Edmonds-Woodway boys fall in state quarterfinal

Published 2:27 pm Thursday, March 5, 2026

TACOMA — The No. 11 Edmonds-Woodway boys basketball team’s state title hopes came to a close on Thursday morning with a 60-48 loss to the No. 5 Bellarmine Prep Lions in the quarterfinals.

It was a tight matchup from the opening tip, as the Warriors (24-4) went back and forth with the Lions (23-3) until a dry third quarter in which E-W was held to just three points. The Warriors came back to cut the lead to four points in the fourth, but couldn’t complete the upset.

The result set up a Friday tilt with No. 2 O’Dea for rights to a spot in the fourth-place game in the Class 3A State Tournament.

Seniors DJ Karl (17 points, six rebounds) and William Alseth (15 points, six rebounds) led the charge for Edmonds-Woodway. Alseth worked tirelessly to trap the Lions defensively until he fouled out late.

“It’s tough, but not as tough as leaving stuff out there,” Alseth said of the effort. “Feels good to leave your all out there and we get another (game).”

The Lions, coached by Bobby Moorehead, challenged an Edmonds-Woodway team steeled by a trip to last year’s state title game with a tough trap all morning.

E-W skipper Tyler Geving, whose squad was playing in the 9 a.m. window for a second straight day, preached penetration and playmaking all game long in an attempt to turn the trap against the Lions. Senior Julian Gray (two assists) did just that with an early swing to the corner for an Andreas Simonsen (six points, four rebounds) triple.

After Alseth made a pair of contested layups by spinning and reversing, the Warriors snatched an early 11-10 lead.

With Bellarmine junior star guard Kade Price out with injury, plenty of the offensive onus fell to junior Ronnie Wiggins.

Wiggins answered the call, defending the Warriors’ best while scoring a game-high 18 and pulling down nine rebounds.

“He works harder than anybody I’ve ever been around in basketball,” Moorehead said of Wiggins. “Everything he gets, he’s earned it.”

He converted an and-1 lay-up to respond to Alseth as the Lions took a 19-16 lead into the first-quarter break.

The Warriors retook the lead after a strong take by Alseth and some free throws from Karl, but the game would continue to swing in either direction for the ensuing few minutes.

Bellarmine sophomore big man Luke Heisel stepped up with some easy points near the rim, moving well without the ball to free himself. He finished with nine points and 11 rebounds, including some back-breaking offensive boards late.

A long Simonsen offensive rebound leading to an Alseth layup gave E-W the lead late in the second, but the Lions scored again to take a 30-29 advantage.

Going into the third with a slim lead, Moorehead’s respect for the driving danger of the Warriors made the difference.

“We know that they’re a disciplined team,” Moorehead said of the state runner-up. “Not taking chances, trying to stay square is really the most valuable thing we can do.”

That philosophy paid off with a third quarter that the Warriors would prefer to forget.

E-W didn’t score for the first three minutes and change of the frame. The Lions stopped the likes of Karl and Grant Williams (seven points) from getting downhill to create some of the looks they had found in the first 16 minutes.

When Alseth got the ball in the deep post at one point, he was surrounded by four Lions almost instantly. Meanwhile, floaters and passes over the long arms of Bellarmine Prep defenders were often met with ill fates.

The result was a 13-3 frame as the Warriors trailed by 11 after the Lions beat E-W’s zone on the other end with plenty of passes around the horn, resulting in an Elliott Stevenson (12 points, four 3-pointers) triple to close the quarter.

“I thought we looked sluggish,” Geving said of the third. “We just weren’t moving the ball, we weren’t cutting hard … but credit to them, their length bothered us at the rim.”

With time winding down on Edmonds-Woodway’s state title hopes, Karl and co. locked in. Stevenson hit another triple to push the lead to 13 early in the fourth, to which the Warriors responded with a 12-3 run.

Simonsen left a pass for a cutting Williams to get the streak going, while a Gray kick to Williams for a corner three cut it to single digits.

Simonsen then converted on a rare transition chance for E-W, falling away through contact on the left side of the rim for an and-1 finish.

He rebounded his own free-throw miss and hit a jumper moments later to cut it to five. On the defensive end, Alseth (two steals) was causing havoc and trapping his matchup at half-court as the Warriors started to feel the clock winding down.

“It was kind of a lethargic game, but now when you’re out running around pressing, and pick up your energy level … we became the aggressor a little bit,” Geving said.

The Warriors drew up a pistol action involving a give-and-go for Karl that resulted in an and-1 layup to cut the lead to four — but that was as close as E-W came.

Comebacks are built on impeccable shooting and defense, and just a few tough misses paired with a back-breaking triple from Stevenson in the corner spelled the end for E-W.

The Warriors had lost the turnover battle 11-6 by the end of the match and were narrowly outrebounded 28-23.

While their run isn’t over yet, Geving was proud of his players for putting themselves in a position to play on Saturday again. Star Cam Hiatt erupted for multiple 30-point games to push E-W in Tacoma in 2025, but Geving was happy to see his squad prove they still belong.

“We’re top-eight in the state regardless, which is something pretty cool, and I don’t think a lot of people thought we would do it losing (Hiatt),” Geving said. “For us to do that without (Hiatt) kind of validates that these other guys are good players too … Cam would be the first to tell you it wasn’t just me.”

With the consolation bracket waiting, seniors like Alseth and Karl are more than motivated to compete.

“Just win. Win to play one more day, that’s been the mindset every day,” Alseth said.