SHORELINE — Rarely do two teams on respective hot streaks meet so early in the conference season, but that’s exactly what happened when undefeated Edmonds-Woodway boys basketball took on a Wesco South 3A foe in undefeated Shorecrest Tuesday night. The Warriors would win 53-45 to improve to 12-0 (4-0 conference) over the Scots, who fell to 11-1 (4-1).
Edmonds-Woodway, whose identity this season has been based on strong rebounding and sound defense, outrebounded the Scots 30-21. Although the usual glass cleaners in senior Cam Hiatt (17 points) and junior William Alseth (17 points) both secured six boards, the Warriors had five players snatch four or more rebounds on the night. Junior DJ Karl had an all-around night, recording six points, six rebounds and five assists in the win.
“We just really got after the ball and we just hustled after it. I think we wanted it more,” said Alseth.
Edmonds-Woodway head coach Tyler Geving prioritized limiting Shorecrest’s tendency to capitalize on their hustle plays in the meantime.
“You’ve gotta get back in transition on them — that was key number one,” said Geving. “The times we (lost Shorecrest players in transition), it was off bad shots or a turnover. And then those bad possessions turned into baskets the other way for them.”
Crucial conference meetings between top teams typically mean early nerves. Cam Hiatt struggled in the first half and Geving made the decision to take the Dartmouth commit out of the game for the final four minutes of the second quarter to “tell him to relax.”
That decision appeared to work like a charm for Hiatt, who returned to score 11 points in the second half, record a couple of key blocks and secure rebounds to help the Warriors ice the game.
“It’s just a matter of resetting sometimes,” said Hiatt. “Sometimes you come out and it’s not working for you and you’re playing a really great team, and they’re trying to take you away… sometimes you’ve just gotta pause and trust your teammates, and that was the biggest thing that I changed personally.”
The slow Warriors start allowed Shorecrest to jump out to a 7-2 advantage and the Scots led for the entire first half — until Alseth scored a buzzer-beating layup off an inbounds pass to give the Warriors a 29-28 lead going into halftime.
That shot took the momentum out of what had been a decent half for the Scots, who had seen junior Brayden Fischer (16 points), junior Alexander Lo (eight points) and senior Devan Jones (13 points, seven rebounds) combine for 26 points over the first two quarters. Shorecrest would go scoreless for the first three-and-a-half minutes of the third quarter as the lead ballooned to 10.
After forcing some Edmonds-Woodway turnovers and relying on some tough shotmaking from Fischer, the Scots clawed their way back to cut the lead to five with less than two minutes remaining. Two consecutive shooting fouls from the Warriors prompted a nightmare scenario for them — Shorecrest would have five free throws to erase the lead with minimal time off the clock.
But in a moment symptomatic of the night, the Scots had trouble finding the bottom of the net and missed all five — punctuating an 11-for-19 night from the charity stripe. From there, clutch defense and rebounding from the Warriors put an end to a tough night for Shorecrest head coach Eddie George’s squad.
“We missed a lot of free throws today… that’s the game right there,” said George. “We’ll see them again, definitely, but I’m proud of the guys for what they did. Regardless if you win or lose, you can learn from it.”
Star scorer Junior Kagarabi had a tough night, finishing with two points while fighting an illness according to George. Pair that with an ankle injury Jones had been dealing with and the Scots were limited in running the fastbreak to get easy looks close to the rim.
“You’ve got to change up based on your personnel, so once we’ll get back once we get healthy,” said George. “Everybody knows that’s our game, getting up and down (the court).”
Though one team had to add a maiden loss to their record, both squads gained valuable experience. It was the closest win of the season for the Warriors, who had to navigate stretches where they couldn’t seem to score consistently. The Scots ran into a team that also bases its foundation on being physically imposing, forcing them to find new ways to gain an advantage.
These two titans of the Wesco South will meet next on Jan. 28 at Edmonds-Woodway High School, now with new experiences to inform their respective game plans.
For now, the Scots will gear up for their first road game since Dec. 21 when they take on Archbishop Murphy on Friday night. Edmonds-Woodway will look to stay undefeated as they get set to host a solid Meadowdale team, also on Friday night.
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