Shorewood boys basketball captures District 1 3A title

Published 1:50 am Sunday, February 22, 2026

MILL CREEK — Joey Petschl was waiting for a game like this.

The Shorewood boys basketball coach watched his team grind its way through the District 1 3A Tournament relying on tough defense, especially in a 42-40 semifinal win against Edmonds-Woodway on Tuesday that punched the team’s ticket to state, and solidified its spot in the championship game against Snohomish at Jackson High School on Saturday.

After the semifinal win, Petschl told The Herald that Shorewood’s offense had not been at its best recently, which necessitated the focus on defense, but he had a feeling things would come together in all phases sooner or later.

“It’s not lack of effort, and it’s not like we’re not shooting a bunch in practice. It’s not like we’re not capable,” Petschl said. “I think I told our team and our coaches, ‘Hey, we’re still due for one, where we combo it.’”

It ended up coming at the perfect time.

While sticking to their defensive identity, the No. 4 seed Stormrays (18-7) lit up from behind the arc en route to a 51-36 win against the No. 3 seed Panthers (17-8) to secure the program’s first district championship in at least 40 years.

Finishing with an 11-1 advantage in 3-pointers, Shorewood pulled away early and did not trail the entire game. Senior Jaden Marlow had four of the 11 makes from long-range for 12 points, sharing the team lead in scoring with senior Nathan Abraha, whose scoring run in the second quarter allowed the Stormrays to pull away by as much as 14 points before halftime.

As productive as they were, the players feel like they have room for more.

“I think that our ceiling is still higher,” said junior Thomas Moles, who had six points and four rebounds. “I think we can still play better offense. We had some stretches there where we were knocking down 3’s and stuff, and that’s great. But I still don’t think that’s the best we can play, and I think that’s a positive. Looking forward to how much time we have left.”

Snohomish senior Hudson Smith scored a game-high 13 points in the loss. After defeating Shorewood 61-55 in the Wesco Crossover game on Feb. 7, the Panthers couldn’t find the same efficiency when it mattered more.

“You can’t simulate experience, and I think that’s what it was, and understanding teams are going to come at us with that kind of defensive pressure,” said Snohomish coach Jeff Larson, who credited the Stomrays’ execution from start to finish. “From now on, everybody can shoot it, and it’s a matter of really doing the little things right — taking care of the ball — but I think the biggest thing (is) we’ve got to get more efficient and comfortable on the offensive end so we can get better looks.”

The Panthers missed their first four shots and had another blocked while Shorewood opened on an 8-0 run. Moles fed Abraha in the corner for a 3-pointer on the first possession before draining one himself with 6:52 left in the frame, prompting Snohomish to call timeout.

It wasn’t enough to stop Moles’ momentum, as the do-it-all guard blocked an attempt from 3 before senior Elijah Haub grabbed two offensive rebounds at the other end, putting the latter one in the basket to make it 8-0 just over two minutes in. The Panthers ended the run on a putback layup from junior Deyton Wheat with 5:12 left in the first, and they managed to cut it to 8-6 from there, but the Stormrays responded with a 3-pointer from Marlow and a long two-point jumper from junior Yuto Allison to extend the lead to 13-6 entering the second quarter.

Shorewood kept rolling with 3-pointers from Allison and Marlow, after which Haub blocked a Snohomish attempt before rolling for a layup in transition to make it 21-8 just 1:16 into the frame.

“Man, knocking down those 3’s, finally. That felt good,” Marlow said. “We’ve had some bad shooting games, but yeah, turned it on in the right moment.”

From there, Abraha took over, scoring eight straight points for the Stormrays. After hitting a 3 and scoring from underneath the basket on back-to-back possessions to make it 28-12 midway through the second, the 6-foot-3 wing converted an ‘And-1’ a few possessions later to extend it to 31-15.

“Just be aggressive and try to get in the paint,” Abraha said about his mindset. “Kick it out, or if I’m open, put it up. So that’s what I did.”

Shorewood continued to rain down 3-pointers through the third quarter, eventually bringing the lead to 43-26 with less than three minutes before the fourth, but the Panthers pushed back with a 6-0 run executed by the Smith brothers. Grant, a junior, picked up steals on back-to-back possessions, scoring on a putback layup after the first one and dishing the ball to Hudson for a reverse layup on the second.

The Stormrays turned the ball over once again on a travel violation, which Hudson Smith followed up with a putback layup of his own with 48.9 seconds left in the quarter to bring Snohomish back in reach at 43-32.

“Lock in!” Petschl shouted at his team after the travel call.

Entering the fourth quarter, Shorewood knew it had to get back to basics in order to close out the game.

“Just lock in on defense and not even worry about offense,” Abraha said. “(…) Offense comes from our defense and pushing up.”

Sure enough, the Stormrays clamped down and continued to shoot the lights out. Junior Kevin Cambronero nailed a corner 3 with six minutes left to make it 49-32, then picked up two steals to help keep Snohomish off the board.

After Shorewood ran down the clock on every possession in the final minutes, Cambronero closed things out with an underhand layup as the shot clock expired with 45.3 seconds left in the game to make it 51-34. The 6-foot guard went down hard and had to exit the game with little time left, but Petschl assured he would be fine for the state tournament.

“Man, this guy gets cramps so often,” Petschl said. “But I mean, he was denying (Snohomish’s shooting threat, junior Grady Rohrich) the ball the entire night, so well-deserved cramps tonight. That was all it was, he’s fine.”

In any case, Cambronero and his teammates expect to get some extra rest, as Petschl believes his team should be rewarded in the state tournament seeding and get to avoid the Tuesday night opening matchups.

Until then, the main focus is celebrating the hard-earned trophy. Just one year after snapping a 38-year state tournament drought, Shorewood boys basketball follows it up with a district title.

Who would have thought? Well, according to the players, they did.

“To be honest, I think we kind of did,” Moles said. “I think we were confident that we were going to have a good year this year, but it’s definitely awesome. It’s a blessing to come here and actually get it done.”

Added Abraha: “It’s a good feeling, but there’s a lot more left.”