Edmonds-Woodway claims league crown

EDMONDS

Experience lifted Edmonds-Woodway past Jackson and helped the Warriors claim their first league title since 1998.

Seniors Connor Donaldson, James Conti and Max Ortiz ignited a 9-3 run to start the fourth quarter that helped lift Edmonds-Woodway to a 63-59 victory over the Timberwolves in a Western Conference South Division boys basketball game Feb. 7 at Edmonds-Woodway High School.

Conti’s steal and subsequent lay-up in the final seconds of the game capped an emotionally-charged victory for the Warriors, who were a similar position in 2007 but lost the game and league title to the Wolfpack.

“It was the same situation last year. They came to our house in the last game of the season and beat us,” Conti said. “We didn’t want to give the championship to Meadowdale, our rival. We really wanted this game.”

The victory didn’t come easy to Edmonds-Woodway, which trailed by nine points midway through the third quarter.

A basket by Conti cut the lead to 44-37 with 3:51 left in the period. Both teams then went cold for about the next two and a half minutes before junior center Kenan Polovina scored the first of three consecutive putback baskets that enabled the Warriors to close to 44-43 as the teams headed for the fourth quarter.

Donaldson, who scored a team-high 18 points in his first game back from a leg injury that sidelined on Jan. 12, put Edmonds-Woodway ahead 45-44 with a basket to start the fourth quarter. Conti followed with a basket and a free throw and Ortiz made one of two free throws to give the Warriors a 49-44 lead with 5:11 left in the game.

After Jackson cut the lead to 49-47, Ortiz extended Edmonds-Woodway’s lead to 52-47 with a basket and free throw.

The Timberwolves cut the advantage to 60-59 on a 3-pointer with 5.9 points seconds left in the game, but Conti made one of two free throws and then intercepted the in-bounds pass and raced for a lay-up to seal the victory.

“We showed our experience,” Conti said. “They had a lot of sophomores and freshmen, really good players. But the two-three years our guys have been on varsity showed down the stretch of the fourth quarter.”

Conti scored 14 points and Polovina added 12 points for Edmonds-Woodway (14-2 in the league, 17-3 overall), which already has clinched the No. 1 seed for the 4A District 1 playoffs. The Warriors were scheduled to host Lake Stevens on Feb. 13 in a first-round game, the results of which were not available for this edition of the Enterprise. Win or lose, Edmonds-Woodway will play on Feb. 16 (8 p.m. if the Warriors win, 2 p.m. if they lose) at Jackson High School.

Edmonds-Woodway head coach Gail Pintler admits he wouldn’t have predicted a league title for the Warriors based on who he had coming back and he graduated from last year’s state playoff team.

“I felt we’d have a better squad than we had last year because I felt we could score better,” he said. “I knew we’d play with the same intensity and we’d play tough defense. We didn’t have the athleticism of (an Eric) Greenwood and we didn’t have the power and muscle of Casey Hamlett.”

Jackson coach Steve Johnson pointed to one glaring statistic that made a significant different in the final score. Edmonds-Woodway outrebounded Jackson 36-16 overall and 15-2 on the offensive end.

“They play good defense,” Wolfpack coach Steve Johnson said of the Warriors. “They’re a good rebounding team. Obviously they’re physical. They go 8-9-10 deep. I think their main strength is their ability to defend. They’re hard to score against. They’re a physical team as evidenced by the rebounding tonight.”

Edmonds-Woodway led 58-51 with 48.6 seconds before Jackson staged a late rally thanks to some Warrior turnovers.

“We got a little sloppy,” Conti said. “They ran on us and got a couple of steals. We need to play solid and not turn the ball over and just finish.”

Pintler wanted to avoid getting into a halfcourt game with Jackson, so he encouraged his players to run the court.

“Jackson is going to be beat you in a halfcourt game,” he said. “They simply shoot the ball too well and they have good sets that they run and they’re getting people free all the time. I wanted it up and down.”

Kingma led Jackson with 18 points. Teammate Josh Gootee added 11.

Edmonds-Woodway closed out the regular season with seven straight victories, six of which were without Donaldson, the team’s leading scorer.

Donaldson still has some work to do in terms of getting back into condition.

“He played great,” Conti said. “He’s a little out of shape because he’s only been playing for about three or four days. He looked good. The time he was in there he picked up a bunch of points. That’s what we needed out of him.”

Had the league title not been on the line, Pintler probably would have sat Donaldson. But the Warriors wanted the league crown, Pintler said.

Up next the Warriors will try to defend their district championship.

“Any time you go into playoff situations, the games are going to be heated and they’re going to be intense,” Pintler said. “We’re just going to have to play at the level that we are capable of and that we have been.”

NOTE

ALL IN THE FAMILY: Edmonds-Woodway girls basketball coach Wayne Edwards spent part of his evening on Feb. 7 at the Edmonds-Woodway/Jackson boys basketball game catching up with a former player. Kevin Todd, father of Jackson sophomore guard Ryan Todd, attended Shoreline High School and played basketball for Edwards. It wasn’t the first time the two’s paths have crossed. Edwards coached against Jackson and Todd’s daughter Ashley twice during the regular season.