A dominant showing on the defensive end of the floor propelled the Bellevue Wolverines to a victory with their season on the line.

Bellevue earned a 49-35 win against the Bishop Blanchet Braves in a loser-out, 3A SeaKing playoff game on Feb. 14 at Bellevue High School. The Wolverines improved their overall record to 16-7 with the win. Bellevue, which trailed Bishop Blanchet by four points at the end of the first quarter, outscored the Braves 39-21 in the final three quarters of play.

“It all started with our defense tonight. It is not going to be pretty offensively, especially in an emotional game like that,” Bellevue head coach Sam Fein said. “We got stop after stop after stop. Holding them to 35 points was a heck of an effort from our guys. I commend them for it. When you make stops like we did, you get a lot of opportunities in transition to score. It got things going for us.”

Wolverines senior Hunter Hansen, who scored a team-high 17 points, concurred with Fein’s description of the contest.

“We just really hung in there on defense and got our stops. Our shots started falling in the second half,” Hansen said. “It was awesome getting our last win here (Bellevue High School gymnasium), especially for us seniors. That is something that is really special. I feel like we had been struggling a bit the past couple of weeks. We felt that pressure and we handled it really well tonight.”

Wolverines senior guard Jalen Love added 13 points as well in the win.

Bellevue sophomore forward Hudson Hansen, right, goes up strong to the basket in a loser-out, playoff game against Bishop Blanchet on Feb. 14. Bellevue defeated Bishop Blanchet 49-35. Photo courtesy of Patrick Krohn/Patrick Krohn Photography