La Conner boys’ hoop team falls prey to second half Falcon rally

The short-handed La Conner Braves faced long odds when they hosted 1A South Whidbey in non-league hoop action at Landy James Gym Monday night.

For a while, the NW2B Braves were able to beat those odds.

With three key players unavailable to square off against the Falcons, La Conner still managed to lead throughout the first quarter and was tied at halftime before fading in the second half.

South Whidbey’s Lucas Taksony scored a game-high 15 points and teammates Josh Sterba and Sterling Patton hit two three-pointers each to lead the visitors to a 42-27 victory.

La Conner (6-5) had led 9-5 late in the first period and forged a 19-19 tie at intermission on Elijah Porter’s long trey at the buzzer.

But the Braves ran out of gas after that.

The hosts scored just eight second half points on three-pointers by Andre Knudson and Cameron Burks and a Hal Ikebe layup in traffic.

Burks’ long three-pointer off a feed from Spencer Olson with 1:58 to play snapped a 19-0 Falcon run that spanned 10 minutes.

La Conner had trailed just 23-22 when Knudson meshed a trey from the right wing at the 4:33 mark of the third quarter. The Braves would not score again until Burks connected from long range.

Ikebe’s transition bucket came in the final minute of the game.

Porter ignited La Conner in the early going. His step-back jumper put the Braves on top 4-3 midway through the opening stanza. Moments later, he split the Falcon interior defense and gave La Conner a 9-5 edge on an acrobatic left-handed bank shot in the lane.

His buzzer-beating three-pointer electrified the home crowd going into halftime.

But when the teams emerged from their respective locker rooms, it was South Whidbey that was charged up.

With point guard Jacob Ng deftly distributing the ball both in transition and in South Whidbey’s half-court attack, the Falcons pulled away. Taksony did most of his damage in the second half, netting nine points.

By contrast, Porter scored all his team-high 10 points for La Conner before the break.

Braves head coach Todd Hinderman praised his club’s effort afterward, noting that Burks, Ikebe, Mason Wilson and Quentin Kaubin saw their most extensive varsity playing time of the season.

“We had some guys step up and give us some really good minutes,” he said.

La Conner was slated to close out the 2021 spring campaign at Mount Vernon Christian Tuesday night.