West Linn senior Gavin Gross goes up for one of his two dunks in Tuesday night's 71-30 win over Sunset. (Photo by J.R. Olson)

WEST LINN – Coming into the boys basketball season, West Linn seemed to have fallen off the radar as a 6A contender, failing to crack the top 10 in the OSAAtoday preseason coaches poll.

The way the Lions have played so far, though, they are making people take notice.

West Linn improved to 9-1 on Tuesday night, smothering visiting Sunset in a 71-30, running-clock rout. The Lions overwhelmed the young Apollos (7-4) from the start, opening a 40-10 halftime lead. At one point, Sunset went nearly 11 minutes between baskets.

With its start, West Linn has climbed to No. 5 in this week's coaches poll.

“We want to prove to everybody,” senior guard Jalen Snook said. “I feel like a lot of people forgot about us, and we want to come out of the gates and show everybody that this group still can play really well together. We have a lot of guys that are willing to do what it takes to get to the Chiles Center.”

Travis Myers, who took over as West Linn's coach this season after going 134-64 in the last eight years at West Salem, said defense is the foundation of the team's success.

“I'm so excited about how we guard,” Myers said. “When I took over, that's the one thing I really wanted to see. Just with our size, length and athleticism, there's no way this group shouldn't be able to guard.

“Tonight, holding them to four points in the first quarter, you could see our guys flying around. We made everything tough. I don't think they took a comfortable shot until really late in the game.”

Gavin Gross, a 6-foot-5 senior guard, led West Linn with 15 points. The Lions spread the wealth, with senior guard Sawyer Young (10 points) the only other player reaching double figures.

Much of the Lions' offense came from its defense. They were flying in transition, getting two dunks from Gross and one each from 6-6 senior Kevin Benson and 6-5 senior Warren Stanton.

“I really just thing we've bought into Coach Myers' defense,” said Gross, who has committed to Carroll College, an NAIA program in Montana. “From when he first came here, we just all bought in. We were just locked in tonight.”

The sharpshooting Snook (5-10) has been on a scoring tear of late, averaging 29.0 points in the previous three games to raise his season average to 18.3. He made six three-pointers in Friday's 72-55 win at Canby.

Snook has a relatively quiet game Tuesday, scoring six points on two three-pointers.

“When I need to turn it on, I can turn it on,” said Snook, the son of former Lakeridge standout Jamie Snook, who played at Portland State. “But I feel like if we all five go out and we get 18, 15, 17, and we beat them across the board, that feels better than going to get 29 for me.”

Snook started the season slow but began to find his groove in the team's fifth game, a 64-60 win over No. 10 Sherwood in the Capitol City Classic. In that game, he made a clutch three-pointer to tie in the fourth quarter and finished with 21 points.

“He's been hitting the heck out of it from then on,” Myers said. “He's probably around 40 percent (42.7) from three now, and he started around the 20s. We know that's what he can do. What I like about what he's getting lately is it's all been in the flow of what we do.”

West Linn's only setback is a 72-68 loss to Three Rivers League rival Tualatin in the Capitol City Classic on Dec. 21. The No. 3 Timberwolves (10-2) added a transfer from West Linn in sophomore point guard Pat Vialva Jr., who is leading them in scoring with a 19.0 average.

The Lions led Tualatin by four points in the fourth quarter before faltering.

“It seemed like every time we made a mistake, they capitalized,” Myers said. “The game gave us a ton of confidence, for us to play that well against a team that pressures the basketball like they do. To get that league preview was fun. It kind of energized our group coming out of Christmas break.”

West Linn has the look of a team that expects to make a deep playoff run.

“Coach Myers pointed out early in the season that everyone was doubting us, and no one really believes in us,” said Gross, the son of University of Portland tennis coach Aaron Gross. “Keep overlooking us, we're all good.”