Wolverines survive Hawks fourth quarter rally

Bellevue will play Kennedy Catholic in the Class 3A quarterfinals on March 3 at the Tacoma Dome

By Shaun Scott • February 29, 2016 4:44 pm

The Bellevue Wolverines managed to record just one field goal in the final eight minutes of regulation against the Mountlake Terrace Hawks.

The fourth quarter cold stretch from the field didn’t stop the Wolverines from advancing to the Class 3A state tournament.

Bellevue guard Sharif Khan, who scored a team-high 11 points, connected on 3-of-4 free throws in the final 1:01 of the game as Bellevue held on for a 43-35 victory against Mountlake Terrace in a winner-to-state, loser-out regional playoff game on Feb. 27 at Bellevue College.

Bellevue led Mountlake Terrace 38-23 after three quarters of play but saw their sizable advantage nearly disappear in the fourth quarter. Mountlake Terrace cut Bellevue’s lead to 38-35 after Gabriel Powter connected on a three-pointer with 1:42 left in regulation.

It was the final time Mountlake Terrace would score for the remainder of the night.

Khan scored on a driving lay-up with 1:29 left, which was the only field goal of the fourth period for the Wolverines, extending Bellevue’s lead to 40-35. Khan scored the final three points of the game in the final minute from the charity stripe. Bellevue head coach Chris O’Connor wasn’t surprised to see Khan make the crucial plays in the fourth quarter to seal a victory.

“He didn’t have his best game but he finds so many other ways to make his team win. He is just a winner,” O’Connor said of Khan. “He (Khan) took care of the ball and made big free throws at the end of the game. The kid just does whatever we need him to do to win.”

Bellevue post player Mikey Henn, who scored 10 points in the win, said having huge leads and seeing them dwindle has been an ongoing issue this season for his team that needs to be rectified.

“We have a bad tendency of kind of letting up when we get big leads. We definitely have to tun it up before we start state(tournament) because we are going to be playing some really good teams,” Henn said.

O’Connor concurred with Henn’s assessment.

“We have had a bad habit of letting teams come back into games after we go on a run. It is just something that we got to continue to try to stop from happening but the good thing is that we have been in these situations so many times this year,” O’Connor said. “We have been in close games all year. Our guys showed a lot of poise and confidence down the stretch.”

O’Connor said his team will be prepared for the Class 3A state tournament this weekend at the Tacoma Dome.

“A lot of people don’t realize that we have been to state seven of the past 10 years so our program has a lot of state experience,” he said. “It is just a tradition and is something we expect. Every year our seniors are expected to lead us back to state.”