Mountlake Terrace earns thrilling victory over Edmonds-Woodway

Published 10:43 pm Thursday, December 17, 2015

MOUNTLAKE TERRACE — The hero for Mountlake Terrace in Thursday’s 74-72 Wesco 3A South win over Edmonds-Woodway has a familiar name to Hawks fans, but appears on the way to making a name for himself.

Sophomore Khyree Armstead, the younger brother of former Hawks star Marquis Armstead who graduated in 2013, delivered the game-winning layup with four seconds remaining to keep the Hawks undefeated in league play and hand the Warriors their first league loss of the season.

“We had a play set up to run and I wish I could say it was the play,” Mountlake Terrace head coach Nalin Sood said. “We had it set up and guys got to the right spots and Khyree got a really good read on it and I think he saw a lane. Players make plays. Kids compete and players make plays. There’s nine guys (in the locker room) that competed their tails off and Khyree made a nice play at the end to get to the basket and finish. Credit goes to him.”

The Mountlake Terrace players were able to celebrate seconds after Armstead’s shot when Edmonds-Woodway senior Jordan Rice missed a half-court heave at the buzzer that would have won the game.

“It’s a 3A South win and that’s a good team,” Armstead said. “We played real good and that was a big win for us.”

Armstead’s bucket decided what was a back-and-forth battle for the entire 32 minutes. The Warriors led at the end of the first and third quarters and the Hawks led at the end of the second and fourth quarters. There were numerous lead changes in between.

After falling behind 10-2 in the first quarter, the Hawks bounced back thanks to some timely 3s by senior Gabe Altenberger and the 14 first-half points of senior Shimron Masih.

“He kept us in it in the first half,” Sood said of Masih. “He kept us in it because he was working and working and working.”

Masih finished with 18 points.

Altenberger led the Hawks with 21 points, none bigger than his baseline 3-pointer with 2 minutes, 11 seconds to play in the game that gave his team a four-point lead.

“He’s been a little frustrated,” Sood said. “I know he’s wanted to be shooting a little bit better than he has been, but shooters shoot. You don’t need to say much to them. He’s going to get it going and fortunately he got it going today.”

Edmonds-Woodway senior David Woodard led all scorers with 22 points and senior Jordan Rice chipped in 19, but the Warriors couldn’t come up with the stops on defense when it mattered most.

“If you give up 70 points you’re going to lose,” Edmonds-Woodway head coach Robert Brown said. “If you go back and look at it, the only loss we had before was to Cascade and (the Bruins) scored 75. We’re built around defense. That’s what we do and if we don’t do it well we’re not going to be very good.”

The fourth quarter was marred by numerous foul calls that seemed to disrupt the pace of the game for both teams. The calls didn’t favor one side or the other, but both coaches appeared frustrated.

“It really helps kids work on their free throws,” Sood said with a laugh. “Secondly, it’s hard to get a flow. I’d have to watch the tape. Obviously, we’re not going to agree with a lot and Robert isn’t going to agree with a lot, but you have to watch the tape sometimes.”

Brown said he just wants one thing from the officials – consistency.

“The guys get confused,” Brown said. “One night it is a foul, one night it isn’t a foul. A guy is holding me tonight and it is a foul. I’m holding a guy tonight and it isn’t a foul. Give the kids some consistency so they don’t get frustrated and they can figure it out and I can explain to them, ‘that was a foul last night and it will be a foul again tomorrow night.’ Consistency is all we ask for.”

At Mountlake Terrace H.S.

Ed-Woodway 16 15 18 23 — 72

M. Terrace 11 25 11 27 — 74

Edmonds-Woodway – David Woodard 22, Tre’var Holland 10, Henry Tillman 3, Brady Edwards 2, Noah Becker 4, Edi Seare 2, Ali Gaye 8, Jordan Rice 19 Ryan Peterson 2. Mountlake Terrace – Gabe Powter 4, Daniel Johnson 5, Joey Gardner 4, Khyree Armstead 10, Gabe Altenberger 21, Derek Anyimah 10, Shimron Masih 18, Carson Dallas 2. Records – Edmonds-Woodway 1-1 league, 5-2 overall. Mountlake Terrace 2-0, 5-2.