BLAINE – A size advantage can sometimes be the only edge a team needs.
The Borderites had a clear goal coming into their 76-63 win over Lakewood on Wednesday night: exploit the Cougars’ lack of height. Blaine possesses six players that are 6-foot-3 or taller — Lakewood has none.
“The gameplan coming in was to crash the offensive glass,” said first-year Blaine coach Nate Sullivan. “We knew we could go up and get it over [Lakewood’s] guys.”
Blaine had four players score in double digits en route to its fourth straight win, remaining undefeated in Northwest Conference games. Senior forward Mathew Russ led the Borderites with 23 points.
“He’s really playing hard,” Sullivan said of Russ. “When he gets it in the paint, he’s pretty smooth, pivots well and has good body control. Against a team like [Lakewood], that’s undersized, he can do what he wants around the rim.”
Three early lead changes quickly faded to memory as Lakewood began ripping shots from beyond the 3-point line with ease.
The Cougars built up a 16-6 lead with just over two minutes remaining in the first quarter, sparked by four rapid lasers from deep. Blaine, which had been in a zone defense to that point, switched back to man-to-man in an attempt to stop the bleeding.
“We did some ball watching and we left some shooters alone,” Sullivan said. “I wanted to bring them back to their comfort zone, and that was in the man-to-man, but I told the boys after the game that they’ve got to know how to play that zone against a smaller team like that.”
Blaine finally found its groove and mounted an 8-2 run that closed out the period.
Lakewood went cold in the second quarter. Just 13 points in the period from the Cougars allowed the Borderites to heat up and retake the lead. Trailing 24-19, Blaine senior guard Lucas Smith got fouled while driving to the left side of the basket, hitting the court hard and sinking the layup.
“We just locked them up and came back,” Russ said.
Smith got one more at the free throw line and came right back on the next possession with a 3-pointer to give Blaine a 25-24 lead.
That gave the Borderites all the reason they needed to explode.
A few possessions later, Russ blocked a Lakewood 3-pointer on one end, took off down the court, snagged a lobbed chest pass from senior guard Carson Lehnert and elevated for a two-handed jam. The Borderite faithful erupted.
Blaine kept the pressure on and entered halftime leading 40-31 after a 26-point second-quarter performance.
It was more of the same in the third quarter, as Blaine scored the period’s first 13 points. The lead had grown to 55-36 before Lakewood’s junior forward Zachary Stoddard scored the Cougars’ first second-half bucket with less than two minutes remaining in the quarter.
Lakewood’s struggles from the first half continued to the tune of just 10 third-quarter points.
The Cougars found some life in the fourth quarter, as Stoddard scored 10 of his 22 points in the period while attempting to bring Lakewood back. It was not nearly enough offensively to get his team back in the game.
Smith added 19 points for the Borderites. Senior guard Lawrence Creasey Pulphus dropped in 15 while Lehnert finished with 14.
Blaine’s experienced group of seniors is determined to make a run this season after being bounced in the first round of the 1A state tournament a year ago.
“I think we’ve got a better group of guys that can all shoot, all score the ball in a variety of ways,” Russ said. “We’ve just got to work on tuning the little things, and we’re good.”
Freshman guard Caleb Greenland dropped in 15 points for the Cougars behind Stoddard. Senior guard Mason Weller and junior guard Dominic Smith each added nine.
Blaine advanced to 4-1 overall on the season and 3-0 in NWC matchups. The Borderites head to Squalicum (2-3, 1-2 NWC) on Dec. 16 for a 7:15 p.m. tipoff.
Lakewood fell to 3-3 overall and 1-1 in NWC games. They will travel back to Whatcom County to take on Nooksack Valley (1-1, 1-1 NWC) on Dec. 17 at 7:15 p.m.
Score by quarter
| Team | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th |
| Blaine | 14 | 26 | 17 | 19 |
| Lakewood | 18 | 13 | 10 | 22 |
