In his third year at Mountain View, it feels a lot like year No. 1 for Thunder boys basketball coach Aaron Shepherd.
“My first two years here, we had senior-led teams,” Shepherd said. “But this year, we’re really young. It sort of feels like we’re starting over. Of our top eight guys, six are freshmen or sophomores.”
Mountain View’s talent and youth were both on display as the Thunder scrapped together an 83-69 win over Seton Catholic in a non-league game Thursday at Mountain View.
The Thunder started two freshmen Thursday and their leading scorer, sophomore Alex Bailey, was out sick on Thursday. Luckily, Mountain View had a couple of seniors to lean on.
Jourdon Bolds scored 17 of his game-high 22 points in the first half, and Tyler Vu came off the bench to score all 11 of his point in the second half for the Thunder.
“Our philosophy is to attack the basket,” Bolds said. “That’s what Coach is always telling us. That’s what I was trying to do – go hard, finish strong and look for teammates.”
Bolds score four points and sophomore Sam Johnson added seven to spark an 11-0 run early in the second quarter as the Thunder took a 42-27 lead.
But the Cougars scored the final six points of the first half, then Isaiah Parker and Delano Morgan opened the third quarter with back-to-back 3-pointers to cut Mountain View’s lead to 44-41.
“There were times tonight when I thought we were ready to take the game over,” Shepherd said. “But then we’d make a turnover or miss a shot, and they’d come up with a big 3. Give Seton Catholic credit. They battled.”
Vu hit a 3-pointer to halt Seton’s run. Vu and freshman Darien Chase hit some big baskets to push the Thunder’s lead back to 62-52 early in the fourth, and the Cougars never got within single digits the rest of the way.
Chase finished with 15 points, and Johnson had 11. Morgan had 15 to lead Seton, and Brock Schoene added 14.
“I feel like things are starting to fall into place for us,” Bolds said. “We’ve got some good team chemistry and we’re looking to open league strong. Getting Bailey back will be big.”
Mountain View opens play in the 4A Greater St. Helens League on Tuesday at Heritage.
MOUNTAIN VIEw 83, SETON CATHOLIC 69
SETON CATHOLIC (0-3) — Isaiah Parker 12, Matthew Kent 3, Ben Owen 5, Henry Demsky 6, Jonathan Stell 2, Delano Morgan 15, Brock Schoene 14, Garret Wellman 10, Max Moreland 2. Totals 24 (7) 14-22 69.
MOUNTAIN VIEW (3-2) — Rodolfo Montiel 4, Trevor Green 0, Jourdon Bolds 22, Jack Mertens 1, Tyler Vu 11, Cameron Henderson 4, Colin Biggs 9, Sam Johnson 11, Darien Chase 15, Troy Pacheco 0. Totals 32 (3) 16-29 83.
Seton 18 17 17 17–69
Mtn View 18 26 17 22–83
JV — Mountain View 68-15
