EVERETT — The Marysville Getchell boys basketball team made a major push in the fourth quarter of Friday’s winner-to-state matchup against Mount Vernon.
Ultimately, the Chargers came up short after delivering a 19-2 run in the final frame, dropping the contest 69-68 at Everett Community College, setting up a loser-out bout against Everett at 4 p.m. Saturday at the same location.
Sophomore standout guard Arion ‘Bubba’ Palacol had 24 points and four rebounds while backcourt-mate Shawn Etheridge, a junior, added 19 points and eight boards.
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Despite hefty contributions from both, along with sophomore Zachary Rice (17 points, four 3-pointers), Getchell (16-8), couldn’t slow down junior guard Quinn Swanson, who had a monster outing, compiling 30 points, six boards, two steals and two blocks.
“Mount Vernon is a really good squad,” Chargers coach Corby Schuh said. “A well-coached team, and they got some seniors who can play. And obviously Swanson, he can play inside and out and we had a tough time keeping in front of him. He got to the line 10 or 11 times on us. (But), really proud of our guys for keeping the fight going.”
In the first half, it was mostly Mount Vernon’s game to lose. The Bulldogs jumped ahead 29-13 before relinquishing an 11-2 run to Getchell going into the locker room.
Trailing 56-42 at the end of the third quarter, and 60-42 early in the fourth, Getchell mounted a comeback.
Rice and Palacol hung up 11 points each in the final frame, no bucket bigger than Palacol’s 3-pointer to pull within three points with less than a minute to go.
An Etheridge layin would draw the Chargers as close as 66-65. But, later on, an offensive rebound from Swanson drew him back to the charity stripe with 7.6 second left, he nailed both after missing two freebies on the previous possession to put the Bulldogs (18-6) ahead by four.
“One our biggest issues against high-level teams has been defensive rebounding,” Schuh said. “That kinda cost us throughout different quarters of the game.”
Rice was able to knock down a quick triple to pull Getchell back within one point, but the clock ticked all the way down to zero as Mount Vernon escaped with the win, earning a state regional berth in the process.
The Chargers will have one more chance to right the ship against Everett (14-10) in a win-or-go-home situation. The Seagulls fell to Shorecrest 58-50 in the second part of a doubleheader.
“We are happy with the way we finished,” Schuh added. “We could have just folded and waited until tomorrow, but our guys made a heckuva comeback. .. All we can do is flush this game and move to the next one. Obviously, our backs are against the wall. … We’ve been there a few times this season and our kids have responded well. So, we’ll have the same mentality of coming out and fighting all 32 minutes.”
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