From the moment Eastlake lost its opening round playoff game, the mission was clear.

“We told them early on after we lost to Woodinville, ‘Same destination, different route,'” Wolves’ coach Pat Bangasser said.

Now, after hammering Bothell 68-49 Thursday night, that destination — the state tournament — is just one win away.

The Wolves (16-8) face Greater St. Helens’ champion, Mountain View (15-8), at 7 p.m., Saturday in a winner-to-state, loser-out game in Vancouver.

“There’s no feeling like playing the whole season, and working so hard, and finally it’s paying off, senior Michael Russo said.

Eastlake never trailed Thursday night — in large part to the play of Russo. The senior, who leads the KingCo 4A in scoring at 21.4 points per game, helped his team to a fast start, en route to a career-high 35 points. The 6-foot-5 forward scored his teams’ first eight points, helping them to an 8-1 advantage at the 5:20 mark of the first quarter.

Eastlake kept that cushion the remainder of the game, only allowing Bothell to pull within five points early in the second quarter. The Wolves led 30-19 at halftime before Russo erupted to start the second half. He scored the Wolves’ first eight points again, including a streak of back-to-back three-pointers.

“I just wanted to make sure they didn’t feel like they were getting back into it at any point, and we did that,” he said.

Eastlake pushed its lead to 50-34 at the end of the third quarter, and increased its advantage to as many as 23 points late in the fourth quarter.

Senior guard Dillon Pericin added 11 points for the Wolves, while Kyle Hansen had seven.

Russo was proud of his career performance afterwards, but kept things in perspective.

“I’ve could have gotten two points and I would have been happy that we are getting a chance to go to Tacoma,” he said.

That feat would no doubt mean a lot to a group, which over the last two seasons amassed a record to 8-32.

“It would be a dream come true really,” Russo said. “Just the hours we’ve put in over the last couple of years … this year it’s finally showing on the board.”