MILL CREEK — Coming off a disappointing loss to Snohomish in the Northwest District semifinals, the Jackson boys basketball team couldn’t afford a letdown against Shorewood March 1.
Meanwhile, the Thunderbirds, jazzed by an overtime win over higher-seeded Marysville-Pilchuck in a loser-out game, had another upset on their minds.
But Jackson’s super trio of guards, Drew Eisinger, Jamie Eisinger and Brian Rucker, along with forward Dan Wishko, were determined not to let that happen and kept the Timberwolves’ postseason alive.
“Right here we turned it around, we knew Shorewood’s a good team,” Drew Eisinger said.
Behind a strong second half effort, the Timberwolves ended Shorewood’s season with a 80-69 victory. It was Jackson’s third win over the T-birds this season.
Drew Eisinger, a senior, bounced back from a cold-shooting first half to score 16 of his team-high 21 points in the second half. Eisinger put the exclamation point on the victory with a thundering dunk for Jackson’s final points.
Rucker (18 points), Wishko (17 points) and Jamie Eisinger (16 points) combined for 24 second half points in supporting roles.
Jackson held a 21-18 advantage after the first quarter but Shorewood went on a 14-2 tear to take a 32-23 lead midway through the second quarter. Jackson battled back to tie it at 36 on a pair of Drew Eisinger free throws.
Jackson built a small lead in the third quarter but Shorewood inched back tying it at 50 on a 3-pointer by sophomore guard John Allen. Allen gave the T-birds the lead 53-52 on another 3-pointer but Drew Eisinger answered with a trey of his own to put Jackson up 55-53.
In the fourth quarter the Timberwolves began to pull away. Jamie Eisinger buried a 3-pointer to give Jackson a 64-56 lead with 5 minutes, 45 seconds left. The T-birds never got closer than eight the rest of the way.
The Timberwolves had to double team to slow the T-birds down, particularly Allen, who poured in a game-high 28 points, and center Clinton Reddie, who chipped in with 18.
“The most important aspect of defense is to control the ball and control the dribbler, and we didn’t do that very well,” Jackson head coach Steve Johnson said. “You’ve got to give Allen credit, he’s a good player.”
Johnson said the Timberwolves talked about staying focused on the Thunderbirds and putting the loss to Snohomish behind them.
“It’s a cliché and everything, but we talked about having to have mental toughness and just forgetting about the results of the previous game and forgetting about having a fear of losing or whatever and playing to get back to a winner-to-state game,” Johnson said.
Despite Drew Eisinger’s struggles in the first half, he kept firing up shots and they started to fall in the second half.
“He’s a good player, he’s going to keep shooting he’s going to keep moving he’s going to keep getting shots,” Johnson said. “Eventually a good player like that is going to get his points. We had faith that would be the case tonight and it turned out to be true.”
Wishko, making his first postseason appearance this season, was a non-factor on offense in the Timberwolves’ first two postseason games. With 17 blue-collar points against Shorewood, Wishko shook off his bad games and “really responded,” Johnson said.
Shorewood, which ended the season 13-10, graduates six seniors including four starters: Reddie, Brock Hartman, John Wood and Eric Perry.
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