LYNNWOOD
Meadowdale didn’t want visiting Mountlake Terrace to celebrate a conference championship on its court.
Roger O’Neill scored 19 points and ripped down 10 rebounds for the Mavericks in an intense 50-47 Western Conference South Division upset of Mountlake Terrace Feb. 11 at Meadowdale High School.
Meadowdale (15-3 league) clinched a share of the Wesco South crown with the win.
The Mavericks, despite trailing by 11 points with 1:46 to play in the second quarter, kept chipping away at the Hawks’ lead behind O’Neill, Khalid Surur and Kris Larson.
“We kept at it and kept at it and we were able to make a run,” Mavericks head coach Chad McGuire said. “That was a gutty effort.”
“We just had to stick to what we were doing,” O’Neill said. “They were making tough shots.”
O’Neill and his supporting cast didn’t waver from their game plan and pressured Mountlake Terrace into poor shot selection in the second half. Terrace, notably post Karsten Strieby, was knocking down perimeter shots in bunches during the first two quarters. Strieby surpassed his season average of 14.3 points per game with a 16-point first half.
The shots stopped falling for the Hawks (15-3 league) and Meadowdale took the opportunity to attack. Meadowdale capitalized on turnovers and defensive miscues by Mountlake Terrace in the final two minutes of the game.
Ahead 44-43, Connor Hamlett hit a jumper and Surur slashed through the Hawks’ defense for a short-range shot with 1:33 remaining to give Meadowdale a five-point advantage.
Less than a minute later, following a scramble under the Mountlake Terrace basket, Surur went coast-to-coast for a layup and a Meadowdale three-point lead, 50-47.
The Hawks’ Jacob Champoux missed a contested 3-pointer and Strieby missed a second attempt before the buzzer sounded.
“I was unhappy about the shot selection,” Hawks head coach Nalin Sood said. “I think we were burned by our early success (on perimeter shots), but I don’t want to take anything away from Meadowdale.
“We didn’t open up and help (on defense) and you can’t have those defensive break downs,” Sood said. “It was a gut-wrenching game, but we’ve got to move on.”
Strieby finished with a game-high 26 points for Mountlake Terrace. Strieby scored just nine points in the teams’ last meeting, a 48-42 Hawks’ win.
“Strieby is tough to stop,” Meadowdale’s McGuire said.
Down by five to start the fourth quarter, Meadowdale hit two quick shots to tie the game at 38-38 less than a minute into the quarter. The Mavericks outscored Mountlake Terrace 12-9 for the rest of the quarter – Surur scored seven of his 12 points in the decisive quarter.
“Khalid Surur had a great fourth quarter,” McGuire said.
O’Neill, Meadowdale’s star guard stressed the importance of the Mavericks’ share of the conference title.
“It was real important to us, last year we missed it by one game,” O’Neill said. “It was huge to us.”
Mark Nelson writes for The Herald in Everett.
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