E-W boys struggle from the line, fall to O’Dea 73-61

MOUNTLAKE TERRACE — The Edmonds-Woodway boys basketball team faced an unusual problem in its 3A regional game Saturday night.

And that problem came from the free-throw line.

In a game that featured 55 fouls, Edmonds-Woodway shot 17 of 37 from the free-throw line as the Warriors fell behind against O’Dea in a 73-61 loss at Mountlake Terrace High School that ended Edmonds-Woodway’s season.

“We couldn’t hit free throws,” said Edmonds-Woodway head coach Robert Brown. “With 20 missed free throws we had opportunities. We just didn’t make free throws. … And that’s rare. I have never seen us do that.”

Edmonds-Woodway and O’Dea, out of the 3A Metro league, battled to a close 32-29 score at halftime, with the Fighting Irish holding a slight advantage.

But in the third quarter the fouls started to pile up. Both teams were in the double-bonus at the free-throw line by the end of the quarter with the Warriors committing 13 fouls and O’Dea being whistled for 10.

The Fighting Irish (20-7) fared better at the free-throw line, making 22 of 34 attempts as O’Dea began to pull away late.

“We never could get at a consistent pace because of the foul calls and stoppages,” Brown said. “We never could get a consistent flow going. I don’t think the guys ever got into a rhythm. And credit to them. They made shots. They made free throws when they needed to make shots and they made shots in transition. My hats off to them. They played a hell of a game.”

Going up against his old teammates, Edmonds-Woodway senior David Woodard finished with 14 points. Woodard, who transferred to the Warriors from O’Dea before the season, was a focal point for the Fighting Irish defense.

“We spent a lot of time studying his game and we making sure that we had the right matchups and that we were bringing the right support to even try to slow them down,” said first-year O’Dea coach Jason Kerr. “But even then he and Trey (Holland) both constantly got to the rim and got to the free-throw line.”

Michael Carter III led all scorers with 31 points for O’Dea, which upset No. 2 Rainier Beach in its district tournament before losing in the semis and to Cleveland in the third/fourth-place game.

The game got off to a rough start for Edmonds-Woodway (21-3), which lost senior guard Jordan Rice one minute and 24 seconds into the game. Rice went to the floor hard grabbing his knee and appeared to be in quite a bit of pain.

Rice, who averaged 11 points per game this season, did not return in the contest.

“Jordan, unfortunately, tweaked his knee in the last game and tweaked it this game,” Brown said. “He didn’t get to finish the game – didn’t get to play (very much). My heart is broken for him.”

Junior Trey Holland led the Warriors with 21 points. Noah Becker scored eight points and senior Brady Edwards added six in his final basketball game at Edmonds-Woodway.

“It’s a sad day because I’ve known some of these guys since they were eighth graders,” Brown said. “Brady, David, who is fantastic. I just wish they could have got that experience. But I thank them for taking the program a step in this direction.”

The loss ends the season for Edmonds-Woodway, while O’Dea advances to the 3A state tournament at the Tacoma Dome next weekend.

“They’re a great team,” Kerr said of Edmonds-Woodway. “They play together, they know what their plan is and they go out and execute it every single time. (Brown) has got them doing what they need to do to be successful. I think tonight we just got lucky enough and maybe shot the ball a little bit better. Nine out of 10 times I don’t know what would happen, but tonight I’ll take the result.”

At Mountlake Terrace H.S.

O’Dea 10 22 19 22 —73

Ed.-Woodway 16 13 14 18 —61

O’Dea—Quin Barnard 13, Ryan McAloon 6, Michael Carter 31, Xavier Smith 8, Tommy McAloon 0, Ben Johnson 2, Noah Williams 5, Race Porter 0, Cal Hansen 8, Peter Jones 0, Cole Burcham 0. Edmonds-Woodway—David Woodard 14, Uchenna Acholonu 0, Grygoriy Lozynskyy 0, Trey Holland 21, Brady Edwards 6, Kam Eck 2, Noah Becker 8, Eddie Seare 2, Ali Gaye 3, Jordan Rice 0, Ryan Peterson 3, Joe Cooper 0. Records—O’Dea 20-7. Edmonds-Woodway 21-3.