Tigers withstand Vikings' late ralley

Seeley nets 25, including clutch 3-pointer

Heading into its Tri-City Athletic League basketball opener against visiting Tokay, Edison head coach Ray Harris preached to his team the importance of making sure to box out Tigers Julius Thomas and D.J. Seeley.

Then, once the game began, the Vikings promptly forgot Harris' lecture.

Seeley scored 25 points, including a clutch 3-pointer with 1:33 left in the fourth quarter and Thomas added 20, including 10 in the opening quarter, as Tokay tamed Edison 71-61 on Wednesday night at Taggart Gym.

Harris felt Edison (11-4, 0-1 TCAL) had a chance to open league play with a win over the Tigers as Tokay (10-5, 1-0 TCAL) was missing standout swingman Jordan Lawley, who was out with a groin injury, and the Tigers had lost four of its last five games.

Ultimately, it was the Vikings' defensive breakdown on the boards that allowed 10 offensive rebounds for putback scores by the Tokay tandem of Thomas, Seeley and Nick Rhodes that spelled doom for Edison.

"We talked all week about boxing out and keeping Thomas off the glass. But for some reason, we got caught up in trying to score points before we even had the ball," Harris said.

Tigers head coach Dustin Lanz decided not to go with the usual trademark Tokay full-court traps, saying he had a "gut feeling" against doing so.

"I don't know why exactly, but they have a pair of good guards, and they are very, very fast. I was afraid with that extreme quickness, they could penetrate our traps," Lanz said.

The Vikings' Trey Gross certainly tried his best to beat the Tigers, hitting four 3s on his way to a game-high 26 points, with 16 of those coming in the second half to fuel an Edison rally.

After Thomas and Seeley punctuated Tokay's domination in the paint with back-to-back resounding slam dunks off a pair of steals and assist passes by teammate Michael Caffese for a 57-40 lead at the 6:30 mark of the fourth quarter, the Vikings began their improbable comeback.

Several Tiger turnovers and missed free throws down the stretch gave Edison new life, and seconds after Tokay's Thomas blocked a shot inside by the Edison's Campbell, the loose ball found its way back to Campbell who made an impossible spinning reverse layup past Thomas to make it 60-52. Another Tokay turnover by Steve Salisbury resulted in a Gross 3 from the left side and suddenly, it was 63-57 with just over two minutes to play in the contest.

Both teams traded missed shots on the next two possessions, and then Caffese found Seeley all alone and unguarded on the left perimeter behind the Viking defense with 1:33 to go, and Seeley calmly buried the 3-point shot that put Tokay back up by nine to essentially ice the win.

"Seeley played phenomenal, and Thomas was just dominating inside, Edison had no answer for him," Lanz said.

Rhodes grabbed eight rebounds to go with his eight points, and Caffese added seven points and nine assists. Sal Gutierriez had five points, Salisbury chipped in three and Mile Sasaki had one.