Sammamish Falls as Lake Washington Stages Comeback to Stay in Playoffs

Do or die. Win or go home. Loser out. No matter how you put it, the winner of Saturday’s vs. Lake Washington game would earn a spot in the district basketball tournament, and the loser would get a long vacation until the 2011-2012 season.

In what might be called the KingCo game of the year, coach Barry Johnson’s Lake Washington Kangaroos (14-8, 9-6) earned the right to keep playing, thanks to the true grit of his team and a 20-point effort from junior guard Matt Staudacher in a 66-64 comeback victory.

Junior center Darien Nelson-Henry made his first start for the Kangaroos since Jan. 18 and quickly made his presence known, getting the first Lake Washington points on their second possession of the game to tie the score at 2. Moments later the game was tied at 4 when Sammamish (13-8, 8-7) got its first early surge on consecutive 3-point baskets from juniors and Sami Jarjour. Lake Washington chipped away at that lead for the rest of the first quarter and took a one-point lead into second frame.

The Totems would completely dominate the second quarter, opening the period on a 9-0 run and outscoring the Kangs 26-8. The Totems took advantage of 14 first-half turnovers by the Kangaroos to stretch their lead to 19 points just before halftime, when a Jarjour 3-pointer made it 41-22 Sammamish. The Kangaroos would get a buzzer-beating basket from junior guard Cody Bernstein but still trailed by 17 points as the teams headed to the locker rooms.

“Barry got on us in the locker room,” Darien Nelson-Henry said in reference to halftime during a post-game interview. “He knows we’ve got more heart than this.”

Johnson’s halftime words were taken to heart and his players responded by scoring the first 13 points of the third quarter to close the Totem lead to 4 points. Sammamish finally snapped the Lake Washington run when Steinberg scored a bucket with four minutes to play in the period. Minutes later Lake Washington closed the gap to 2 points when senior forward Robert Reyes converted a 3-point play, but the Totems would stretch their lead back to 9 when senior Taylor Berg sank the final bucket of the third quarter.

The teams continued to battle and Lake Washington refused to give up, bringing the deficit back to 2 points when senior guard Kramer Taylor hit a 3-pointer from the left wing.

With 2 minutes and 15 seconds to play, the Totems led by 1 point as Staudacher went to the line for a couple of free throws. He split the pair and the Kangs and Totems found themselves deadlocked at 61.

Lake Washington got a defensive stop and a layup from Taylor moments later gave them their first lead since the clock read 7:40 in second quarter. Sammamish junior forward George Valle was fouled on the next possession but missed both free throws. On the other end, Lake Washington extended its lead to 4 points as the clock ticked inside of 45 seconds when junior forward Guy Lynott converted an inside layup.

On the next possession Valle was called for a charge with 30 seconds to go. Lake Washington took the ball and had an opportunity to beat the press, but Lynott overthrew his wide open teammate to keep Sammamish alive with 24 second to go.

The Totems kept everyone on the edge of their seats as Steinberg came down the court and banked in a deep 3-pointer to cut Lake Washington’s edge to 65-64. The Totems immediately fouled, sending Bernstein to the line. He missed both free throws, but Lake Washington got an offensive rebound and Staudacher was fouled with 4.7 seconds left. Staudacher made the first free throw but missed the second.

The Totems brought the ball past half court and called timeout with 1.6 second left in the game. They would have one final chance to win the game or send it to overtime. John Steinberg took the inbounds pass from Jacob West and got off a turnaround 3-point attempt about 30 feet, but the shot hit the rim and bounced out.

When it hit the ground the Kangaroos were officially in the district tournament.

After the game Kangaroo coach Johnson said what made the difference was, “Effort, effort, effort….It came down to who wanted it the most.”

George Valle had 19 points and 8 rebounds while Steinberg led Sammamish with 22 points. In addition to Staudacher there were three other Kangaroos in double figures. Taylor and Lynott each had 14 and Nelson-Henry scored 11 while pulling down 13 rebounds in the victory.

The Kangaroos will now try and improve their seeding for a better matchup in the district tournament as they will face the Wolverines in the semi-finals of the KingCo Tournament on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at .