MARYSVILLE Early leads arent enough to win games.
After learning that lesson the hard way against Everett Dec. 11, the Tomahawks held on to a 16-5 run in the first quarter against Stanwood to win their first conference game of the season, 50-44.
M-P had nine points off the bench, including six from forward Nick Forsythe, to keep their advantage in a second half where there were outscored 28-22 by the Spartans.
Forsythe kicked off his fourth-quarter run with a put-back to rebound a Blake Scheller near-miss. His back-to-back-to-back baskets for M-P helped protect a nine-point lead in the late going.
Thirteen of senior center Taylor Stevens 17 points came in the first quarter and by halftime, the Tommies went into the locker room with a 12-point lead.
Though Stevens fell short of his season-high 31 points against Everett, Stevens presence on the court lent confidence to his teammates and M-P coach Bary Gould said he was happier with the team effort.
Hes doing a great job of sharing the ball, Gould said of his captain. Today he had less points still a respectable game but made it so that others could step up.
While Stevens helped get the team off to their promising start, it was the rest of the team that maintained the lead throughout the rest of the game.
Senior Colin Thomason, who has been a reliable scoring threat for the Tomahawks, had baskets in every quarter for nine points. Senior guard Scheller matched his teammates output with 4-for-5 free-throw shooting and a pair of field goals in the third quarter.
Though the Tomahawks could have been demoralized by tough losses to Snohomish and Everett in their early league schedule, Gould said the guys practiced hard during the week and approached their Stanwood game with a stronger work ethic.
What Im really proud of is that we held that lead. They kept pushing, kept pushing, but we pushed back, he said, adding of the win, We really needed that game. Not just a first conference win, but a confidence thing.

At M-P H.S.

M-P 18 10 11 11 50
Stanwood 11 5 14 14 44

M-P Stevens 17, Scheller 9, Thomason 9, Forsythe 6, Lovell 6, Greene 3. Stanwood Klempel 13, Johnson 10, Zweber 6, Orcutt 5, Williams 5, Schmidt 3, Solvberg 2. 3-point FGs Stevens 2, Klempel 1, Scheller 1, Schmidt 1. Records M-P 3-3 overall, 1-2 conference. Stanwood 2-3, 1-2.