Braves look to avoid District tourney ouster

Call it déjà vu on steroids.

The La Conner Braves must defeat a Friday Harbor team that defeated them by 31 points earlier in the season.

They’ve done that once.

Now they have to do it again.

La Conner squares off once more against Friday Harbor tomorrow afternoon, Thursday, in Sedro-Woolley, less than two weeks after closing out regular season play with a dramatic 52-49 win over the Wolverines at Landy James Gym.

This time it will be in a District Tournament elimination round, starting at 4:15 p.m.

Friday Harbor routed La Conner 56-25 in their first meeting of the season.

Far more is at stake this time.

The Braves, 12-9 overall, must defeat Friday Harbor a second time to keep alive their hopes of a deep post-season run.

This after having dropped a tough 42-38 decision at No. 6 Seattle Lutheran in their District opener on Saturday.

The Braves stormed back from a double-digit deficit in the second half to briefly take the lead 37-35 late in the fourth quarter before Seattle Lutheran clinched matters with a 7-1 finishing kick.

“We started the game well, then fell behind 26-12 at halftime,” La Conner coach Scott Novak lamented afterward. “A lot of that was on us for not taking good care of the ball.”

The Braves managed just a single Budda Luna field goal in a painful second period.

Seattle Lutheran went on a 13-2 spurt in the frame. And seemed well on its way to an easy triumph.

But La Conner had other plans.

“We made a great comeback in the second half,” Novak said, alluding to a 14-0 Braves tear that spanned the third and fourth quarters.

The Braves, however, saw their momentum stalled after guard Terrance Fornsby was briefly hobbled in the late going.

“We had to call a timeout to check on Terrance,” said Novak. “Luckily, he was able to keep playing. But coming out of the timeout, we just couldn’t get anything going.”

La Conner turned the ball over on a crucial shot clock violation, then missed a couple open looks down the stretch.

Seattle Lutheran made the Braves pay via a Josh Meyer trey and two clutch free throws from Roberto Duenaz.

Grant Ball paced the victors with 14 points, all but five coming before the break. Duenaz added another dozen.

Luna was the lone La Conner player finishing in double-digits. He scored 13 points while hauling down a team-best 11 rebounds.

Jeffrey Johnson and Cooper Zavala recorded five boards apiece for the Braves.

Fornsby tallied nine points, including a pair of three-pointers in the first quarter.

Charlie Cram also hit twice from beyond the trey arc en route to an eight-point finish.

Brady Nelson likewise hit a big three-pointer for La Conner, his coming as part of the Braves’ second half rally.

Should La Conner best Friday Harbor again, the Braves would advance opposite either Orcas — with whom they split a pair of games in the regular season — or face Seattle Lutheran in a District tourney rematch.

“We’re just going to take what’s in front of us,” Novak said. “We’re going to take it one game at a time and look to play our best each time out.”

Their best would be a repeat of the extended minutes they held State-ranked Seattle Lutheran scoreless in Saturday’s second half, while scoring 14 points themselves.

“We’ll probably be the underdog in most of these games,” said Novak, “but I really like how we’re playing right now.”