The Mount Si boys basketball team got the season off on the right foot last Thursday night, Dec. 4, as they used a strong first half to take care of the Seamount League’s Evergreen Wolverines in the Wildcats’ home opener.

Tanner Riley scored a game-high 30 points to help lead Mount Si to a 70-57 victory over an Evergreen team that would not go away in the second half.

“It’s good to get a win,” said Mount Si coach Jeff D’Ambrosio. “The kids played hard, especially in the first half. The effort was there. Then it got a little ugly in the second half, but that’s what it usually looks like in the first game.”

Mount Si opened with an 8-0 run to start the contest. Riley and Lucas Zupan led the way, and quality efforts from Zander Nelson and Dallas Smith also helped the cause. Zupan finished with 14 points to pace the Wildcats, while Nelson added nine. A Jake Hamilton basket closed the first frame out, and Mount Si was up 10, 24-14.

Riley scored 15 of his 30 points in the second quarter, and that display included a couple of nice three-pointers, followed by a dunk with 4:20 left. Mount Si was up 36-17, amd it seemed the Wildcats were going to run the Wolverines off the floor. The boys were playing at midseason form. Mount Si took a 44-29 halftime lead into the locker room.

A funny thing happened, though, on the way to the potential blowout: The Wildcats came out in the second half and struggled on offense, allowing Evergreen to sneak back into the contest and make things a bit interesting. Riley’s bucket with 3:42 left in the third quarter was the first Mount Si points of the half, and that kick-started things for the Wildcats.

Mount Si was able to use solid defense to maintain control, even though it looked tenuous for a while. Riley, Nelson, Hamilton and Zupan all pitched in to finish the job off in the fourth, and baskets by Nelson, Tyson Riley and Taylor Campbell sealed it up.

Kwame Bates led Evergreen with 21 points, while Zakarius Wells added 16 and Mohamed Sambou 14 to pace the Wolverines, from Burien and a former Mount Si league rival; the Wildcats played in the Seamount League prior to moving to Kingco 3A.

What are the main lessons coming out of this victory for Mount Si?

“Obviously, we need to work on running against the zone, and just consistency,” D’Ambrosio said.

“We just can’t let up, show no mercy, just go hard the whole game, four quarters,” Zupan said.

“Mostly focus, sticking with our ‘D,’ not getting lazy and just working hard, staying in shape,” Tanner Riley said.

D’Ambrosio still feels comfortable with how his team will approach the season.

“I’m not too worried about it because we just started working on our zone offense (Wednesday),” the coach said. He added that he didn’t anticipate any of the Wildcats’ Kingco opponents to run the zone defense against his team.

Mount Si hosts Sammamish Friday night, Dec. 12. This season, all Friday games are the nightcaps on doubleheaders, which start with the girls at 6:30 p.m. The boys are up next, starting at around 8:10 p.m. David Wink, the senior post from the Totems who at one time played for the Wildcats, leads Sammamish; he is bound for Division I Northern Illinois next year.

“They’re definitely an improved team, so that will be a good game,” D’Ambrosio said.