SHORELINE
The Mariner boys basketball team started out on fire and extinguished Shorewood’s postseason hopes on the Thunderbirds’ senior night Monday, Feb. 9.
The Marauders, who were led by Tevin Dillon’s 18 points, blew out the short-handed T-birds 68-43 at the Shorewood gym.
Shorewood’s loss combined with Edmonds-Woodway’s 64-63 comeback win at Glacier Peak, clinched the fourth and final 4A District 1 playoff berth for Edmonds-Woodway (5-12 Wesco South, 6-13 overall).
Shorewood, who defeated the Warriors on Feb. 6 to stay alive, fell to 3-14 in the Wesco South, ninth in the league, and 4-15 overall.
Mariner shot 73 percent from the field (16-of-22) in the first half and burst out to a 41-22 lead.
Dillon scored 12 of his game-high 18 in the first half.
“We wanted to come out and shoot well, especially tonight it was a big night for them,” Dillon said. “We didn’t want them to get ahead first. We wanted to fire up quick and beat them early so they couldn’t get any fire in the game.”
Mariner’s defense held Shorewood’s leading scorer Tomas Sanchez to five points in the first half. Sanchez came alive in the third quarter and scored nine of his 16 points, but Shorewood could get no closer than 16 in the second half.
The T-birds’ other starting senior guard, Daniel Pillay, hit five 3-pointers and finished with 17 points, but with junior starters Micah Mitchell and Jerry Smallwood ineligible, the T-birds simply couldn’t generate enough offense.
Mitchell scored a career-best 35 points in the win at Edmonds-Woodway and hit eight 3-pointers.
But he was declared ineligible for the Mariner game because of a failing grade in pre-calculus, a class Mitchell said he was in over his head in. Smallwood also was out because of a math grade, but said his situation was “complicated.” Mitchell said he planned to appeal at a meeting with administrators on Tuesday.
Shorewood’s final game is at Shorecrest at 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 11.
“We had a group that’s not used to playing together and we have two starters that are gone and we had to put a makeshift thing together,” Shorewood coach Marv Morris said. “We found out today about the situation. We’re in spot where we had to make things work and it’s a tough road especially when a team shoots like that. They knock the wind out of your sails.”
Mariner shot 56 percent for the game (25-for-45) and made five 3-pointers.
Senior Stephan Doerscher scored 15 points and senior Damascus Purnell added 11.
“The kids did a good job moving the ball finding the open man,” Mariner coach Dexter Griffin said. “Defensively we got a few steals and were able to get a couple transition baskets.”
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