Hawks knock off Warriors

MILL CREEK — Both Mountlake Terrace and Edmonds-Woodway were put through the wringer during the Northwest District 4A boys basketball tournament.

In the end, the Hawks snapped up one of the two berths to this week’s Class 4A state championships up for grabs, while E-W was left out to dry.

One day after Mount Vernon withstood their valiant fourth-quarter comeback in the district title game, the Hawks found themselves fending off a late charge by a stubborn E-W team that stunned Snohomish in overtime to reach the winner-to-state matchup.

But Terrace kept its composure and converted nine of 12 free throw attempts in the final 4:09 to hold off the Warriors 53-52 March 6 at Jackson High School and lock up a second straight trip to state.

“I told the guys to savor the moment because you never know when you’ll get another opportunity,” Hawks coach Nalin Sood said. “It’s a great feeling for these guys.”

It was Terrace’s third narrow victory over the Warriors in as many meetings this season. Eight points is all that separated the Edmonds District rivals in the three down-to-the-wire contests.

“When you get in neighborhood games, they’re always battles and you just hope you’re standing at the end,” Sood said. “We were barely standing at the end of this game tonight.”

E-W whittled its nine-point halftime deficit down to 45-44 with 1:36 remaining and appeared to have the Hawks on the ropes. But Adrian Blake and Christiaan Hammond each hit a pair of free throws to boost Terrace’s advantage back to five with a minute to play.

Mackenzie Thoms then drilled a 3-pointer with 32 seconds left and added two free throws with 9.5 seconds to go for the Warriors, trimming Terrace’s lead to 51-49.

With seven seconds remaining, Hammond was fouled again and the junior guard swished two more free throws to finish off E-W.

“We weathered the storm because of leadership, because of maturity and the guys just had good energy about them,” Sood said. “I don’t have a button I push for energy, but for some reason these guys can flip the switch at the right time.”

The Hawks attacked E-W’s 2-3 zone defense early on by feeding 6-foot-7 junior forward Leigh Swanson, who scored 10 of his team-high 13 points in the first half. Eight first-half turnovers and foul trouble also hurt the Warriors, who lost 6-6 forward Jason Hopkins to his second foul at the 6:40 mark of the second quarter.

Terrace closed out the half with a 7-0 spurt — including a 3-pointer from Hammond at the buzzer — to build a 23-14 edge at the break.

Justynn Hammond rattled off eight straight points for the Hawks in the third quarter and Luke Hammond followed up with a pair of free throws to give Terrace its largest lead at 38-26 with 1:32 left in the period.

Backup guard Eric Moss sparked an 18-4 E-W run with a baseline drive and a tip-in over a pair of defenders, but the Warriors never managed to overtake Terrace.

Luke and Justynn Hammond each finished with nine points, Mike Boxley added eight and Blake and Christian Hammond scored seven apiece for the Hawks, who improved to 20-4 overall.

Thomas led E-W with 13 points and Moss added 11. Point guard Josh Griffin finished with eight points and Hopkins and Titus Lester each scored seven.

After their rally came up short against Mount Vernon, Sood and his assistant coaches stayed up late watching film and generating a strategy for the rematch with the Warriors, who silenced many of their critics with a 17-8 showing this season.

“My hat’s off to Edmonds-Woodway. What a year they had,” Sood said. “We were sort of picked to do well and they weren’t. But they had a great season. … If we didn’t go (to state) it would be nice for Edmonds-Woodway to have gone. They’re a class program.”

The Hawks went two-and-out at last year’s 4A state tournament, falling to Prairie by seven in overtime and to Walla Walla by 20 in a loser-out contest.

“Last year we got down to the state tournament and it was a new experience for us,” Sood said. “This year we have some unfinished business down there. We want to go down there and represent the school real well.”

Joining the Hawks in the top half of the bracket are top-ranked Bethel and defending state champion Franklin.

“There’s no way to express going to state, except it’s a great feeling,” Boxley said. “That’s what you play for. All those practices, all those games. It’s all for this, right here. To make that trip down to the Tacoma Dome.”NOTES

HAWKS RALLY: Mountlake Terrace’s furious fourth-quarter comeback fell just short in the Northwest District 4A championship game March 5 against Mount Vernon.

The Hawks reeled off eight unanswered points — including six in a span of 20 seconds — to trim a 12-point deficit to 60-56 with 15.8 seconds to go. Luke Hammond then drilled a 3-pointer to cut Mount Vernon’s lead to 61-59 with 9.2 seconds left.

But the Bulldogs weathered the rally by sinking 14 of their 16 free throws in the fourth quarter to escape with a 63-61 win and their second straight state berth.

“I’m proud of what the kids did in the second half. They really gave it everything and made a heckuva game of it,” Terrace coach Nalin Sood said. “You can’t play a first half like we did and beat a team like Mount Vernon. It’s too bad we didn’t give them 32 minutes of good basketball.”

E-W CLOCKS OT: After missing a pair of free throws with 1.1 seconds left in regulation in Edmonds-Woodway’s loser-out matchup with Snohomish March 5, Titus Lester redeemed himself in overtime.

The senior guard supplied the game-winning 3-point play with 1:11 to go in the extra session. Lester drove through the lane, scooped up an underhand layin and sank the ensuing free throw to give the Warriors a 46-44 victory.

Snohomish led by as many as six early in the fourth quarter before Huston Conti answered with back-to-back 3-pointers midway through the period to give E-W a 38-34 edge. Following a 7-2 Snohomish spurt, Conti forced overtime by sinking a free throw with 25.2 seconds to play.