MUKILTEO — No shot too deep, no 3-pointer unmakeable.
It was that type of evening for the Kamiak Knights and sharpshooting backcourt duo Carson Tuttle and Christian Clausen.
The pair Kamiak coach Cory West labeled “borderline obsessed” with the game, put on an impressive shooting clinic behind the arc against Lake Stevens in front of their home crowd on Tuesday.
Tuttle, who finished with a game-high 27 points, and Clausen, who added 15, combined for nine of the Knights’ 13 triples and helped Kamiak earn a 79-60 blowout win over Lake Stevens in a Wesco 4A matchup.
“They are my captains for a reason,” West said. “They put in tons of work. They are generally the first two-to-three guys here in the morning, ‘Coach, can I get up shots?’ They are addicted to the game.”
Kamiak beat Lake Stevens just three days ago by six points during a makeup game, but the rematch was far from competitive.
The Knights (11-4 overall, 6-2 Wesco 4A) led by 11 points after the first quarter and used a 13-0 second-quarter scoring run to build a 44-20 lead with 3:20 to play until halftime. Kamiak played with high energy, pressing full or three-quarter court on defense while operating its offense at breakneck speed.
Tuttle finished the first quarter with 13 points, knocking down three 3s, and he got plenty of help from Clausen and big man Daniel Sharpe, who finished the game with 16 points and a game-high eight rebounds.
“Our mindset coming into the game was just be aggressive by attacking the hoop, get to the basket,” Tuttle said. “We were keeping our aggressive level up the whole game.”
The defensive pressure affected Lake Stevens’ top scorers Ryder Kavanagh and Trey Pavitt, who got hot during Kamiak’s narrow win three nights ago. Kavanagh finished with a team-high 17 points and Pavitt had 16, but neither were able to keep the Vikings (6-8, 4-4) in the game, especially with Clausen hitting 3s from ridiculous depths.
All 15 of the senior guard’s points were scored on 3s during the first three quarters, and several came with his feet far beyond the 3-point arc, including one pushing 30-feet that elicited a stunning reaction from the home crowd.
Arguably the game’s top highlight, though, came in the third quarter on a fast break. Tuttle drove the right side of the lane before delivering a slick behind-the-head pass to his left to a trailing Sharpe, who collected the ball, rose up and threw down a one-handed dunk.
“As a coach, I want the kids to have fun,” West said. “They have fun getting up and down. There are games where we aren’t going to be able to get up and down, but it worked tonight and we’ll see when we play another team if we can do the same.”
By halftime, Kamiak was on pace to score more than 100 points, leading 53-30. The Knights extended that lead to 71-37 entering the third, but one minute into the fourth, West pulled his starters.
Still, the 79 points marked a season high for the Knights.
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