TACOMA — The Warriors fought, they scrapped, and they played their trademark swarming defense all night, but in the end, a noble effort simply wasn’t enough against the juggernaut from east of the mountains.
While Edmonds-Woodway played well enough to avoid the blowout that most expected, top-ranked Ferris of Spokane proved to be too big, too polished and too talented, and the end result was a 59-47 Saxons victory over the Warriors in Thursday’s quarterfinals.
When the game was over, and the defending Class 4A state champs had improved their record to 27-0, Saxon fans started their familiar chant of “Undefeated!”
“There’s a reason why their fans at the end can yell ‘Undefeated,’ because they have everything,” Edmonds-Woodway coach Gail Pintler said. “They’re big, they’re quick, they shoot the ball with more than one guy.”
Indeed Ferris, which owns a Class 4A record 56-game winning streak, has multiple weapons. Pintler decided before the game that his team would focus more on four of Ferris’ starters, and make the team’s lowest-scoring starter, Erick Cheadle, beat the Warriors.
Cheadle responded by making four of five three-point attempts in the first half as the Saxons built a 34-25 lead.
“We had kind of said, ‘We’re going to step off (Cheadle) and make him beat us,’” Pintler said. “What’d he have, four threes in the first half? Beat us. What can you say? They did what they needed to do, and we didn’t shoot the ball well. Actually, they didn’t give us a chance to shoot the ball well.”
A lot of that Ferris defense came from 6-foot-8 forward DeAngelo Casto, who made scoring around the basket nearly impossible for the Warriors. Casto, who has a 7-2 wingspan, blocked seven shots and altered countless more, making his presence felt despite an off night offensively (nine points, 3-for-11 from the field).
“We tried to take it to the rack as much as possible,” said senior guard James Conti, who had nine points and three steals before fouling out in the fourth quarter. “But it’s hard with Casto underneath the basket.”
Forced to shoot mostly from the outside, the Warriors were able to keep the game relatively close — the Saxons never led by more than 15 — but couldn’t hit enough shots to come back. Edmonds-Woodway shot 31 percent for the game, including a 7-for-20 effort on threes, while Ferris shot 47.1 percent.
Despite leading most of the game, Ferris never looked comfortable against Edmonds-Woodway’s defense. Just like in Wednesday’s first-round upset over Kentridge, an Edmonds-Woodway foe struggled to find a rhythm on offense.
The Saxons jumped out to an early 10-4 lead and led by as many as nine in the first quarter, but Edmonds-Woodway kept finding ways to hang around all night.
“I was impressed with them,” Ferris coach Don Van Lierop said. “I was impressed (Wednesday) and I am today. I give Edmonds-Woodway a lot of credit. Those guys, they’re rugged … They’re going to do their thing and try to frustrate you a little bit. They’re quick with their hands. I think it took us a while to adjust to that.”
Told Ferris didn’t play a very aesthetically pleasing game, Pintler responded, “They better not have, because one of the things we want to do is take a team out of their comfort zone. That’s the mantra that we play with. We play defense with pride. Pressure, rebounding, intensity, discipline and effort.”
The Warriors (20-5) return to action today at 3:30 p.m. against Foss. The Saxons play Bellarmine Prep in tonight’s 8:30 p.m. semifinal.
And even though they missed out on a second upset win in as many days, the Warriors seem to be heading into today’s game without regret after Thursday’s loss.
“We came in with nothing to lose,” Conti said. “We weren’t even supposed to win the first game, so we just came in and just played our hearts out. That’s what we do. I’m happy with the way we played. You can’t walk out with your head down when everyone played as hard as they could.”
At the Tacoma Dome
E-W101913—47
Ferris17171312—59
Edmonds-Woodway — Ortiz 6, Wilson 1, McCartney, Conti 9, Wafer 5, Reilly, Enquist 2, Laue 10, Heard, Donaldson 14, Polovina, Willcock. Ferris — Ewing, Minnerly 6, Cheadle 17, Hart, Stockton 9, Karstetter 18, Maher, Casto 9, Tonani, Bates, Stewart, Brett. 3-pointers — Ortiz 1, Conti 1, Wafer 1, Laue 2, Donaldson 2, Cheadle 4, Karstetter 1.
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