By Joe Livarchik

Reporter Newspapers

Mercer Island allowed a total of 49 points in the team’s previous two games heading into Friday’s matchup with the Sammamish Totems, a team they beat at home by 32 points on Jan. 5. While the Totems made it a much closer affair on their senior night, the outcome was never in doubt. Getting 20 points from senior Sam Nordale, Mercer Island beat Sammamish 60-45 Friday at Sammamish High School.

“You’ve got to expect that [Sammamish] is going to be better the second time around. They’re not going to play scared,” Mercer Island coach Gavin Cree said.

Mercer Island (14-4, 7-3 in KingCo) led 19-8 after one and 34-17 at the half, and kept a double-digit advantage throughout most of the game. But the Totems (8-10, 2-8) managed to hang around, keeping the Islanders from breaking the game open.

“Sammamish did a really nice job of getting us out of our rhythm by throwing some different full-court looks at us,” Cree said. “We broke the pressure well, but we were unable to get a good rhythm on the half-court side. That was what prevented us from pulling away.”

Nordale paced the Islanders with 12 points in the first half, as the Islanders led by as many as 18. Mercer Island’s advantage never dipped below 12 in the second half.

“There were definitely stretches where we can improve with just taking care of the ball, making sure we’re getting good shots and executing our plays,” Nordale said. “But I think for the most part, we always responded pretty well when they tried to turn up the tempo and we were able to execute well.”

Justin Jordan led the Totems with 12 points in the loss.