Perhaps some discomfort in the first round will come in handy down the road for the Union boys basketball team.
That’s the Titans’ takeaway after opening the postseason with a 63-51 win over Mount Rainier of Des Moines on Wednesday. Union had to overcome turnovers, missed 3s and a relentless play from a pesky North Puget Sound League squad that refused to fold.
“They hit some tough shots and they forced us to play in a way that we haven’t been forced to play,” Union coach Blake Conley said. “So hopefully that comes in handy down the road and we learn from this experience.”
Zach Reznick scored 14 points, Jason Franklin Jr. added 13 and Alishawuan Taylor grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds to help punch Union’s ticket to Friday’s bi-district quarterfinals where it plays Auburn at Puyallup High School.
Win Friday, and the Titans are headed back to the dome.
Union trailed by three points in the second quarter and the score was tied at half. When Mount Rainier’s Yadel Hedego scored to tie the game up at 31-31 early in the third quarter, Tyler Combs responded by hitting a 3 on the other end that sparked an 8-0 run by Union.
The Titans shot 43.4 percent from the field and hit 9 of 25 (36 percent) 3-pointers and outrebounded the Rams 45-19, but committed 13 turnovers.
“They make you play so frantic that we looked unorganized at times,” Conley said. “Once we realized that if we executed, got to the right spot and got the spacing we wanted, we were able to get guys the right shots.”
Mount Rainier came in with a 10-11 record and ranked 40th in the WIAA’s RPI system. Such is the case often in playoffs where teams don’t know much about their opponents, Union, No.3 in RPI, knew it couldn’t sleep on the Rams.
In the early stages of the game, Mount Rainier was within one possession of Union.
“I wouldn’t say it was comfortable,” Union guard Ethan Smith said. “We were lackadaisical on defense and we weren’t playing our way on offense.”
Smith noticed the Titans were playing a little frantic, not showcasing the team basketball that got the Titans to 14-4 on the season.
But as the game wore on, the Titans played themselves into a more comfortable form.
“We just found our open guys,” Smith said. “In the beginning we were forcing things, shooting contested shots, but toward the end of the game we moved the ball better, found guys down low and got open shots and layups.”
Hedego hit a contested layup to bring Mount Rainier within four points with just over five minutes to go in the fourth quarter. Then Union turned on the jets.
A few possessions later, Franklin Jr. scored six-straight points to give the Titans a nine-point lead, which the Rams couldn’t whittle away at.
“You’ve got to win in a lot of different ways,” Conley said. “In the playoffs you don’t have time to sit there and reflect. We’ve got one day to prepare for Auburn. … I told the guys, ‘you’ve got to turn the page.’ ”
UNION 63, MOUNT RAINIER 51
MOUNT RAINIER— Amanuel Gebreziahbher 10, Ricky Bell 9, Wilkens Dolce 6, Justus Diaz-Nelson 0, Kolten Lerwick 2, Navi Singh 0, Robert Wright 2, Michael Nelson 6, Adam Samuel 4, Yadel Hedego 12. 20 (3) 2-6 51.
UNION—Coby Weatherspoon 0, Houston Combs 4, Zach Reznick 14, Tyler Combs 8, Quinn Lamey 2, Dustin Nettles 2, Alishawuan Taylor 7, Ethan Smith 8, Aiden Nellor 0, Brad Lackey 5, Jason Franklin Jr. 23 (9) 8-10 63.
Mount Rainier 14 11 13 13—51
Union 20 7 15 21—63
