Edmonds-Woodway takes seventh at state

TACOMA

Edmonds-Woodway was all smiles after completing a four-day run at the Class 4A state boys basketball tournament.

The Warriors brought home a seventh-place trophy, the first piece of state hardware ever for an Edmonds-Woodway boys basketball team.

Lincoln defeated Edmonds-Woodway 62-55 in the fourth/seventh place game March 1 at the Tacoma Dome.

“We had a great season and a great state tournament, going 2-2,” senior guard James Conti said. “Our goal this season was to play on Saturday, but I wish we would have got a win. … You don’t want to end your last game of your high school career with a loss. But we have to be happy with the season we had this year.”

Edmonds-Woodway, which was making its second straight state tournament appearance, opened with a 58-40 victory over Kentridge in a first-round game on Feb. 27 before losing to eventual state champion Ferris 59-47 in the quarterfinals on Feb. 28. The Warriors then rebounded to beat Foss 59-44 in a consolation game on Feb. 29.

Edmonds-Woodway coach Gail Pintler described the 4A field as possibly the most talented group of teams he’s ever seen at a state tournament. He noted that teams, such as Garfield and Kentridge, did not make it to the fourth day of the tournament.

“To walk away with hardware with this group, you’ve just got to feel good,” Pintler said.

Many of the seniors started on varsity as sophomores and were looking forward to their junior and senior seasons.

“We’ve been anticipating this run to state the past two years for a while,” said senior guard Max Ortiz. “We’re pretty happy and pretty proud to be here. At the end, it felt good to go out seventh in state. There’s nothing to hang your head about.”

Ferris certainly can attest to that fact as its 12-point margin of victory was the closest of the four games the two-time defending champion played during the week.

Not many people gave Edmonds-Woodway (21-6) much of a chance of doing anything at state, especially after drawing fourth-ranked Kentridge in the first round. The Chargers defeated the Warriors 63-42 in a first-round game at the 2007 state tournament.

“No one expected us to do well,” said senior forward Connor Donaldson. “We came in and we proved everyone wrong and represented Wesco good.”

Unfortunately, Donaldson ended his season on the bench with a knee injury. The loss of Edmonds-Woodway’s leading scorer in the second quarter definitely hampered the Warriors against Lincoln. The score was tied at 21 when Donaldson collapsed to the floor with an apparent dislocation of his right knee cap. The Abes took a 30-26 lead into halftime and then came out and used a 12-0 run to extend the lead to 46-34 as the teams entered the fourth quarter.

Edmonds-Woodway cut the deficit to seven points four times in the final two minutes, but could get no closer.

“We try and run a lot of things through Connor because he’s our big man,” Conti said. “He’s one of our best outside shooters, so it kind of takes that threat away from the outside. That was a big loss there.”

Donaldson’s absence also meant Pintler didn’t really call any offensive plays in the second half. Instead, the Warriors ran what he called continuity.

“We were helter skelter – drive and kick, drive and kick,” Pintler said. “I think we ran one offensive play in the second half because most of the time we ran through Connor.”

Donaldson missed six of Edmonds-Woodway’s final seven regular season games due to a dislocation of the left knee cap, so the Warriors were used to playing without him, Ortiz said.

“We’re used to it, but it was tough not having him out there,” Ortiz said. “We look for him a lot in the offense.”

In the end, Lincoln seemed to have a little bit more than Edmonds-Woodway, Ortiz added. “They were making their shots and we just couldn’t get the job done. We played hard, though.”

Senior guard Sean Laue scored 14 points and Conti added 12. Ortiz had nine points. Lincoln was led by Turrell Smith, who scored 15 points. Royal Tee Lexing and Rayshon Cranshaw had 12 and 10 points, respectively.

Edmonds-Woodway graduates a senior class that includes four starters ­– Conti, Ortiz, Donaldson and Laue – and key reserves Kyle McCartney and Antoinne Wafer, who helped lead the football team to the semifinals.

“Isn’t that an awesome senior group?” Pintler said. “They are absolutely great young men – very intelligent, very good scholars and they can play. It was an awesome run for football and basketball, you couldn’t be better. These kids have played together and done really, really positive things for the school and obviously for the basketball program.”

NOTES

PINTLER DELIBERATING: Edmonds-Woodway coach Gail Pintler, who wrapped up his second year with the Warriors, will decide in the next month whether he wants to come back for a third season. “I was going to be the interim coach for one year and the parents asked, so I did it for two,” Pintler said. “I could do it for three. I don’t know yet. We’ll see. But I’m ready to be a snowbird and go down to spring training and all those kind of things. It’ll be decided in a month or so, unless they decide for me.”

If the graduating seniors have any say in the matter, they would push for another year.

“It’s been really great,” senior guard Max Ortiz said of Pintler’s two years as coach. “He has a lot of experience and a lot of information to pass on. … I’ve learned a lot personally and I know the rest of the guys have.”

Said senior forward Connor Donaldson, “We have a great relationship both on and off the court. He’s been a blessing.”

CONFIDENCE BOOST: Edmonds-Woodway’s 59-47 loss to two-time defending state champion Ferris did little to shake the Warriors’ confidence. In fact, it may have give Edmonds-Woodway a boost as it headed into a consolation game against Foss. “You’ve got to feel bad about the loss, but something good came out of it,” Conti said. “We can play with any team in the state after that game.”

THE BEST EVER?: Based on what he saw in Ferris’ quarterfinal victory over Edmonds-Woodway, Warrior coach Gail Pintler declared the Saxons the best high school team he’s coached against. “They’ve got everything,” Pintler said. “They have height, speed, quickness, intensity. They play the game hard.”

Ferris’ 68-44 victory over Federal Way in the title game was the Saxons’ 58th straight spanning two seasons.

EX-WARRIOR EARNS HONOR: Huston Conti, James Conti’s older brother and a 2005 graduate of Edmonds-Woodway High School, earned second-team, Southern California Athletic Conference honors. Conti, who plays for the Occidental Tigers of Pasadena, Calif., averaged 11.5 points per game, shot 45.4 percent from the field.