The Highline men’s basketball team dropped two against a controlled Centralia squad, 70-56, and sizable South Puget Sound, 70-56.

Prior to playing Centralia, both teams were equally matched on paper with the Trailblazers and the Thunderbirds being 3-13 overall.

The Blazers demonstrated the strength of their roster with five players in double figures for the night. The T-Birds had just two players with a similar contribution.

Sophomore starter Ricky Bell saw substantial court time after an ankle sprain injury took him out of eight matches.

Three minutes into the first, Centralia broke the game open with a 6-0 run. Highline responded with a jumper from forward Jacob Labounty to put the Thunderbirds on the board. Throughout the half, Centralia shot consistently with 14-28 field goal shooting compared to Highline’s 12-39 for the half. The Thunderbirds shot just 33.3 percent from the floor.

At the halftime break, Highline trailed by seven points, 33-26.

In the second half, Centralia continued to blaze ahead and dominate on both fronts. But a 9-2 Highline run kept the T-Birds not far behind. At 9:27, Marjon Bennett’s three-pointer got Highline within 47-45, the closest the home team had been since early in the game. But Highline ran out of steam and Blazer Adrian Brown converted a three-point play for Centralia to put them ahead for good. In the final minutes, Centralia extended their lead to as many as 16 points and closed out the game, 70-56.

Freshman Trevion Frazierhad led the Blazers with a game-high 17 points on 7-13 inside shooting.

Highline’s Ricky Bell led the Thunderbirds with 15 points and Jacob Labounty added 12 points, a career-high for the freshman.

Last Saturday, Highline hit the road for another conference matchup in Olympia, WA. The Thunderbirds fell to the Clippers, 70-56, despite a halftime lead.

The Clipper’s leveraged their size advantage to score 38 points in the paint compared to the Thunderbird’s 16. 

At the start, South Puget hit the ground running with a 15-3 scoring sprint, leaving Highline in the dust and prompting a T-Bird timeout. After the team huddle, Highline’s Taveon Long broke the silence with a slam dunk followed by six-straight points from sophomore Sam Olson. The scoring gap continued to slim for Highline up until a 3-pointer from Olson put the Thunderbirds ahead, 28-25 with 2:40 left in the first.

Highline led 32-29 at the halftime break, the Thunderbirds’s third halftime lead of the season and their first in 11 games.

In the second, the Clippers made another early scoring burst, this time of 9-0 and snatched the lead from Highline, 38-32. Jazen Guillory captained the Clippers’ offensive efforts by sinking 15 points out of the team’s 52 for the half. After six missed shots, Highline made their first bucket with 15:02 left. Shortly after, a Clipper timeout seemed to ignite another scoring run, 10-2, punctuated by a dunk from Alejandro Cybak. Highline couldn’t catch up with their 39.2 percent shooting compared to a well above average 71.2 percent from the Clippers. 

South Puget closed the match, 70-56, and collected their third straight conference win. The Thunderbirds received their fourth division loss.

Highline freshman Rayven Turner led the team with 17 points on 3-6 shooting beyond the arc. Sophomore Sam Olson, recently back from injury, made a season-high 13 points on 6-11 field goal shooting and a trey. Guard Ricky Bell also added 13 points and seven assists.

After last week’s results, Highline dropped to a No. 7 standing in the NWAC West with a record of 0-4. 

“Both games we just stopped playing hard in the second half. We gave up, and let them get anything they wanted offensively. We weren’t able to answer offensively and get good shots,” said Highline sophomore Ricky Bell.

After a series of losses, Highline is still optimistic, said Bell.

“We’re working on playing and being on the same page on and off the court. We are continuing to get better and flip the switch in turning the season around,” said Bell.

The Thunderbirds return to action on Wednesday as they travel to Tacoma to take on the No. 4 Titans. Results were unavailable at press time. 

On Saturday, Highline returns to the Thunderdome to host No. 2 Lower Columia. The game begins at 2:00 p.m.