23 left to give Anacortes its first lead since the first quarter, 58-57.
Mattix's put-back bucket with 53 seconds left stemmed the tide and put Squalicum back up, but King answered at the other end with a driving layup and a foul. He converted the three-point play to finish with 16 points and give Anacortes its winning two-point margin with 35.1 seconds to play.
"I think they kept attacking, and we might have let up a little bit," Squalicum coach Dave Dickson said. "We've got to keep attacking the entire game."
Neilan Pierce tried to work his late-game heroics from the left corner, once again, but Yost altered his shot and Anacortes got the rebound. Pierce was forced to foul with 9.1 seconds left, and Matt Welliver missed the front end of the one-and-one, allowing the Storm to get the loose-ball rebound with 7.9 seconds to play.
After a timeout, Chunphakvenn got the ball across half court, but lost control in a myriad of Seahawks defenders. Chunphakvenn regained control in a mad scramble and forced up a shot before the buzzer, but it was off the mark, and Squalicum saw its five-game win streak come to an end.
Until the final three minutes, it looked like Mattix - the only Storm starter to enter the game not averaging double figures - was going to be more than enough.
"Nathan had a really big night for us," Dickson said. "You could tell early on that he came ready to play."
Squalicum repeatedly found the 6-foot-6 post behind Anacortes' 2-3 zone with perfect passes, and Mattix would turn and lay it off the glass for buckets. After scoring four points in the first quarter, Mattix tacked on eight in the second, all of which came off similar plays from a variety of teammates, allowing the Storm to build a somewhat comfortable lead.
"It was something we were working on early in the season, when we were struggling a little bit shooting the 3," Mattix said. "When you're making the 3, you can beat the zone that way, but when you're struggling, another way to beat it is to work it underneath it. Tonight was just kind of a manifestation of all that work we did in practice. ... I started to make those shots, and my teammates showed a lot of confidence in me."
Qualls and Chunphakvenn joined Mattix in double figures, with 13 and 12 points respectively, while Pierce grabbed nine rebounds and Zerek Csolti matched Mattix with seven.
"I think we played pretty well for 31/2 quarters," Dickson said. "We played hard up until then, but we've got to carry that same competitive, attacking style through the entire game."
Reach David Rasbach at david.rasbach@bellinghamherald.com or 360-715-2271.
ANACORTES 61, SQUALICUM 59
Anacortes 11 12 18 20 - 61
Squalicum 14 14 18 13 - 59
Anacortes: Ty Johnson 5, Cody Culp 0, Matt Welliver 14, A.J. Yost 17, Justin Hansen 0, Sam D'Amelio 9, Andy Medelia 0, Billy King 16. Team totals: 25-61 5-8 61.
Squalicum: Zerek Csolti 7, Joseph Chunphakvenn 12, Chris Qualls 13, Blake Youtsey 2, Neilan Pierce 5, Nathan Mattix 20. Team totals: 23-53 10-13 59.
3-ptg: Anacortes 6 (D'Amelio 3), Squalicum 3 (Chunphakvenn 2). Rebounds: Anacortes 30 (King 7), Squalicum 38 (Pierce 9). Assists: Anacortes 5 (D'Amelio 2), Squalicum 12 (Csolti 3, Qualls 3). Fouls: Anacortes 15, Squalicum 15. Turnovers: Anacortes 11, Squalicum 16.
