Mount Si traveled to Skyline Tuesday, Jan. 25, to meet the 4-5

Spartans in what should have been a fairly regular test for the ‘Cats.

Unfortunately, the Spartans rose to the occasion,

pulling out a last-second 65-61 victory.

Skyline, which was coming off a similar 0-3 mid-season skid,

surprised the Wildcats by coming out running and shooting and crowding the

boards. Mount Si fought back but steadily lost ground through the third quarter,

at one point dropping behind by 13. The team regrouped and Jason

Arriaga managed to tie the contest at 61-61 late in the fourth on lay-up.

However, the Spartans’ John Simon put the final torpedo in

the Wildcats’ hopes, sinking two shots from the charity line with 13

seconds left in the game. His team scored their final two as the buzzer sounded,

giving Skyline the four-point margin of victory.

Arriaga led the Mount Si scoring with 22 points, followed by

Chris Kaplan’s 12 and Ben Eaton’s eight.

The Wildcats regrouped at Interlake the following Friday

night. It proved to be a tough night for both squads, with a startling ending

that delivered the 60-59 victory to the Wildcats.

It was a close, evenly matched contest, with the two teams

running even through the first frame and Mount Si taking a 25-22 lead into

the half. By the end of the third the ‘Cats were up 41-35, but then the

Saints came alive and the game suddenly got quite tight.

With just over one second left on the clock in the fourth, Interlake

took the lead, going up 59-58. The Wildcats immediately called time out

and, with only 1.3 seconds showing on the clock, coach Garrick Phillips

approached the mid-court ref and pointed out that Interlake’s

basket came with three seconds remaining. The refs agreed, the timer rolled

the clock back to 3.0, and play resumed. Cormier took the ball, drove the

length of the court and telegraphed a perfect three-pointer just as the

buzzer sounded. The ball went in and the visiting ‘Cats went home with the

victory.

Cormier recorded 18 points for the night, while teammate Arriaga set

the game high with 22 of his own. The breathtaking, heart-stopping win

kept the Wildcats in second place in the Valley Division with a 7-4 record

and two games to go.

“Oh man, that was a crazy change of events in the last couple of

minutes,” Phillips said afterwards. “We’ve

been lacking intensity in the first half the last month or so, but this time we

came out strong and led by five or six points most of the game. They’d get close

and then we’d pull right back away.

“In the fourth quarter we had some unforced turnovers and allowed

them to get back in the game. We trailed by about three points with two

minutes left, then Mike Dahm hit a huge three-pointer to tie it back up.”

Wednesday night the Wildcats hosted Cedarcrest. Notably,

the Wolves came to Mount Si following their first league victory of the

season, an 82-75 triumph over Liberty.

“They’ll be on a bit of a roll,” Phillips said Monday. “I saw the

results and was happy for them. If they end up tied with Liberty, they

could go to the playoffs.”

The Friday night game at Sammamish marks the end of

the regular season. The JVs play at 5:45, with the varsity taking the floor at

7:30 p.m. Next week brings the KingCo tiebreakers, followed by the start of

the league tourney on Thursday, Feb. 10.