Hiatt’s halftime buzzer-beater rallies Edmonds-Woodway

Published 9:26 am Thursday, February 20, 2025

MARYSVILLE — In Cam Hiatt’s mind, the half was already over.

The Edmonds-Woodway senior secured a rebound with the clock ticking under five seconds. With no time to set up a shot, the 6-foot-4 guard sped forward before heaving the ball up at the half-court line, falling forward under a sea of Shorewood defenders, who obstructed his view of the basket.

“I just threw it up, and I was kind of ready to go to the locker room,” Hiatt said.

With his eyes staring straight down at the hardwood, he suddenly heard the crowd at Marysville Pilchuck High School erupt. His next thought: Holy crap, I made that?

Yes. But he didn’t just make it. He swished it, sending the Edmonds-Woodway boys into the locker room with a 30-20 halftime lead over Shorewood – and plenty of energy – in the District 1 3A Semifinals on Wednesday.

“Seems like whoever gets that last basket at the half runs off the court, and they get some excitement,” Edmonds-Woodway coach Tyler Geving said. “You kind of carry it into halftime, and I think (Shorewood) threw a pretty good punch at us in the first quarter, and then for us to hit that and be up 10, it was kind of like we got in (the locker room and said) ‘Okay, take a deep breath and play the way we’re capable of playing.’”

HT: E-W leads 30-20

The Warriors opened the 2nd with a 10-0 run, then continued to draw fouls under the basket.

E-W’s Cam Hiatt (18 points) swished a buzzer-beater, diving across half court to close out the 2nd Q & send the Warriors into the locker room hyped@HeraldNetPreps

— Joe Pohoryles (@Joe_Poho) February 20, 2025

That hype propelled the top-seeded Warriors (23-1) into the second half, and they walked away with a 67-37 win against the No. 4 seed Stormrays (15-9). Hiatt dropped 36 points, nearly outscoring Shorewood all by himself. The Dartmouth College commit’s half-court heave was certainly a highlight, but the bigger one for the Warriors was securing a state tournament berth for the first time since 2016, and just the second time since 2008.

“It’s just a matter of living in the moment, enjoying this kind of stuff,” Hiatt said. “(These are) things that you don’t always get, and it’s really special to be a part of a team that gets to go and do this, and represent a really great community that I don’t think has been able to be a part of something like this in a really long time.”

For a game that ended in a blowout, it took some time for Edmonds-Woodway to get there. The Warriors failed to score for the first five minutes of the game, and Shorewood took a 10-6 lead into the second quarter.

Both teams entered the bonus in the first quarter, but as the game drew on, it was the Stormrays that kept sending their opponent to the line. Once Hiatt and sophomore Grant Williams found their shots, it allowed the Warriors to attack the basket more.

“We started with good defense, but we just couldn’t really get our shot to fall,” said Williams, who scored 13 points. “But as the game started flowing more and more, we executed on offense.”

Edmonds-Woodway opened the second quarter on a 10-0 run to pull ahead. After Hiatt’s halftime buzzer-beater increased the lead to double-digits, Williams hit a couple of big 3-pointers at 3:15 and 5:00 of the third quarter, increasing the lead to 15 then 20, respectively.

Final: E-W wins 67-37

After a slow start, the Warriors cruise into the final, where they’ll face No. 3 Monroe on Saturday.

Cam Hiatt sat half the 4th and finished with 36 points, while Grant Williams added 13.

Thomas Moles led Stormrays with 14.@HeraldNetPreps

— Joe Pohoryles (@Joe_Poho) February 20, 2025

“Grant’s a huge guy for us,” Hiatt said. “When he’s knocking down his shots — one of the best shooters in Wesco, if not the best, in my opinion — you’re finding him, he’s knocking it down. It’s tough for the other team, and we know we got it going, so it’s exciting.”

The Warriors continued to capitalize on the Stormrays’ foul trouble, and after holding them to six points in the third, never took their foot off the gas until Hiatt and the rest of the starters exited the game with around four minutes left.

Shorewood still has a chance to qualify for the state tournament, as it faces No. 6 Sedro-Woolley in a win-or-go-home consolation game on Saturday.

Edmonds-Woodway will face No. 3 seed Monroe in the District 1 3A Championship at Marysville Pilchuck on Saturday. The Warriors won the previous meeting 57-40 in the Wesco Crossover Games on Feb. 10. Geving hopes his side, with a state berth already in hand, will start the game a little looser than they did Wednesday. And with Hiatt in the driver’s seat, it makes things a whole lot simpler.

“I’m a really smart coach: When he’s got 36 points, just give that dude the ball, and let him go,” Geving said, drawing a laugh from surrounding coaches and parents. “We run a lot of stuff for him, but he’s also our leading assist guy, too. He’s a willing passer, but he had it going tonight, and yeah, he was fun to watch.”

If you asked people in the crowd at Marysville Pilchuck at the halftime break, they would probably agree.