The Olympia High School Bears basketball team played against three opponents this week: North Thurston Rams on Monday, Spanaway Lake on Wednesday and Bonney Lake on Friday, coming out victorious in all games.
Monday night was the Bears season opener for the boy’s varsity team where they would take on North Thurston and obliterate the Rams with a score of 73-23.
Last year, Olympia lost to North Thurston with a score of 38-54, they remembered that loss and held North Thurston to eight points in the first half, Matt Lindblom would have an amazing game as he hit everything from the three-point line to a lay-up. The second half was no different as the Bears would gather momentum and the game would end with a 73-23, 50-point blowout. It was an amazing start for the Bears season.
On Wednesday night, the Bears would travel up to Spanaway Lake to take on the Sentinels. Sentinels opened up the season by winning vs. an Australian team but a rock would stop their stream, that rock was the Bears who dominated once again beating the Sentinels 64-49. Matt Lindblom would again become a key piece of the game and improve the Bears record to 2-0.
Finally, the Bears would take on Bonney Lake at home on Friday. Bonney Lake was 1-1 but they would become 1-2 quickly as the Bears vanquished, winning the game 70-47, making the Panthers whimper back home to Bonney Lake. Julian Zapata and Blake Peterson would frontline the game. Both of them had an amazing game. The Bears’ season has started perfectly, out-scoring their opponents 207 to 119 points.
Senior Matt Lindblom holds an offer from Saint Martin’s University and said that overpowering North Thurston, “Felt great. [he] thought [they] did well and [that] it was a fun way to start the season.” Lindblom who had an amazing game himself still gave credit to the whole team and how well they played. Lindblom was also asked how it felt to beat North Thurston after losing to them last year, “The team felt a little relieved after the game. Everyone was excited about the game after what happened last season. Everyone knows we weren’t playing this game just for what happened last year, but we were playing for March. It felt great to win a local rivalry.” The team isn’t just playing for the tournaments or rivalries but for the playoffs and the honor of Olympia High School.
Senior Blake Peterson, who had an amazing start to the season so far when asked how it felt to blow out North Thurston by 50 points, and said it “Felt great, [to] give the fans a good show for the home opener and beat crosstown rivals.” Peterson felt like the team gave the home crowd an amazing season opener, the environment, and everything went right for the Bears last Monday night. Peterson said that the team’s anticipation for this season is “to win every game, wing a league championship, win a district championship, and win a state championship.” A championship mindset for a team that is playing like a state champion, just like Lindblom said of the team, that it “has a different feel to it than past seasons and an amazing mindset.”
Bears have started this season on fire with a 3-0 record and the Bears hope to keep this momentum ride the stream of wins into March and with hopes to win a state championship.
