The scene that played out in the Pacific Cascade Freshman gymnasium Tuesday night has become all too familiar for the Issaquah boys basketball team this season.
Caught up in a close battle, the Eagles walked away with another defeat — this time falling 55-45 to Inglemoor.
“It comes down to a couple of key possessions, a couple of key missed rebounds,” said Issaquah head coach Jeff Altchech, after his team dropped to 1-8 in KingCo and 4-9 overall.
Down 43-33, with 6:34 left, Issaquah displayed the grit Altchech admits he’s so proud of.
Behind aggressive defense and some clutch jump-shots from sophomore Nick Price, the Eagles chipped away at the Viking lead. They cut the deficit to four points on two occasions.
Derek Quan’s fast-break lay-in with 1:48 left, brought the score to 49-45.
Inglemoor kept the door open, missing the first of a one-and-one free-throw attempt, giving the ball back to Issaquah with 1:40 to go. A missed three-pointer from Nik Landdeck and a missed long two-point attempt from Price, however, sealed the Eagles’ fate. The Vikings knocked down a pair of free throws and earned a couple of key steals down the stretch, closing the game on a 6-0 run.
“When you dig a hole you almost have to be perfect to come back from a deficit like that,” Altchech said.
Inglemoor never trailed Tuesday. The game was only tied once, 2-2, at the 7:30 mark of the first quarter. Both teams shot fairly evenly, with Issaquah hitting 19 of 52 shots (36 percent) and 20 of 52 (38 percent). The difference came at the free-throw line where Inglemoor was 11-for-14, and Issaquah was just 4-for-8.
Price led the Eagles with a game-high 18 points. Joe Evans added nine, and Landdeck had seven — five of which he scored in the first quarter.
Eric Bryant led the Vikings with 17, and Brady Gregor added 14.
With seven games remaining, Altchech knows his team will never quit. He only hopes they can turn a corner.
“I’m very proud of their effort,” Altchech said. “But where we’re at right now as a team, this year’s edition of Issaquah High, we’ve got to learn how to win again.”
The Eagles host Redmond at 8 p.m., Friday at Eastlake High School.
