After a victory to open the season, the Wildcat boys’ basketball team has found itself in the midst of a losing streak. The streak continued Tuesday, Dec. 12, at Bellevue. Lack of consistent outside shooting – and the sons of two ex-Seattle Sonics legends, who both play for the Wolverines – combined to doom Mount Si in a 61-44 loss.

The Wolverines were led by the strong play of sophomore Alex Schrempf, son of Detlef Schrempf, and senior Luke Sikma, son of Jack Sikma. Schrempf scored 15 to lead Bellevue, while Sikma scored 13 and played strong defense in the middle.

“They killed us in second chance points; their guys crashed the boards really well and that was the difference,” said Strohl, who was making his first trip into Bellevue as the Wildcat coach. Strohl was a former Bellevue assistant coach before landing in Snoqualmie this summer as former coach Garrick Phillips’ replacement.

Bellevue rolled out of the gate on fire, scoring the first 10 points before Mount Si’s Tommy Abbott scored and got the Wildcats on their way. Mount Si rallied and made it close but never took the lead. Lack of consistent three-point shooting – the Wildcats only hit two threes the whole game and only attempted 11 of them – ultimately doomed the boys to their fourth straight loss.

Abbott finished with 15 points to lead Mount Si, while Tanner Riley had a strong second half and finished with seven points to pace the Wildcats. Ten players from Mount Si and eight from Bellevue, scored points in the contest, so nearly everyone who played had a hand in the effort for their respective side.

There was a bit of controversy in the second quarter when officials stopped the game and admonished both Strohl and Bellevue coach Chris O’Connor for not remaining seated during play on their respective benches.

“It was a decorum conference and the official said that if you’re standing up [which Strohl was seen doing], you have to be coaching, or if you’re kneeling [which O’Connor was seen doing], you have to be coaching, or you’re going to be warned and I got warned, but I was calling a defense while I got warned so I didn’t understand literally what it was all about,” Strohl said. Beyond that point, no further action was taken by officials against either coach.

There may be hope on the horizon. “I think we’re kind of slowly starting to turn the corner,” Strohl said. “We took care of the ball a lot better than we have in previous games. We actually executed our offense somewhat better so it’s small improvements. We just have to guard against kids hanging their heads and starting to get that defeatist attitude.”