LAKEWOOD — The Lakewood boys basketball endured the No. 1 2A Northwest Conference’s Anacortes, taking an 85-56 loss Jan. 19.

But despite the score, coach Anthony Wiederkehr said, he thought Lakewood did well at the start.

“I thought we played really hard in the first half,” Wiederkehr said. “Against a team like that, you can’t have any lapses.”

In the first quarter Lakewood fell behind 8-2, but battled back to a 15-15 tie at one point, courtesy of 6-foot-5 junior Johnathan Cox’s physical post play, leading the game with four offensive rebounds, and a 3-point goal by junior Kaleb Duitsman, who led with two at game’s end.

Leading Lakewood in scoring was freshman Alex Jensen with 12 points.

“He’s our leading scorer, he’s a guy that’s really our captain and he runs our offense,” Wiederkehr said. “He does a lot of really good things, and this team is going to be really good with him at the helm the next four years.”

The Cougars were outmatched physically against the Seahawks, but again, Wiederkehr thought his team did well defensively.

“We actually made them go away from their bigs, and we stuck to our game plan,” Wiederkehr said.

Then Anacortes took off with a run with three minutes left in the first quarter. Lakewood’s defense, though containing Anacortes’ sizable players, gave up 3-point goals, allowing the Seahawks to take off 27-15 at the end of the first quarter.

“They really made a lot of shots,” Wiederkehr said. “They normally don’t shoot that well.”

Despite Duitsman starting off the next quarter with a 3-pointer, the quarter before halftime didn’t fair much better, and the Seahawks never looked back leading 45-36 at halftime. The Seahawks coasted the second half all while outscoring Lakewood considerably.

“I thought in the third quarter, the energy wasn’t there, and [Anacortes] kind of pounced on us,” Wiederkehr said. “Really what it was is that they created a few turnovers, and got some easy layups and easy shots off of that.”

The mystique of playing the best of the 2A, might have contributed to third-quarter lull for the Cougars, Wiederkehr said. “It’s hard to say, a part of it is the expectation,” he said. “They’re in the game, they’re pumped up about it. But once [Anacortes] starts to make a run, everyone gets quiet because it’s the No. 1 team in the state.”

“Most people in the gym expected us to walk in and lose the game and it’s hard to not have that weigh in on the kids too,” Wiederkehr added.

Lakewood’s record dropped 4-10, but Wiederkehr made one thing clear.

“Our goal is to make playoffs, and see how we do once we get there,” Wiederkehr said. “This team has the right mentality.”

He is most excited for the young underclassmen that will return next season. “We can compete with anyone,” Wiederkehr said. “This year’s team is young. All of our top-eight guys are all coming back next year.” He said the Blaine and Sedro-Woolley games down the stretch will dictate where Lakewood will end up in the playoffs. The team hasn’t been to districts in 2007, he said.