While everyone was waking up Christmas morning huddling around the tree, opening presents and playing in the snow, the Lake Stevens boys basketball team was waking up 1,300 miles away in sunny San Diego, California to prepare for the annual Surf n’ Slam Tournament. The boys finished 2-1 in three games and finished fourth place, out of eight teams, in the Slam bracket at Mission Bay High School.

“When we got there, it was more of like a bonding experience for us, teaching us how to be better people,” senior Ryder Kavanaugh said. “Even though we butted heads pretty often, because we were with each other 24/7, it was still a great experience.”

Lake Stevens, coming into the tournament with a 1-4 overall record, first played the Spring Ford Rams from Royersford, Pennsylvania, who came into the tournament with a 2-3 record. After taking a 7-point lead going into the fourth quarter, the Vikings were outscored 21-12 by the Rams and lost 63-58. This loss moved them to the losers bracket, with the team’s highest hopes set on fourth place.

“They had this one guard that [scored] 12 of their 21 [points] in the fourth quarter and he got hot,” head coach Mark Hein said. “We lost him on a couple screens, and we couldn’t keep pace offensively.”

Determined to not leave without a victory, the Vikings, who now have a 1-5 record, started their trek through the losers side of the Slam bracket against the Eastlake Wolves from Sammamish, Washington. With the help of Kavanaugh, who had a game-high of 39 points, including 7 3-pointers, the Vikings beat the Wolves 63-60 in double overtime.

“That game brought us closer together as a team. The momentum has clearly stayed with us when we got back,” Kavanaugh said. “Since then, we’ve won like 3 or 4 straight games. That may have turned our season around.”

Even though the momentum stayed with the team when they came back, they still had one game left against the Soldotna Stars from Soldotna, Alaska, who came into the game with a 3-2 record, for 4th place in the bracket. With the help of Kavanaugh’s 26 points and a dozen additional points from junior Andrew Franco, the Vikings beat the Stars 72-36, scoring close to 20 points in the first and fourth quarter, while holding the Stars to under 10 points in the first, third, and fourth quarters.

“The momentum from Eastlake was a big factor in that game,” Kavanaugh said. “We used it to our advantage in that game.”

When all is said and done for the Vikings, Kavanaugh left the sunshine state with accolades from both the tournament and back home, as he was picked on the All-Bracket team for the Slam bracket, as well as getting a player of the week nod from both the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) and the Everett Herald.

“Ryder’s been impressive this whole season, really,” Hein said. “He’s had at least one game with, what we considered, a poor performance, but other than that he’s been amazing.”

With the win over Soldotna, Lake Stevens left the Sunshine State with a 3-5 overall record, giving the players enough time and preparation for teams such as Monroe, Kamiak, and Jackson in 2018.

For upcoming games, go look at our sports calendar, where we cover all the winter sports for your Vikings.