Edmonds men looking to built on early success

The Edmonds Community College men’s basketball team is looking to build on its success at the Big Bend Crossover Tournament.

The Tritons lost their opening game to defending Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges (NWAACC) champion Clackamas but then rebounded to win their next two games against Wenatchee Valley and Southwestern Oregon to take fourth place.

Edmonds coach Fred Brown, Jr. was pleased with the way his team responded after the opening loss, especially since the Tritons were missing two players.

Edmonds appeared lethargic in its opening game, said sophomore guard Jordan McGinnis, a Meadowdale graduate.

“We came out slow and just weren’t in sync with each other,” he said.

Following the loss, the Tritons focused more on attacking the hoop and not shooting as many jumpers, McGinnis said.

Brown expects to have a full roster of 12 players when Edmonds starts league play in January. But it will be a relatively inexperienced roster.

Edmonds brings back four players from last season but only one of them, sophomore Julian Williams (Meadowdale), actually played. McGinnis, Justin Burns (Mount Vernon) and Hassan Finch (Franklin) all are red-shirt sophomores. The rest of the roster includes nine freshmen.

“We have a lot of potential,” said Brown, who wasn’t too concerned about his team’s 3-5 record in preseason action. “We scheduled some hard non-league games in preparation for league play.”

At the North Idaho tournament in late November, Edmonds went up against some of the top national junior college teams and took a beating.

The losses provided ample motivation for the Tritons, who then defeated Tacoma 90-69 in their first game after the Idaho tournament.

“It kind of instilled a toughness in us that we needed to focus on,” McGinnis said.

With so many new players, Brown and his staff are having to spend a lot of time on teaching with an eye toward next season.

“We do a lot of player development,” Brown said. “They’ll be very good next year. We still have the opportunity to compete this year and get something done.”

The Edmonds roster includes several other familiar faces including Mountlake Terrace graduate Adrian Blake, King’s graduates Biniam Tadele and Leslie Wright III and Bothell graduates Seth Johnson and Tony McAfee.

Blake returned home after playing for Butte College in Northern California.

“I wanted to come back (home). I missed my friends,” Blake said.

Different players stepped up in all three games at the Big Bend tournament.

Blake had a team-high 18 points in Edmonds’ 85-73 loss to Clackmas. Rainier Beach graduate Walter Washington then tallied a game-high 16 points as the Tritons knocked off Wenatchee Valley 74-55. Mount Vernon graduate Jeremy Juarez added 14 points and North Kitsap graduate Eric Schippers had 11 points.

Johnson scored 23 points to lead Edmonds to a 92-79 victory over Southwestern Oregon.

“We’ve got a lot of speed and size,” Brown said. “We also have a lot of depth. One thing we lack is the consistency. … We just need more game experience for our guys.”

Burns is one player who’s stood out. The 6-foot-3 forward earned all-tournament team honors.

Edmonds’ balanced offense is going to be an asset this season, McGinnis said.

“We’ve got a lot of guys who can score,” Blake added. “We’re all unselfish. We all try to feed each other.”

Edmonds has some good height with McAfee (7 feet), Lake Stevens’ Sean Tennant (6-9), Schippers (6-9) and Tadele (6-8). Brown likes the Tritons’ half-court game, but for the most part Edmonds plays an uptempo game and tries to get out on the fastbreak.

When the big men are on the court, Edmonds doesn’t lose too much speed.

“We love to run,” McGinnis said. “Our big guys can run too and they hit the jumpers. We love that.”

Edmonds has two more non-league games against South Puget Sound and Yakima on Dec. 28 and 29 and then starts league play on the road at Olympic on Jan. 2.

“Our main goal is becoming more consistent,” Brown said. “We’re going to be just fine.”