With a tough league schedule up ahead, the Bothell High Cougars picked up some momentum last Tuesday night as they beat Redmond High, 52-44, at home.

Handing Redmond its fourth-straight loss, the Cougars struggled offensively and nearly gave the game away in the fourth quarter after nursing a 29-21 halftime lead, but finished strong to keep the game just out of the Mustangs’ reach.

“That’s two (wins) in a row, we’re getting healthy again and getting everybody back,” said Bothell head coach Ron Bollinger after the game. “We gotta get our basketball legs going since we have so many football guys. We’ll get there.”

After a 64-57 loss to Woodinville last Friday, the Cougars were 4-4 in 4A Kingco conference play and 6-6 overall at press time.

Although Bothell’s team features a number of proven offensive weapons, including O’Dea transfer Dominic Ballard, 6-foot-6 center Michael Hartvigson and varsity returners Oliver Hurtin and Kyle McAllister, the Mustangs were able to keep the game within reach with a tremendous defensive effort. At the offensive end, Redmond showed no fear in working the ball inside to their own big man, 6-6 sophomore forward Conner Floan, who scored a team-high 12 points.

“(Redmond) was very good at working their offense setting those back screens, so I wanted to try and stay zone,” said Bollinger. “But we had to come out and play man-to-man.”

From the get-go, Bothell amped up the tempo of the game early on, scoring three fast-break buckets in the first quarter on the way to an eight-point lead at the half.

Late in the third quarter down by 12, Redmond showed some fight and converted its final two shots of the quarter, including a buzzer-beater by JV-varsity swing player Peter Hendron, to narrow the gap to eight at 40-32.

“At the end of the third quarter, we had a couple of (bad) plays, which gave them momentum,” Bollinger recalled. “They were able to cut it down and make it a close game.”

The Mustangs fought back to within two at 40-38 as the struggling Cougars were held scoreless for the first five minutes and eight seconds of the fourth on 0-for-5 shooting.

With the game they once had well in hand suddenly on the line, the Cougars snapped back into gear. Redmond got into foul trouble and committed a couple of ill-timed turnovers, and the home team hit clutch free throws to keep the game just out of the Mustangs’ reach.

McAllister led the Cougar charge with a game-high 15, followed by Ballard with 13 points, seven rebounds and three steals.

For Redmond, sophomore guard Jason Harrington put in 10 to go along with five boards. As a team, the Mustangs shot just 2-of-11 from beyond the arc.

Ballard, who missed six games with an ankle injury, showed some signs of rust with an off shooting night and errant ball handling, but Bollinger is confident that his star guard will get back to speed.

“He’s been a huge factor,” he said of Ballard, who was ranked as the sixth-best sophomore point guard in the state two years ago. “He’s a great athlete, a big kid who handles the ball for us. He’ll keep getting better.”