Confidence boosted: Mount Si basketball beats Union on the road behind furious comeback, lockdown defense
VANCOUVER — A late flurry of disruptive defensive pressure and a dominant showing from junior forward Miles Heide gave Mount Si just enough to come back and beat Union on the road on Saturday night at Union High School, in a game it trailed by as many as 14 and did not lead until the final minutes.
Heide, a 6-foot-9 forward, banked in a go-ahead hook shot with under a minute left and UC San Diego commit Quin Patterson hit a pair of free throws to seal it in the final seconds.
The 54-52 road win serves as a confidence booster for the defending 4A state champion Wildcats (3-0), the No. 1 team in SBLive’s most recent 4A coaches poll.
It was a rematch from a 2019 nonleague game where the No. 6 Titans (3-1) thrashed Mount Si in Snoqualmie. Union finished third in 4A in 2020.
“To come down on the road and bring it to ‘em in the second half, it really changes what we think we can do later in the season,” Heide said.
Bryson Metz led Union with 20 point, five assists and two steals, gave the Wildcats fits for three quarters and hit a clap-back corner 3 to reclaim the lead in the final minutes. But stifling full-court pressure from Wildcats sophomore guard Blake Forrest frustrated the senior point guard, and ultimately helped Mount Si hang on.
“They pressure really well,” Metz said. “I have a lot of respect for their guards, just playing super hard. The pressure, it got to me a little bit.”
Forrest, who finished with 11 points, is one of two impact sophomore guards alongside 6-foot-4 sophomore Trevor Hennig (eight points) who form a versatile backcourt around three-year starting point guard Bennett O’Connor.
“Blake’s special when it comes to speed and being able to defend on the ball,” Mount Si coach Jason Griffith said.
Though some of the same faces remain, this is a new-look Union. Gone — at least for now — are the fast-paced, blistering 3-point shooting groups Conley has helmed as a perennial playoff mainstay.
Union coach Blake Conley only rotated six players and praised his team’s mental and physical toughness for controlling the majority of the game. The Titans scored the game’s first 10 points and led 46-32 after three quarters.
Four of those rotation players are 6-foot-4, headlined by Washougal transfer and reigning 2A Greater St. Helens League MVP Yanni Fassillis, which gives the Titans a much different look. Fassillis, a traditional big who is dangerous rolling to the basket, finished with 11 points on Saturday. And despite the loss, the Titans are encouraged by their ability to assert itself against highly ranked 4A opponents, defensive rotations and rebounding.
Just not its fourth quarter poise.
“We learned a ton, and I think it’s going to better us for the future,” Metz said. “The fourth quarter kind of got to us, and kind of slipped away from us, but from now on we now every play matters.”
