Lynden boys bounce back with state berth

Anthony Canales explodes for 24 in Lynden win

Nathan Schumock

Sports Editor

MOUNT VERNON

— e Lynden Lions advanced to the regional tournament after defeating Lakewood 68-51 in the third-place district game on Saturday, Feb. 18.

After falling to Sehome earlier in the week, the Lions picked themselves back up and stormed through the rest of districts as they won two games in a row to advance to regionals. Lynden head coach Brian Roper said, “Feels like I am going to state for the rst time, that is how personally excited I am. Because now we have a shot just like everybody else.”

With the win, the Lions locked up one of the top eight seeds in the district tournament which gives them an automatic bid to the state tournament in Yakima.

Lynden junior Anthony Canales was the leading scorer in the game with 24 points. Senior Kobe Baar was right behind him with 20 points. e Lions shot the lights out from the three-point line with 21 points coming from beyond the arc. Canales said it was a great feeling to get to state after a couple of tough losses.

“We love each other so much and it is like a brotherhood. We want to stay together as long as we can,” Canales said.

In the rst quarter, Baar put on a show. He had 10 points on two threepointers and was forcing turnovers on the defensive side with his active hands. e Lions saw all ve starters score a point in the rst quarter.

Despite Lynden’s balanced e ort, Lakewood kept it close with very strong three-point shooting. ey could not seem to miss from beyond the arc.

In the second, Lynden and Lakewood started trading three-point shots. ere were six threes dropped in total in the second quarter alone. Baar still had the hot hand and was up to 17 points by halftime.

Baar said Lakewood was denying Canales, so he was able to take advantage on o ense in the rst half.

“Someone needed to step up so I took advantage of that opportunity and just played with con dence,” Baar said.

Canales came out of the halftime break on re. He shot the lights out with nine straight points for the Lions in the opening two minutes of the third quarter. Lynden started to break away with su ocating defense by Treyson Smiley, Brant Heppner and Barr, while Canales lit it up on o ense.

Canales scored a total of 16 in the quarter and nished it o with one of the more absurd sequences of the year. He soared through the air for a massive block, recovered it and nished at the rim with a spinning layup. e Lions went into the nal quarter of the game with a 61-39 lead and a rm grasp on the game. e big play of Canales all but did it for the Lakewood team. e Lions rode out the rest of the game and took down Lakewood to advance in the playo s.

Lynden will play again on Feb. 24 in the rst round of state, which is also regionals. e Lions landed as the number six seed in regionals and will play number three seed Renton in a tough opening game, but Roper said they are ready for it.

“We are excited to be there. e 2A’s are really balanced this year and there are a lot of good teams out there and we are one of them,” Roper said.