KENMORE – Sometimes losing isn’t so bad when it proves something about your team.
The Meadowdale Mavericks showed they can hang with the big boys Wednesday night, dropping a tight nonconference game against the Inglemoor Vikings 71-62 at Inglemoor High School.
“I like the scheduling. Year in and year out Inglemoor is one of the top teams, so it was a good test for us,” Meadowdale head coach Chad McGuire said.
Inglemoor (5-3 overall), a 4A school that plays in the KingCo Lake Division, has placed in the top 10 in the 4A state tournament the past two years, finishing eighth in 2006 and fifth in 2005.
“It was a great non-conference game. I thought our guys did a great job of challenging them,” McGuire said of his Meadowdale team, a 3A school that is looking to return to the state tournament after placing sixth at the 2003 and 2004 3A state tournaments.
Milan Moncrief tied a season-high with 22 points and Nero Threet III added 11 for the Mavericks.
The Vikings were led by guard Steven Stone’s season-high of 26 points and junior Mark McLaughlin’s 25. Both players came into the game averaging 20-plus points and both increased their scoring averages Wednesday night. Stone averages 21.1 points per game and teammate McLaughlin is faring a little better at 22.5 per contest.
Stone scored 21 of his 26 in the second half and knocked down seven of eight free throw attempts in the pivotal fourth quarter.
“Stone and McLaughlin are two very good players and they hit their free throws down the stretch,” McGuire said.
Early on it looked as though the Vikings had the Mavericks number jumping out to an early 10-2 lead. But the Mavericks showed their resilience, cutting the first-quarter lead to four points at 18-14.
McLaughlin scored 10 in the first quarter, but Meadowdale’s Moncrief was able to counter with nine of his own in the opening period.
Meadowdale would tie it in the second quarter before taking its first lead of the night at 30-29.
The third quarter saw both teams battle back and forth – there were four lead changes and five ties in the quarter – before the Vikings grabbed the momentum midway through the quarter. Tied at 38, Stone fed McLaughlin with a no-look pass that McLaughlin slammed home, and on the next possession McLaughlin answered his dunk with a 3-pointer to extend the Vikings’ lead to five points, their biggest of the quarter.
Again Moncrief answered. The 6-foot-3 senior single-handedly kept the Mavericks in the game, scoring seven straight points and giving Meadowdale a 45-43 lead.
“He (Milan) loved the challenge. He keeps getting better and better and he showed that tonight,” McGuire said.
The end of the quarter though was owned by Stone.
Stone scored 12 points in the third, and ended the quarter by outscoring the Mavericks 7-2. His biggest basket came on a 3-pointer at the end of the quarter that gave the Vikings a 50-47 lead going into the final quarter.
“Stone hit the big basket at the end of the third that kind of gave them a little momentum going into the fourth. After that they got out to a big six point lead which allowed them to control the tempo,” McGuire said.
The Vikings eventually opened up a seven point lead in the final quarter, and the Mavericks were never able to climb back into the game.
“It was back and forth and it was just a matter of who was going to get that first lead in the fourth quarter and unfortunately it was them,” McGuire said.
At Inglemoor High School
Meadowdale14161715-62
Inglemoor18131921-71
Meadowdale-Moncrief 22, Threet 11, Dooley 8, Law 5, Werner 5, Clampitt 4, Njoku 4, O’Neill 2, Johnson 1. Inglemoor-Stone 26, McLaughlin 25, Campbell 7, Conroy 5, Bush 4, Pekasky 2, Peterson 2. 3-point goals-Moncrief 2, Dooley 1, Law 1, Werner 1, McLaughlin 3, Stone 2, Conroy 1. Records-Meadowdale 4-3 overall. Inglemoor 5-3.
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