Everett’s playoff bid comes up short

Published 10:14 pm Thursday, February 3, 2011

SHORELINE — Progress is encouraging in the eyes of Everett boys basketball coach Aaron Nations. The playoffs, however, would have been even better.

On the final game of the regular season, the Seagulls, one year removed from a three-win season, fell 58-52 to Shorecrest Thursday night, a

loss that kept Everett from clinching a berth in 3A District 1 Tournament.

“It’s good to see growth,” a disappointed Nations said after his team concluded a 6-14 season that included a 4-10 league record. “Getting to six wins this year is nice. I hate to see the seniors go

out this way, they really wanted to get to the playoffs, but we had some growth program wide, and we’re hoping our young guys will pick up where we left off and hopefully we come back strong next year.”

Had the Seagulls won, they would have moved into a tie with Oak Harbor, which lost to Glacier Peak Thursday, and Everett would have earned the league’s sixth and final playoff spot because of its 2-0 record over Oak Harbor.

But instead of celebrating an unlikely playoff berth — the Seagulls were picked to finish dead last in a preseason coaches poll — Everett players instead tried to process an opportunity lost.

“I don’t think we were focused,” said senior guard Devante Edwards. “We didn’t come out like it was our last game to play. I don’t think we realized that until it was over.”

Edwards, Everett’s leading scorer this season, was harassed by a stingy Shorecrest defense all night, and finished with just two points on 1-for-8 shooting. And with their leading scorer struggling, the rest of the team wasn’t able to pick up the offensive slack.

“They did a nice job,” Nations said. “They took Devante out of the game. They didn’t let him get going tonight. They face-guarded him, they frustrated him, and he kept his head as well as he could, but it’s hard. When you’re a scorer you want to score the ball. And we just didn’t have guys making shots. We usually shoot the ball a little bit better than that. We just didn’t shoot well tonight.”

Everett’s offensive struggles were most pronounced — and frustrating — in the third quarter. The Seagulls finished the first half with a 6-0 run to turn an 11-point deficit into a manageable halftime score of 34-29, then played their best defense in the third quarter, limiting the Scots to six points while forcing seven turnovers. The problem for Everett was that its offensive struggles were just as pronounced as Shorecrest’s, and the Seagulls scored only seven points on 2 of 10 shooting while turning the ball over nine times.

With the game there for the taking, neither team’s offense was able to put the game away, and Shorecrest was able to slowly turn its four-point lead to start the fourth quarter into a 10-point lead in the final minute of the game as Everett continued to struggle to score.

“Yeah, it was (frustrating),” Nations said of the third quarter. “We cut it to three points there, it was 43-40 at one point, we claw our way back in, then we just couldn’t finish.”

Luke Frauenholtz had 12 points to lead the Seagulls and Gabe Woods added 10. Junior forward Emmanuel Chibuogwu Jr. had a game-high 18 points to lead Shorecrest, which had already secured the No. 4 seed in the district tournament prior to Thursday’s game despite losing its previous two games.

“We needed that,” Shorecrest coach Brian Fischer said. “I didn’t want to go in with a three-game losing streak. I’m really proud of our guys, because this was basically a playoff game for Everett. It was do or die for them, so it was nice to see our guys step up and win under those circumstances.”

At Shorecrest H.S.

Everett 14 15 7 16 — 52

Shorecrest 25 9 6 18 — 58

Everett—Simmons 0, Greene 0, Edwards 2, McKinnon 9, Gebert 5, Dickson 2, Sontra 6, Woods 10, Frauenholtz 12. Shorecrest—Canfield 10, Lawson 6, Shands 0, O’Neill 0, Tidwell 9, Nelson 2, Shattuck 13, Chibuogwu Jr. 18, Pontrello 0, Small 0. 3-point goals—McKinnon 1, Woods 1, Canfield 1, Shattuck 3, Chibuogwu Jr. 2. Records—Everett 4-10 league, 6-14 overall. Shorecrest 8-6, 11-9.