MILL CREEK – This season the Mountlake Terrace High School boys basketball team has had Edmonds-Woodway’s number. Evenly matched whenever they’ve played, for whatever reason it’s been the Hawks who have ended up on the winning end.
Mountlake Terrace called upon those higher powers again Saturday, and those powers helped carry the Hawks into the state tournament.
Mountlake Terrace survived yet another scare from Edmonds-Woodway, and the Hawks earned a berth to the state tournament by defeating Warriors 53-52 in the Class 4A Northwest District Tournament on Saturday at Jackson High School.
“The basketball gods have just smiled on us, I guess,” Mountlake Terrace coach Nalin Sood said. “It seems that we just make the key plays at the right times. There’s no reason why we win the close ones, it just worked out for us.”
Leigh Swanson scored 13 points to lead Mountlake Terrace (20-4), the No. 1 seed from the Western Conference South Division, which advanced to the state tournament beginning Wednesday at the Tacoma Dome. Edmonds-Woodway, the South No. 2, finished its season 17-8.
Saturday’s game was Mountlake Terrace’s third straight, hard-fought, narrow victory over Edmonds-Woodway this season – the Hawks beat the Warriors 48-44 and 48-45 during the regular season.
“I don’t know,” was Edmonds-Woodway coach Rob McMains explanation for the Hawks’ ability to pull out the close ones. “Terrace believes they’re going to win and they make plays when they have to.
“Our kids played hard and fought back. Terrace is just a great team and they play great defense.”
That defense, led by point guard Luke Hammond, was the primary reason Mountlake Terrace came out on top. The Hawks smothered Edmonds-Woodway with their man-to-man, limiting the Warriors to just 14 points in the first half. And with Warrior star post Jason Hopkins forced to the bench early with foul trouble, Mountlake Terrace was able to take control of the game.
“Basically that’s been our strength all year,” Sood said about the team’s defense. “We gave up 61 and 64 points the last two nights and tonight we felt we had to hold them under 50. That was all we wanted to do. The key was getting back to playing fundamental defense.”
However, the Hawks had to sweat it out late. Mountlake Terrace led 38-26 late in the third quarter, and with the way the Hawks defense was playing, the lead appeared safe.
But the Warriors refused to quit. With reserve guard Eric Moss, who finished with 11 points, leading the charge, the Warriors cut into the lead in the fourth quarter. Moss scored on a pass from Hopkins and Hopkins scored off the bounce to cut the lead to 45-44 with 1:34 remaining.
However, the Hawks forced turnovers on each of Edmonds-Woodway’s next two possessions and Adrian Blake and Christiaan Hammond each sank two free throws to stretch the lead back to five.
Christiaan Hammond made two more free throws with seven seconds to go to make it 53-49, rendering Mackenzie Thoms’ 3-pointer with two seconds remaining meaningless.
“I just told the guys to savor this moment,” Sood said. “You never know when you’re going to get another opportunity like this. And my hat’s off to Edmonds-Woodway. We were picked to do well and they weren’t, so for them to get to this point is quite an accomplishment.”
Luke Hammond and Justynn Hammond each added nine points for the Hawks.
Thoms finished with 13 points for Edmonds-Woodway.
Edmonds-Woodway-Thoms 13, Conti 2, Griffin 8, Moss 11, Donaldson 4, Hopkins 7, Lester 7. Mountlake Terrace-C. Hammond 7, L. Hammond 9, Blake 7, Swanson 13, Boxley 8, J. Hammond 9. 3-point goals-Thoms 2, Griffin 2, Lester, C. Hammond, L. Hammond. Records-Edmonds-Woodway 17-8 overall, Mountlake Terrace 20-4. |
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