MOUNTLAKE TERRACE — It was scrappy, hard-fought, and in the end, a victory, which according to their coach, was exactly what the Mountlake Terrace Hawks needed on Feb. 10.
Throughout what has been an impressive one-loss season, the Hawks have routinely rolled over opponents by 20- and 30-point margins, but now that it’s playoff time, Mountlake Terrace coach Nalin Sood knew that was going to change, and his team got one of its biggest tests of the season before pulling out a 51-45 victory over Shorecrest in the 3A District 1 boys basketball semifinals.
Prior to Friday night’s game, the Hawks (21-1) had played just two games this season decided by single-digit margins – an 8-point win over Glacier Peak in December, and last week’s 1-point loss to Shorewood. Sood and his players know a lot more tight games await them if they advance deep into the postseason, which is why the Hawks think this game can help them down the road.
Mountlake Terrace faces Glacier Peak on Feb. 17 in the winner-to-state 3A District 1 championship game, and just like this game, they know that will be a battle as well.
“It’s got to go in their recall that, ‘We went through this before, here’s what we need to do, we’ve got to play great defense, we’ve got to rebound, we’ve got to execute and let the chips fall where they may,’” Sood said. “I can’t simulate this in practice, I can’t simulate this on a whiteboard. The only way it can happen is in an environment like this and a game like this.”
Both teams struggled to score throughout the first half with Shorecrest making just one field goal in the first quarter and going 4 for 22 in the half. Mountlake Terrace was better, but not by much, going 8 for 27 on first-half field goal attempts to take a 21-18 halftime lead.
The Hawks used a 14-3 run in the second and third quarters to take a 10-point lead, but unlike most of their games this season, they weren’t able to simply run away with an easy victory. Instead, the Scots (15-7) clawed their way back into the game and used an 11-2 run to take a 36-35 lead early in the fourth quarter. Senior post Coby Russell gave the lead back to Mountlake Terrace with baskets on back-to-back possessions, and the Hawks never trailed again despite a tough effort from Shorecrest.
“We know that in the playoffs it’s not going to be easy for us,” said junior guard Blake Fernandez, who led Mountlake Terrace with 14 points. “We’re not going to be beating teams by 20 or 30 like we were earlier in the season; it’s going to be really close, so we’ve got to be able to overcome adversity to pull out a W.”
With Shorecrest trying to rally, the Hawks held on thanks to clutch free-throw shooting down the stretch. From the 2-minute, 34-second mark, Mountlake Terrace made nine of 10 free throws, including seven of eight in the final minute. Junior guard Jesse Zerom, who finished with 12 points, knocked down all six of his attempts in the final minute.
“The key thing, obviously, was going seven for eight towards the end of the game from the free-throw line,” Sood said. “We talked about, games like this, you’ve got to have poise, and if you go seven for eight, you’ve got poise.”
Senior forward Emmanuel Chibougwu Jr. led the Scots with 19 points, while Colin Oishi, Keith Shattuck and Dylan Pontrello each pitched in 7 points. The Scots were scheduled to play Feb. 14 at Shorewood in a loser-out game; to reach state Shorecrest would have to win three in a row starting with that game.
“We’ve got to go the hard route,” said Shorecrest coach Brian Fischer. “We’ve got to suck it up, it’s not going to be easy. We just have to keep playing, that’s all we can do.”
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