The Union boys basketball team knew it had the potential to be really good this season. It was hard for anyone to predict this type of start, though.
For the fourth time this season, the Titans eclipsed 90 points. This time, they dropped a season-high in a 99-63 win over previously undefeated Evergreen in a packed Plainsmen gymnasium Wednesday.
“I can’t say I thought that we would score at the pace we’re scoring at,” Union coach Blake Conley said. “But I’m not that surprised because these guys are so unselfish, they put so much time in their craft and they’ve worked really hard.”
The Titans are averaging 86 points per game through a 7-0 start, and defeating teams by an average margin of 41 points.
The teams they’ve played aren’t too shabby. Four of the teams entered their meeting with Union undefeated.
“The guys we do it with, it’s special,” Union senior forward Tanner Toolson said of the first two weeks of the season. “There’s nothing like it.”
With a stifling trap defense, an ability to run the floor and make the extra pass and some talented sharpshooters, the Titans are primed for a deep postseason run.
They made the Tacoma Dome last year. The expectations are bigger this season. In the Seattle Times’ most recent 4A rankings, the Titans were No. 1.
“To play at this level this early, it’s good,” Conley said. “But we can’t get complacent at all.”
It doesn’t hurt that Union boasts one of the top players in the state in Toolson, who scored a casual 33 points Wednesday.
He also hauled in 12 rebounds, shook off a hit to the face and bloody nose and was a perfect 10 for 10 from the free-throw line. He scored 15 first-half points, including a powerful two-handed dunk, as the Titans jumped to a 49-26 advantage.
“Momentum-wise, it shifts the game a lot,” Toolson said of his dunk. “We capitalized after the fact getting some steals.”
With Evergreen having beaten all of Union’s 4A Greater St. Helens League counterparts in a 5-0 start, there was a little more at stake in this game.
The Titans had something to prove. First, they had to deny the athletic Plainsmen at the glass. Union outrebounded Evergreen 39-34. Ariya Briscoe added 10 rebounds to go with his eight points and four assists.
“We took what we had from last year and we build on it every year,” said Briscoe, a junior guard. “Our athleticism is better and we just keep hustling.”
Izaac Romero paced the Plainsmen with 17 points, Mario Herring added 14 points and nine rebounds and Jaden Stanley finished with 11 points as the Plainsmen enter their winter tournament season at 5-1.
“This game meant a lot,” senior forward Tanner Toolson said. “They beat every team in our league so this was the best team in Clark County.”
Union travels to play 2A’s top-ranked team, North Kitsap, on Saturday at Highline College in Des Moines.
UNION 99, EVERGREEN 63
UNION (7-0) — Brad Lackey 15, Ty McCullum 11, Tanner Toolson 33, Mason Hill 4, Izaiah Vongnath 12, Ariya Briscoe 8, Josh Reznick 0, Kaden horn 13, Connor Flannigan 2. Totals 34-74 (13-31) 17-18 99.
EVERGREEN (5-1) — Camren Smith 0, Jaden Stanley 11, Izaac Romero 17, Zyell Griffin 10, Tyler Ricketts 0, Kiefer Lopez 0, Mario Herring 14, Tae Marks 0, Peyton Albers 2, Joey Jack 0, Carter Monda 9. Totals 22-59 (5-19) 14-28 63.
