Redemption was on the minds of the Issaquah Eagles boys basketball team before they took the floor against the Skyline Spartans.

Issaquah, which suffered its lone loss of the 2014-15 season in KingCo League play to Skyline 76-73 on Jan. 9, couldn’t wait for the opportunity to redeem themselves. The Eagles crushed the Spartans 68-35 on Feb. 5 at Skyline High School in Sammamish.

The Eagles had already clinched the Class 4A KingCo regular season league title and improved their overall record to 15-4 (14-1 league) with the win. Skyline dropped to 10-10 overall. Issaquah guard Ty Gibson said the loss in January against Skyline didn’t sit well with him or his teammates.

“It was a big factor. They were our only league defeat this year. We wanted to come out here and play with a chip on our shoulder and play how we are capable of playing. The outcome supported that,” Gibson said.

Issaquah head coach Jason Griffith wasn’t surprised his team came into the contest with their game face on in full force.

“I think the biggest thing that our kids understood was that we weren’t ready to go the first time we played them. You got to give Skyline credit, they played phenomenal the first time we faced them. They earned that ‘W.’ For us that game gave us a lot of motivation. We knew we had chance against them three weeks later and were looking forward to taking care of business. We learned our lesson this season if we don’t bring it every night then we can get beat.”

The Eagles stingy defense held the Spartans to a mere 12 field goals and controlled the game from the onset.

“We pride ourselves on holding the top scorers on the other team to below their average and this night was no different,” Gibson said. “It was a team effort. We boxed out well too and that leads to offense. It was a well-rounded game for us tonight.”

Griffith said hard-nosed defense is a staple of his squad.

“We’re not a big team and we’re not going to block any shots at the rim, but we fly around, get in the passing lanes and force teams to make tough decisions,” he said.

The Eagles captured third place at the Class 4A state tournament last season and are pursuing their goals with vigor and intensity.

“We will be the top seed going into the KingCo tournament. Hopefully we can get that championship and get a berth at state (tournament),” Gibson said. “We have got big goals and hopefully we can come through.”

Shaun Scott: 425-453-5045; sscott@bellevuereporter.com