Fast start powers E-W boys to victory

Published 8:22 pm Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Edmonds-Woodway jumped on Meadowdale early.

The Warriors outscored the Mavericks 17-4 in first quarter run en route to a 63-49 victory in a nonconference boys basketball game Dec. 10 at Meadowdale High School.

Senior forward Grant Pattison scored a season-high 26 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in what coach Steve Call described as “by far his best game” of the season.

Though he’s only 6-foot-1, Pattison crashed the offensive boards successfully with many of his points coming off of rebounds. He also made two 3-pointers.

“He’s a good shooter,” Call said. “Once he gets in a groove, he’s difficult to stop.”

Meadowdale coach Andy Streit can’t argue the point.

“Pattison was all over the court,” he said. “We had no answer.”

Streit noted that Pattison’s double-digit rebounding effort was instrumental in Edmonds-Woodway’s victory.

“That’s too many. You’re not going to win basketball games giving teams that many second chance opportunities,” Streit said.

The Warriors have made rebounding a priority, especially after a 75-46 loss to Jackson earlier in the week.

“We’re really concentrating on offensive rebounding,” Call said. “(Pattison) was crafty. He’s not a big kid. He moves well without the ball.”

Meadowdale was at somewhat of a height disadvantage against Edmonds-Woodway, but Streit doesn’t see that as an excuse.

“You have to block out no matter how tall the other teams are,” he said.

Edmonds-Woodway’s focus at the start of the game was to control Meadowdale’s top scorers — Torin Dooley and Spencer Linton — and the Warriors were successful.

“Our defense, I thought, played exceptionally well,” Call said. “Our goal was to really shut them down in the beginning. That gave us a lot of energy. We ran the floor well.”

Dooley finished with 11 points, while Linton had nine.

Streit saw the energy from Edmonds-Woodway at the start of the game.

“They kind of took it to us on both sides of the ball — on the boards, offensively and defensively on the glass,” Streit said. “They were ready to go at the tip.”

Streit hopes his players viewed the loss as a learning experience and even though the Mavericks fell to 2-5 overall, the first-year Meadowdale coach is encouraged by his team’s play.

“I’m very pleased with the direction we’re heading,” Streit said. “We’ve had some bumps in the road. … I’m pleasantly encouraged with where our team is and where we’re going.”

What Streit wants to see the Mavericks do better is play with more discipline and take better shots.

Edmonds-Woodway improved to 4-1 overall, which Call is happy to see.

“We have a good system in place and guys seem to be buying into it,” he said.