The Mount Si boys basketball team moves into the second half of their season, after having put together solid efforts in games played last week.

The Wildcat team got back into action last Tuesday, Jan. 13, following a flood-caused week layoff, making quick work of the Interlake Saints. Tanner Riley overcame early struggles to score a game-high 19 points, helping the Wildcats to a 65-37 win over the Saints in a game which took a little over one hour to complete, a bit faster than normal.

“Everyone stepped in and contributed,” said Mount Si coach Jeff D’Ambrosio. “It was a good game.”

Nine players scored points in the contest for the Wildcats.

Dallas Smith scored 15 points to aid the Mount Si cause, while Aaron Sweat scored 11 to lead Interlake. A 21-0 first half run by the Wildcats put the game away early.

The Mount Si makeup game with Lakeside scheduled for last Wednesday, Jan. 14, was postponed yet again, with no word on if or when the game will be made up. It had been originally scheduled for Dec. 18, but was one of the first weather-related sports cancellations for Mount Si during the recent spate of bad winter weather.

The Wildcats welcomed in a large crowd last Friday, Jan. 16, for what was Mount Si’s biggest boys league game since the 2005-06 season, the last of former longtime coach Garrick Phillips before he left to take over the U-High program in Spokane. The Wildcats hosted a Bellevue team that has raised national eyebrows coming out of a stellar showing in a San Diego holiday tournament.

Bellevue is seen as an athletic team, and they used that to their advantage as the Wolverines rolled to a surprisingly big 77-59 win over the Wildcats.

Bellevue’s main men were the story in the contest, as junior Aaron Bright, the former Issaquah star, scored 25 and senior Alex Schrempf, the son of ex-Sonic Detlef Schrempf (who was in attendance at the game), added 23.

“We played hard,” D’Ambrosio said. “We’ve been working on quite a few things in practice defensively, and we have improved on those. We looked good in those aspects of the game.”

Friday’s game started out close, but Bellevue took over late in the first quarter and did not look back. Offensive rebounds were a key to that, as Smith noticed.

“They probably doubled our rebounds,” he said. “We need to practice on boxing out, not just going up and getting the rebounds; we need to actually put a body on somebody.”

“They just ran their plays way better,” junior Taylor Campbell said. “They always were finishing their shots; they always got the offensive rebounds and we never really boxed out in the first half. That’s what happens when you don’t do the little things.”

A couple of notable calls during the game, both against the Wildcats, earned officials considerable criticism from the local fans. First was a call against Campbell with two minutes left in the first half; he was called for a foul after Schrempf, going for a basket, fell to the ground hard after what appeared to be a collision with Mount Si defenders. Fortunately, he was not injured.

Then, early in the third, Riley was called for an offensive foul on a shot attempt. The junior’s quick protest of the call earned him a technical foul from officials for unsportsmanlike conduct.

The officiating, according to the Mount Si coach, was a byproduct of how intense things were.

“You kind of expect that because it was a real physical game and a real emotional game,” D’Ambrosio said.

Riley scored 16 to pace scarlet and gray, while Zander Nelson scored 12 to aid Mount Si .

Mount Si goes to Liberty Friday, Jan. 23, for an 8 p.m. contest with the Patriots. The Wildcats defeated Liberty earlier this season.