Mount Terrace boys elude elimination
Published 11:14 pm Wednesday, February 16, 2011
MOUNTLAKE TERRACE — During the regular season a coach will often happily take a loss if it means his team gets better.
That was Mountlake Terrace coach Nalin Sood’s worst fear Wednesday night during his team’s 3A District 1 playoff elimination game against Oak Harbor.
“We don’t want to improve and lose this game,” he said.
Though it almost came down to the last possession of the night, Sood got his wish in the form of a 40-38 victory in front of a noisy home crowd.
The Hawks (12-11 overall) improved a little bit and won the game.
“(Our team) fought and scraped and clawed and we get another chance to play for regionals,” Sood said. “There are a lot of teams that would like to be preparing in the next two days to get ready for a game.”
That next game is 6 p.m. Saturday against Meadowdale, which was a 59-54 winner over Shorewood Wednesday night. Terrace hosts the winner-to-state third-place game prior to the district championship game between Mt. Vernon and Glacier Peak, which follows at 8.
As Wednesday’s game wound down it looked like Oak Harbor might be playing for a shot at regionals. Oak Harbor (7-16), a team, which “wasn’t supposed to be here,” in the words of coach Mike Washington Sr., trailed 32-19 with 3 minutes and 16 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
After a timeout, the Wildcats made what seemed like their first jump shot of the night that wasn’t scored by Mike Washington Jr., who led all scorers with 15 points.
Denzel Massey hit a fade away shot and the ensuing free throw for a conventional three-point play that seemed to metaphorically take the lid off the basket for his team.
Massey’s play sparked an 8-0 run that spanned the end of the quarter and pulled Oak Harbor to within two possessions for the fist time since early in the second quarter.
“Our guys fought back,” Washington Sr. said. “I’m proud of my kids.”
Marquis Armstead, who tied for the team high with 12 points, responded for the Hawks, getting his own three-point play in transition and snapping a seven-minute scoreless stretch by the Hawks.
The sophomore guard, playing in his first postseason, and regular season leading-scorer Zach Karels, who also had 12, held it together for Terrace as the game looked to be slipping away. Armstead was the most critical part of a deep Hawks bench that outscored the starting lineup 22-18.
“Marquis is not a household name,” Sood said. “He plays because he defends and rebounds. Whether he starts or comes off the bench you get the same thing. You always talk about things you want your kids to do and he really does those for us.”
Jay Stout scored his only field goal of the game with a little more than a minute to play to pull within Oak Harbor within a single bucket, but Mitch Haldane got a huge putback on Terrace’s next possession and a Wildcats traveling violation effectively ended their chances.
“We are sorry to see the season end this way,” Washington Sr. said. “Sometimes you’d rather lose by 20 than two.
According to the Oak Harbor coach, it was the team’s first trip to the playoffs since 1998 and the Wildcats recorded their first win since 1996 against Sedro-Woolley last Saturday.
The Hawks, on the other hand, are savoring their nearness to state.
“It’s a great feeling for me,” Karels said. “My sophomore year I swung (between varsity and JV) and we went to state. And it was just an amazing feeling. To have that chance my senior year, I want to take full advantage of it.”
At Mountlake Terrace H.S.
Oak Harbor 5 10 9 14 — 38
Mountlake Terrace 10 14 8 8 — 40
Oak Harbor—Massey 9, T. Paul 0, Burgoyne 0, Houck 0, Stout 7, Washington Jr. 15, C. Paul 0, Brooks 2, Bratt 5, Tillotson 0. Mountlake Terrace—Johnson 0, Powell 0, Fernandez 0, Karels 12, Armstead 12, Haldane 4, Lambert 0, Snow 8, Bowman 2, Swanstrom 2. 3-Point Goals—Bratt 1, Washington Jr. 1, Armstead 2, Karels 2. Records—Oak Harbor 7-16 overall, Terrace 12-11.
