Having a slow night offensively, the Meadowdale boys basketball team leaned on its defense to dominate the visiting Everett Seagulls Friday night, notching the Mavs’ third conference win, 55-32.

Everett got the night’s scoring started with a 3-pointer early in the first, but the Mavericks went on a 12-0 run over the next four minutes and never surrender that lead.

“I wasn’t very pleased with the way we played offensively for a large portion of the game, but certainly the first half,” said Meadowdale head coach Roger O’Neill.

“That’s something we need to keep working on, but defensively, that’s what we hang our hat on,” he added. “We have such good athletes, with long arms who can cover a lot of ground. Proud of our defense tonight.”

Leading the way for the Mavericks was Hunter Moen, who finished with a game-high 23 points and 7 rebounds.

“He’s such a competitor.” O’Neill said of his senior guard. “He’s doing a nice job for us on both ends of the floor. I trust him to play 32 minutes when we need him to. He just goes and makes plays. Sometimes it’s a little unconventional, but that’s part of what makes Hunter, Hunter. When we’re getting steals and stops on defense, and we’re able to go play with some pace, he’s pretty damn good.”

Junior forward Leonardo Baquian added 12 points of his own for the Mavs, along with five rebounds and two blocked shots.

“This year is his (Baquian’s) first varsity action and he’s still figuring it out a little bit, but man, when he puts it all together, which he has a couple times this year,” O’Neill said. “Up at Arlington he had a really nice game. He’s always going to play hard, but he’s also a very skilled basketball player. I think he’s really close to fully adjusting to varsity game speed, and when that happens, it’s going to be scary for other people.”

With a late 52-32 lead, O’Neill was able to call a timeout and get some court experience for his deeper bench players. One of those was senior guard Zach White.

White was able to get a good look from the right wing and drain a smooth 3-pointer over a Seagull defender, which drew a thunderous cheer from the “Mavs Mob” student section.

“Zach White’s a kid that’s been in the program all four years and he just comes in and works his butt off every day.” O’Neill said. “He hasn’t got much playing time this year, but a lot of that because of the talented guys we have in front of him. We trust Zach to go out there and do his job. He’s a really good shooter. I wasn’t surprised at all he went in and knocked that down.”

Junior Taras Feslienko led Everett in scoring with 22.

The Mavericks’ next game will be Monday, Jan. 13, when they travel to Oak Harbor to take on the Wildcats. That game is scheduled to begin at 7:15 p.m.

In other Meadowdale sports on Friday, the Mavericks’ girls basketball team earned a 47-34 victory over the Everett Seagulls at Everett High School.

Prep Boys Basketball: Everett at Meadowdale, Jan. 10

Everett            06   13   05   08 — 32

Meadowdale 15   15   09   16 — 55

Everett individual scoring: Taras Feslienko 22, Peter Wilson 6, Jeremy Reed 2, Daryl Milam 2, Jemyre Reed 0, Daniel Woodard 0, Ronny Kildall 0, Krystopher Kelley 0, Laith Dirsiye 0, Andre Gabriel 0, Andrew Hicks 0, Micah Hogan 0

Meadowdale individual scoring: Hunter Moen 23, Leonardo Baquian 12, Colton Walsh 8, Mason Vaughn 5, Zach White 5, Cole Nelson 2, Will McKinley 2, Beau Hopkins 0, Justin Jackson 0, Aaron Shrestha 0,

Records: Everett 1-4 in 2A/3A Wesco League, 4-7 overall; Meadowdale 3-1 in 2A/3A Wesco Conference; 5-5 overall

Meadowdale next game: versus Oak Harbor; Monday, Jan. 13; 7:15 p.m. at Oak Harbor High School

Prep Girls Basketball: Meadowdale at Everett, Jan. 10

Meadowdale   11   14     9   13   —   47

Everett     4     9   11   10   —   34

Meadowdale individual scoring: Fatoumata Jaiteh 12, Soriah Swinton 8, Alicia Morrison 7, Kaisha Stark 6, Nicole Dallas 6, Lilly Williams 2, Maia Austvold 2, Ava Powell 2, Jenaly Gabriel 2, Silja Knutsen, Jordan Leith

Everett individual scoring: Farrah Parrish 10, Ella Sylvester 9, Savannah Franck-Tolentino 6, Emma Larson 4, Lilli Thompson 3, Caroline Jameson 2, Yvonne Ramirez, Raeya Pentz, Emma Weir, Andrea Parrish

Records: Meadowdale 3-1 in 2A/3A Wesco League, 7-3 overall; Everett 2-3 in 2A/3A Wesco League, 6-5 overall

Meadowdale next game: versus Oak Harbor; Tuesday, Jan. 14; 7:15 p.m. at Meadowdale High School

— Story and photos by Scott Williams