Meadowdale boys basketball team looking to end playoff drought

Published 1:30 am Monday, January 30, 2017

The Meadowdale boys basketball team got off to a slow start this season, but the Mavericks have started to win games when it counts.

Meadowdale is 5-12 overall, but sports a 4-5 record in Wesco 3A play. Even though they’ve dropped their past two games — to Everett and Edmonds-Woodway — the Mavericks are in position to qualify for the postseason for the first time in five years.

“Unfortunately the losses started to stack up (at the start of the season), but the kids never stopped working,” Meadowdale coach Roger O’Neill said. “We told the kids that they were practicing too well for it to not show up in games. It’s a testament to the kids, because they’ve worked hard and trusted in what we were doing even though the non-league (part of the season) wasn’t great.”

The Mavericks have a good nucleus of talent, including guard Daniel Barhoum, who has worked his way back from a knee injury to become a regular double-double threat; guard Xavier Meekins, one of the team’s top scorers; and wing Mustapha Sonko, who energizes the team with his athleticism and versatility.

“We have a lot of length,” O’Neill said. “We’ve talked all year about winning the rebounding battle every night. We feel that if we can limit teams to one shot and grab the board, we can push the ball upcourt or be patient and work it around for a great shot. When we play well, it’s because we play at our pace, force teams to take shots that we want them to take and dominate the glass.”