Eastlake basketball suffers punishing loss to Lake Washington

The Lake Washington Kangaroos defeated the Eastlake Wolves at home on Tuesday, winning 84-47 in an unusually messy performance for the Wolves.

From the opening tipoff, when Julin Deblieck scored first for Lake Washington, the Kangaroos dominated the entire game. Eastlake initially kept pace with back-to-back buckets from Kaleb DeHaan, but the Wolves could not find the holes in the Kangaroo defense and fell surprisingly short with a 23-7 deficit to end the first quarter.

In the second quarter, Eastlake managed to add a few points thanks in part to fouls committed by Lake Washington, but the Wolves’ defense continued to falter. Jayden Hunt, Mateo Cummings and Logan O’Hare kept up the pressure for the Kangaroos, forcing Eastlake Head Coach Nick Crossan to call a timeout to regroup at 49-13. Although Wes Schmidt and DeHaan added a few baskets late in the quarter for Eastlake — their best quarter with 17 additional points — it was not enough to close the gap. The first half ended with Lake Washington ahead 51-24.

Hoping to jump start their offense in the second half, DeHaan and Schmidt dropped back-to-back buckets for Eastlake, but the Wolves again failed to find the holes in the Lake Washington defense. By the end of the third quarter, the Wolves were down 76-39, adding only 4 points the entire quarter compared to the visiting team’s 25.

In the final quarter, drained and deflated, Eastlake failed to regroup. A late 3-pointer from Rutul Tarambale added to the Eastlake tally, but in the end, it was not enough to change the outcome. Adding insult to injury, the Kangaroos’ Omer Ziklik scored continuously for Lake Washington, completing the rout 84-47.

“Today was a learning opportunity for the program to get better,” Crossan said. “The biggest takeaway from this game is unity and how to play as a united team.”

The Eastlake Wolves will play the Redmond Mustangs on Friday, Jan. 17, at Eastlake High School at 8:30 p.m.