Braves finish regular season on high note

The Husky pep band wasn’t alone producing positive notes Friday night.

So, too, did the La Conner High boys’ basketball team.

The Braves closed out NW2B action with an unlikely 52-49 home win over Friday Harbor, thus avenging an earlier 31-point blowout loss to the Wolverines.

You could say turnabout is fair play.

But, in La Conner’s case, it was more about turnovers than anything else. The Braves committed just 10 in the rematch. They were guilty of 26 such miscues in the earlier meeting on the island.

Fewer turnovers meant fewer run-outs for Friday Harbor. The vaunted Wolverine transition game was stuck in low gear much of the night.

La Conner, on the other hand, got off to a quick start.

Terrance Fornsby, who led the victors with 16 points, hit a pair of early treys to set the tone.

By the game’s initial break, when it was time for the UW musicians to chime in, the Braves were already ahead 15-4.

That, too, was music to the ears of La Conner fans.

The Braves would not trail in the game. The closest Friday Harbor came was forging a 45-45 tie in the final stanza.

La Conner then finished as it began — strong.

Fornsby again played a big role. He hit a couple pressure-packed buckets in the waning moments. And Brady Nelson, back from a bout with the flu, helped clinch matters with clutch shooting at the charity stripe.

Nelson joined Fornsby in double-digits, meshing 11 points. Budda Luna chipped in 10 as well.

“It was definitely a good night for us,” an elated La Conner head coach Scott Novak said afterward. “We played hard and played well, and came out with a lot of energy.”

With the win, the Braves finished the regular season 12-8 overall — three of those losses, notes Novak, were by one point each to larger schools — and 10-2 in conference play.

But their work is far from done.

La Conner is paired against a veteran Seattle Lutheran club on the road in first-round District Tournament action this Saturday. The Lions, a perennial 1B powerhouse, have proved equally tough in the 2B ranks, according to Novak.

“They’re a senior-dominated team,” Novak said of Seattle Lutheran, whom he scouted last weekend. “They’re very, very good, and we’ll need to bring our best game when we play them.”

The game the Braves brought the second time around against Friday Harbor wasn’t too bad, either.

La Conner was efficient with its inside-outside looks in frontcourt. Luna, Jeffrey Johnson, and Cooper Zavala combined for 20 points in the paint while Fornsby, Nelson, and Charlie Cram each drained long three-pointers.

The Braves held versatile Eli Cooper-West, the Wolverine catalyst, to six points.

Isaac Mayer paced Friday Harbor with a game-high 17 points. John Gustafson tallied another 11.

“I’m definitely pleased with how we played,” said Novak. “You want to be playing your best basketball this time of year.”