Edmonds-Woodway wins

EDMONDS – While his Edmonds-Woodway teammates mingled in the locker room at halftime of a District 4A first round boys basketball game Tuesday night, senior Josh Griffin ducked into a phone booth to put on his cape.

Or at least that’s the way it seemed after Griffin’s third quarter.

Led by their senior guard’s 12 points, the Warriors pulled away from a halftime tie with a 23-point third quarter en route to a 52-41 win over Lake Stevens to advance in the 4A tournament. Edmonds-Woodway (15-6) will face top seed Mount Vernon on Saturday at Jackson High School.

Griffin arrived at just the right time Tuesday. While the Vikings (14-7) concentrated on stopping Jason Hopkins, who finished with 13 points and 13 rebounds, Griffin took the initiative at the beginning of the second half to put Lake Stevens away.

“I looked at the first half and felt like I made a lot of mistakes,” said Griffin, who had two points at halftime. “I just tried to go out and make something happen.”

Griffin made all five of his field-goal attempts in the third quarter to help the Warriors outscore Lake Stevens 23-9 in the period. By the time the fourth quarter began, Edmonds-Woodway had a comfortable 44-30 lead.

“I’ve been playing with Josh since first grade, and when he has spurts like that, you can’t stop him,” said Hopkins, who added four blocked shots. “When he starts taking the ball to the basket, he’s so explosive that he’s unstoppable. He did it once earlier this season (in a January loss) against (Mountlake) Terrace, and it was the same thing tonight.”

Edmonds-Woodway took control of the game at the outset, led mainly by the inside play of Hopkins. The 6-foot-6 senior scored six points in the opening 3:17 as the Warriors jumped out to an 11-4 lead. That advantage got as big as eight points before Lake Stevens closed to within 15-9 through one period.

Lake Stevens senior Tyler Long hit a pair of jumpers and added an assist as the Vikings opened the second period with an 8-2 spurt to tie the score at 17. The two teams went into halftime tied 21-21.

Then Griffin took over. He hit a shot off the glass on the Warriors’ first possession to give them a lead they would never relinquish. Teammate Andrew Donaldson hit a 3-pointer, then scored a layup on a nifty pass from Griffin for a 28-21 lead.

Griffin scored back-to-back baskets within 30 seconds to give E-W its biggest lead at 32-23. He added a free throw, a 3-pointer from the wing, and then the 6-foot senior capped off his outburst by posting up a smaller teammate in the paint for another field goal. At that point, the Warriors’ lead swelled to 41-30.

“I played last night with some guys from Shorewood, and they were D-ing me up tough,” said Griffin, who finished with a team-high 14 points. “So tonight, it was a lot easier.”

Griffin sat out most of the fourth quarter, but if there was any doubt about the outcome, his teammates put it to bed with plenty of time to spare. Titus Lester made a steal and long pass to Hopkins, who brought the house down with a thunderous dunk midway through the fourth quarter. Hopkins also got fouled on the play and converted the free throw for a 49-32 lead.

“This is great. It was fantastic,” Edmonds-Woodway coach Rob McMains said. “Every win’s a great win, and we’re just happy to be in this position.”

Lake Stevens’ Long led all scorers with 15 points, while teammate Jacob Strong added 10 points and six rebounds.

“It was a really physical game, and (the Warriors) were the aggressors in that third quarter,” Lake Stevens coach Mark Hein said. “They beat us to the ball and beat us on the glass.”

Edmonds-Woodway must now face a tough task in Mount Vernon, which won the Western Conference title during the regular season.

“This was a good win, but our eyes are set on the prize,” Griffin said. “This was just one step along the way.”

At Edmonds-Woodway High School