The Bellevue Christian Vikings entered Tuesday’s boys basketball game against Overlake as the team to beat in the 1A Emerald City League. The Vikings came to The Overlake School with only one league blemish in their five seasons of playing in the conference.

Until the fourth quarter, the Owls had an excellent chance to pull off the upset. But the Vikings’ amped-up defense and clutch shooting late in the game sealed the 68-54 victory.

The Owls trailed by only four points at halftime, despite the fact that the Vikings shot 50 percent from the field, including hitting 6-of-9 three-pointers. But poor fourth-quarter defense proved to be the home squad’s undoing as the Vikings converted 8 of 10 field goals to leave Overlake in the dust.

Overlake coach John Wiley, who stressed the importance of this game at the beginning of the season, said he was pleased to see that his kids were holding their own against them for most of the contest.

“It was really convincing with our kids that we were of their level,” Wiley said. “It’s more psychological than anything. They’ve been our nemesis for years.”

DYNAMITE DOWNS

Bellevue’s David Downs, son of head coach Mike Downs, is unquestionably the Vikings’ go-to-guy, and Wiley said that the key to his team’s success would be to stop David from getting good looks at the basket.

If the first half was any indication, the Owls failed in that regard.

Downs put on his best Ray Allen impression, silencing the home crowd with an incredible display of outside shooting.

He hit his first six shots of the game, including all five of his attempts from beyond the arc, for 17 first-half points.

In the locker room at halftime, Wiley knew they had to change their approach in order to stop the 6-foot-2 junior guard.

“David is a great shooter, but I thought he was shooting too comfortably,” Wiley said. “He got his pull-ups well within his range, so we tried to limit him in the second half.”

The Owls did that with a vicious double-team. While Downs was limited to just six points in the third and fourth quarters, he let his teammates pick up the slack.

“I was really proud of the way he distributed the ball to open teammates in the second half, because they were keying on him,” Mike said of his son. “We knew that we were going to win defensively, and I think down the stretch we did pretty well.”

One Viking that stepped up in the game’s latter stages was senior guard Aaron Iseman, who shot 3 of 3 in the fourth quarter, scoring seven consecutive points for his team on a long trey and two hard-driving layups.

“We ran a couple things specifically for him because he’s so quick to the basket,” said Downs of his talented guard. “He had a good game.”

Overlake was limited to just five field goal attempts in the final frame as they were outscored 22-12.

DISTINCT DISADVANTAGE

With only one starter over 6 feet versus the Vikings’ four, the Owls were at a distinct disadvantage in height. The Owls managed to grab only 12 defensive rebounds during the game while Bellevue Christian managed 18.

“Our game plan was simply to rebound better than we did, and play better defense down the stretch,” admitted Wiley. “It’s the halfway point, and we’re trying to teach that the learning curve is a steep one. We got a lot of new guys, so we need to have a short memory and go forward.”

Downs led all scorers with 24 points on 8-of-10 shooting, with Iseman adding a season-high 23 for the Vikings.

Speedy 5-foot-9 guard Hakan Yagiz had a team-high 12 for the Owls, and freshman guard Dean Poplawski contributed a season-high 10.

Senior Danny Poplawski, who is currently dead even with Downs for the league lead in points per game with 19.0, managed just eight.

The win improved Bellevue Christian to 5-0 in league play and 7-4 overall, while Overlake was handed their first conference loss. The Owls are now 3-1 in league and 6-3 overall.

After getting thrown into the lion’s den on Tuesday, the Owls played another crucial game against a tough team, Cedar Park Christian, on Friday after the Reporter’s deadline. The only Emerald City team to beat Bellevue Christian in the last five years is Cedar Park Christian, which nipped the Vikings, 43-39, last season.

“We just need to go out, play better defense, and see what we can do,” Wiley said.