BLAINE – December 19th, 2016. On that evening, the Blaine boys’ basketball team defeated Mount Baker 85-84. Since then, 745 days have passed, and the Borderites had gone through two coaching changes, but they snapped the streak on Thursday night when they defeated Meridian 75-73 in overtime at Blaine High School.
It was also “throwback” night, as the game was played in the old Ken Waters Gymnasium. My memories of that gym shot straight back to 1993 when the Trojans and Borderites battled each other. Meridian guard Ty Harrison was the league’s best offensive weapon, and Blaine guard Aaron Kortlever was the best on-ball defender in the league. Both Harrison and Kortlever were in attendance on Thursday night to witness the overtime thriller.
6-foot-4 senior Adam Vega led the way for the Borderites with 20 points and 10 rebounds, and it was his three-point play with 12 seconds left in the extra stanza that sealed the victory. Junior sharpshooter Jordan Veenstra had a good look with five seconds left, but just missed to the right.
Blaine led 55-50 going into the fourth quarter, but the Trojans had a strong period to tie it at the end of regulation. 6-foot-3 junior guard Jackson Short came up huge in the fourth, scoring on a corner 3-pointer, as well as hitting three key free throws. He finished the game with a team-high 19 points.
Sophomore Josh Russ (19 points) and junior Zane Rector (18 points) also had big games for the orange and black, along with sophomore Kyle Turnberg (seven assists and three steals). Senior forward Hudson Reid did a lot of the dirty work, pulling down eight rebounds to go with his five points.
6-3 sophomore Ethan Brooks had the hot hand early for the Trojans and finished with 15 points and a team-high seven rebounds. Veenstra poured in 14 points and athletic sophomore Ryan Johnson had 12 points and five boards.
Blaine (6-6) will travel to Ferndale (7-5) on Tuesday night to take on the Golden Eagles, while the Trojans (6-6) will host Lynden (12-0) on Monday night.
Blaine 75, Meridian 73
MER 19 16 15 18 5 — 73
BLA 20 15 20 13 7 — 75
MER: Johnson 12, Hemenway 2, Martin 0, Short 19, Hughes 0, Bowler 4, Veenstra 14, Plagerman 6, Brooks 15.
BLA: K. Turnberg 7, Knutzen 2, Wallen 0, Thomas 4, Baldwin 0, Reid 5, M. Vega 0, Rector 18, Russ 19, A.Vega 20.
3-Pointers: MER 7 (Brooks 2, Veenstra 2, Short 2, Johnson); BLA 3 (K. Turnberg, Rector, Russ). Rebounds: MER 33 (Brooks 7); BLA 35 (A. Vega 10). Assists: MER 9 (Hemenway 2, Hughes 2, Veenstra 2); BLA 17 (K. Turnberg 7). Steals: 8 (Johnson 2, Brooks 2); BLA 8 (K. Turnberg 3). Blocks: MER 2 (Short, Plagerman); BLA 2 (Reid, A. Vega)
