Jackson’s postseason ride ends

MILL CREEK

The Jackson boys basketball team may have exceeded just about everyone’s expectations this season, but being eliminated from the 4A District 1 boys basketball tournament still left a bitter taste in the Timberwolves’ mouths.

Stanwood made three of four free throws and pulled down a critical rebound on the miss in the final minute-and-a-half to pull out a 49-43 victory over the Wolfpack in a loser-out game Feb. 20 at Jackson High School.

“We played our hearts out, but we just didn’t make the plays,” Jackson freshman guard Brett Kingma said.

The two teams battled back and fourth through four quarters, with the largest lead four points until the end of the game.

A pair of free throws by junior forward David Sullivan pulled Jackson to within 44-43 with 1 minute, 47 seconds left in fourth quarter. Stanwood’s senior forward, Steven Williams, then was fouled. He made the first free throw but misfired on the second.

Teammate Zack Johnson, however, grabbed the rebound and the Spartans quickly called a timeout.

Jackson had trouble dealing with the physical play of Johnson, who led Stanwood with 14 points.

“He’s really tough down low,” Kingma said. “He finishes really well. He has really long arms and just grabs all the loose balls and plays really strong and with a lot of passion. It was just really tough down low.”

Senior forward Peter Edlund then scored to increase the Stanwood lead to 47-43 with 1:10 to go in the game. Jackson then missed the front end of a one-and-one free throw attempt and Stanwood sophomore forward Kale Schmidt corralled the rebound and was fouled. Schmidt connected on two free throws to extend the lead to 49-43.

“We certainly had our chances in that game,” Jackson coach Steve Johnson said. “A rebound here, a shot here. Anytime your season ends in a game that you feel you had a chance to win certainly is disappointing.”

Jackson was playing without sophomore starting point guard Ryan Todd, who sprained his ankle at the end of the Wolfpack’s game against Lake Stevens on Feb. 16. Even had Jackson beat Stanwood, Todd would not have been available for Friday’s winner-to-state/loser-out game.

“It’s just one of those life lessons,” Johnson said of Todd’s injury. “There’s nothing you can do about it. It’s unfortunate that we had to play without him, but that’s the way it goes.”

Todd’s absence definitely impacted Jackson’s offense, Kingma said. “We really missed him tonight. He just handles the ball so much.”

Jackson has found itself at disadvantage height-wise the entire season and the loss to Stanwood was no exception.

“We didn’t rebound well,” Johnson said. “I’m sure that we got outrebounded, which is the way it’s been all year. But that was something we needed to do a better job on but didn’t”

Kingma hopes that his teammates remember the end to the postseason.

“I want to take how bad it hurts to lose and not let us feel that way again in the future,” he said. “I want to go out and make it to state.”

Despite what they viewed as a premature exit from the playoffs, the Timberwolves were proud of their accomplishments. Jackson entered the season with five new starters and only a couple of players with any hint of varsity experience.

Johnson, however, didn’t view that inexperience as a factor in the loss to the Spartans.

“We are a young team, but you can’t really use that excuse at this point of the season,” he said. “We didn’t make some plays when we needed to. We had a critical times when we didn’t block out and get rebounds and that was a point of emphasis — rebounding and defense. … We didn’t necessarily get that done at various critical times.”

To advance as far as Jackson did was heartening to Kingma, who led all scorers with 18 points,

“I thought we surprised a lot of people,” Kingma said. “I thought we actually had an amazing season. We came out and proved people wrong.”

Jackson was picked to finish sixth in the Western Conference South Division in a preseason coaches’ poll, Johnson noted. The Wolfpack struggled early on this season, losing by 27 to Meadowdale and 19 to Mariner.

“I didn’t really think we would make districts,” Johnson said. “The fact that we improved so much and made districts and got a win and got to a game like this is huge. Obviously that can bode well for next year.”

Key returners included Kingma, a second-team, all-league guard and Todd, an honorable mention guard. The Timberwolves will face far different expectations next year.

“We have a ton of people coming back,” Johnson said. “I imagine people will have some expectations for us to be successful and playoff experience can only help. But it doesn’t necessarily mean anything. We have to take that experience and turn it into something positive and work toward the future.”