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The week-long stretch between games not only gave the Reign a much-deserved rest, but also allowed ample time to prepare for a big push in the two weeks of games before the IBL playoffs begin July 1 at Clark College in Vancouver, Wash.
Despite Olympia’s 125-107 loss to the Bellingham Slam on Tuesday night at The Evergreen State College, Smothers saw spurts of great play from his team, especially on the defensive side – something that was a niche on the Reign’s division-winning title team last season.
“We’re not where I want us to be, but who knows what will happen going into the playoffs,” Smothers said. “I saw a lot of positive tonight.”
Jacob Stevenson led the Slam (13-5) with a game-high 34 points on 13-for-20 shooting.
Stevenson was one of seven Bellingham players who scored in double figures.
The Slam played without former Saint Martin’s University standout Blake Poole, who was expected to play but did not make the trip to Olympia.
In the Slam’s 121-96 win over the Reign last week in Poole’s first game back in South Sound since playing for the Saints, he scored 19 points and grabbed seven rebounds.
In 15 games for the Slam this season, Poole, who was voted the Great Northwest Athletic Conference’s player of the year in February, has averaged 13.2 points and a team-high 11 rebounds per game.
For three quarters, the Reign (6-10) kept pace with Bellingham. Olympia trailed by single digits on multiple occasions, including late in the third quarter, cutting the deficit to 76-67 following a dunk by former Saint Martin’s standout Bill Richardson (10 points) with 3 minutes, 55 seconds remaining.
But the Slam went on a 17-7 run to end the quarter to grab a 90-73 lead going into the final 12 minutes.
Marcus Whittaker led the Reign with a team-best 22 points and was 5-for-9 on 3-pointers. Nate Menefee chipped in with 20 points, and Dennard Abraham had 18 points and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.
Olympia went on a 15-7 run to begin the fourth, capped by Whittaker’s fifth 3-pointer with 6:30 remaining, but as it had previously, Bellingham responded with a run of its own and quickly stretched the lead to 13 points in less than a minute.
“This team has to play hard and has to play consistently hard for us to beat a team like that,” Smothers said.
The Reign are currently the seventh seed of the eight teams bound for the IBL playoffs.
Two of the remaining four regular-season games are at home – Tuesday against the Edmonton Energy and June 29 against the Albany Legends. Both games are at 7 p.m. at The Evergreen State College.
Meg Wochnick: 360-754-5473
mwochnick@theolympian.com
