By Quint Turner

Marquis Armstead scored 19 points and Greg Bowman added 17 to lead the Mountlake Terrace Hawks over the Meadowdale Mavericks by a score of 70-37 at the Stable Friday night.

After the Hawks went 0-for-8 from three-point range in the first 10 minutes of the game, they caught fire and hit 7 of 11 for the rest of the game to pull away from the Mavs. Meadowdale’s 2-3 zone kept the game close early on, but the Hawks were able to move the ball around the court fast enough to get wide open outside shots, and they started draining them.

Caleb Tingstad led all Mavs’ scorers, getting 10 points off the bench including the only two three-pointers scored by the Mavs.

Meadowdale got started the right way. Aidan O’Neill drove into the paint, kicked out to Griffin Over, and then drove back into the paint and tossed a pass to Jacob Perkins, who hit a lay-in to make it 2-0 Mavs. After Perkins hit another lay-in to make it 4-0, the Hawks started a run of their own when Bowman hit a 10-foot jump shot to get Terrace on the scoreboard.

Unfortunately for the Mavs, it was a 12-0 run. The Hawks man-to-man defense tightened up and stopped Meadowdale from getting any more clean looks from the paint. Back the other way, it was a combination of jump shots and lay-ins that got the points for the Hawks. The run was finally broken up when O’Neill dribbled past the defense and hit a tough lay-in to make it 12-6 MTHS with 1:30 left. The quarter ended with the Hawks up 16-7, and already Armstead had six points while Bowman had eight in the game.

Armstead opened the second quarter by hitting a three, the first for the Hawks in the game, putting them up 21-7. Charlie White tried to get the Mavs back in the game when he stole an inbounds pass and took it the other way for a lay-in to make it 21-10. Bowman responded by driving right past Perkins in the paint with a sick spin move, and then hit a lay-in to make it 23-12 with 4:30 left in the half.

The Mavs switched to a full-court press to force some turnovers and start a comeback, but Bowman hit a three over them to put the Hawks up 28-14 with 3:00 to go. Tingstad hit the first Mavs’ three of the game with 1:05 left to get the score to 31-17, but Armstead wasn’t impressed. He took an inbounds pass after the bucket, and went coast-to-coast for a lay-in. He also was fouled, and hit the free throw to complete the three-point play. The Hawks went into the second half up 36-21.

The Mavs had put up a valiant effort in the first half, but in the third quarter, the Hawks pulled away. Loren Lacasse started the 18-2 run for the Hawks with a great inside move past the defense and hit a lay-in to make it 38-21. Perkins immediately responded with a five-footer, but it was all Hawks after that. Jesse Zerom hit a three to put them up 41-21 with 5:35 to go. The team seemed unable to miss for a good stretch of the quarter, and the run was only stopped when Aaron Gurley drove past the defense and hit a lay-in to bring the score to 54-25 Hawks with 1:55 to go. After three quarters, the Hawks led by a score of 58-32.

In the fourth quarter, the Hawks took out their starters and the bench players scored all 12 points in the quarter, giving up only five points on defense. The Mavs, meanwhile, hit just one field goal all quarter.

With the 70-37 win, the Hawks — ranked ninth in the state — went to 4-0 and 1-0 in conference. They play next in a tournament at Highline Community College, facing Lincoln High School Saturday (Dec. 8) at 7 p.m. The Mavs fall to at 2-3 (0-1 in conference), and play next Tuesday at home vs. Shorewood at 7:15 p.m.

Meadowdale Scorers: Aaron Gurley 2; Kenley Ackerman 2; Collin Costello 2; Griffin Over 2; Aidan O’Neill 3; Eyasu Mulugetta 4; Charlie White 4; Jacob Perkins 8; Caleb Tingstad 10
Mountlake Terrace Scorers: Yohans Tewolde 2; LeTrae Sarden 4; Michael Lotz 5; Yoel Tekle 6; Loren Lacasse 6; Jesse Zerom 11; Greg Bowman 17; Marquis Armstead 19

Sports correspondent Quint Turner is a student at Meadowdale High School.