Yellow Pages
BURLINGTON — The Burlington-Edison boys’ basketball team opened Northwest Conference play without their No. 2 and No. 3 scorers, putting more pressure on leading scorer Evan Coulter.
That, like just about everything else on a basketball court, didn’t seem to be much of a problem for Coulter. The Tiger junior outscored Lynden Christian by himself while he was in the game Friday, leading his team to a 60-30 victory over the Lyncs.
Coulter finished with 24 points, six rebounds and six steals despite not playing most of the fourth quarter.
“We thought we should have switched on him a few times,” Lynden Christian coach Vic Wolffis said. “We’re a little bit slow-footed, and he took advantage of the guys he knew he had foot speed on. He’s good.”
Burlington-Edison (6-2 overall) was without No. 2 scorer Colin Stewart, who suffered a sprained ankle in practice, and No. 3 scorer Tonio Bales, who was out for non-injury related reasons, Tigers coach Rick Skeen said.
Those two were averaging a combined 25-plus points per game. Skeen said he hopes to have both back by the middle of next week.
Their absences gave some other players a chance for minutes, and sophomore Jacob Schifferl took advantage.
Playing his first varsity game, the 6-foot-3, 210-pound sophomore was a force underneath. He finished with eight points, seven rebounds and four steals.
“He brings a lot of energy and a lot of mass,” Skeen said. “That’s an area the team needs help with. We’ve talked about bringing more energy, a little more toughness, a little more get-after-it across the board. Jake Schifferl really brought that tonight ... He just knows one speed.”
The Tigers fell behind 2-0, then scored the next 17 points to turn this one into a rout in the first quarter. Coulter scored 11 of those, including a 3-pointer at the end of the quarter.
Lynden Christian struggled from the field, shooting just 1-of-13 in the first quarter and 3-of-21 in the first half.
“Burlington’s a good team,” Wolffis said. “We looked like we didn’t believe in our skills. We looked really tentative. When they were pressuring us, I think we only saw them in front of us and not how to attack it.”
The Tiger bench, led by eight each from Schifferl and Jeff Hayton, scored 25 of the team’s 60 points.
“We’re trying to build our bench,” Skeen said. “We’ve got to build depth. We’re going to have injuries. That’s part of it. Good teams find a way to win. We’re missing two of our top six guys and we found a way. I thought the kids played hard. They were business-like. Obviously there’s some things we’ve got to clean up, turnovers that were unforced at time, but overall I thought they did a pretty good job tonight.”
• Eric Francis can be reached at 360-416-2131 or by e-mail at
