One of the many upsides to being a league champion and No. 1 seed in the boys 3A bi-district tournament is a 10-day layoff between the regular-season and playoffs.
That can be good, or not so good, depending on who you ask.
But for Evergreen, it was positive in more ways than not in a 77-54 home win over Peninsula in Friday’s 3A bi-district quarterfinals.
No rust for the Plainsmen. Only execution in a game they led start to finish behind 11 steals and three players scoring in double figures to down the Seahawks of the South Sound Conference.
Evergreen is now 19-2, and Friday was its first game in 10 days. It ended the regular-season Feb. 5 by completing an unbeaten 3A Greater St. Helens League season. Since then, it’s been 10 days of rest, rejuvenation and fine-tuning which led the Plainsmen to be league champions.
Friday, Mario Herring led all scorers with 18, Zyell Griffin added 17, and Jaden Stanley had 15 to lead a balanced Plainsmen attack.
And more good happened outside of the win. It clinches a 3A regional berth, another milestone in a season of them.
“It feels great to me,” said Stanley, Evergreen’s all-league point guard who also had six steals Friday. “I’m excited for us and what we’ve accomplished throughout the season. I’m really excited for our group.”
While it’s not guarantee yet the Plainsmen are locked into the Tacoma Dome for the Class 3A tournament, it looks better and better now with a No. 6 RPI ranking going into next week’s bi-district semifinals. It’ll face Mount Tahoma, a 61-59 winner Friday over South Sound Conference champion Gig Harbor, at 6 p.m. Thursday in Puyallup. A win Thursday puts Evergreen in the bi-district title game Saturday. RPI rankings are locked next Saturday once all district and bi-district tournaments are concluded statewide.
Friday, the Plainsmen showed little rust from their lengthy time off. The Plainsmen’s length and quickness disrupted Peninsula (8-14) with the full-court press, where Evergreen had nine steals by halftime leading 40-22.
No surprise, Stanley said.
“It’s on us,” he said. “Our motivation before the games … just to get everybody right and loose.”
Said Herring, the 3A GSHL’s MVP: “Better practices and better chemistry all-around. We just had a good game.”
Evergreen then opened the third quarter with consecutive 3s by Carter Monda and Stanley as part of an 11-4 scoring run for a 51-28 advantage. It shot 50 percent from the clip from the outside (11 of 22).
Evergreen has now won 12 straight games dating back to its Dec. 22 loss to Oregon City (Ore.) over a holiday tournament. And by no means are the Plainsmen done.
“I really want to see how we can do at state,” Stanley said, “and see where we’re at against the really, really good teams.”
