Miss FTs help sink Jackson
Published 1:58 pm Thursday, January 17, 2008
MILL CREEK
If this is Connor Donaldson at not-quite full strength, his foes should be very worried.
Playing his first full game since suffering a twisted knee in late December, Donaldson scored a game-high 21 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and blocked four shots. The senior forward’s excellent all-around effort highlighted Edmonds-Woodway’s 69-55 victory over the Jackson Timberwolves in a Western Conference South Division boys basketball game Jan. 10 at the Jackson High School.
“I’m not feeling 100 percent (healthy) but 85, 90 – I practiced every day this week. I think I’m getting there. In the next couple days, I think I’ll be back 100 percent,” said the 6-foot-6 Donaldson. He scored most of his 18 second-half points from close-range, preventing Jackson from making it a close contest and helping Edmonds-Woodway win its eighth consecutive game.
James Conti (13 points, four assists) and Sean Laue (14 points, six boards, two 3-point baskets) also played well for E-W. Using strong offensive rebounding and accurate free-throw shooting, the Warriors pulled away in the second quarter and never led by less than eight points in the second half.
“Jackson can shoot the ball. They can score and I think that we stepped up defensively,” E-W coach Gail Pintler said.
Jackson hung with E-W for a quarter, trailing 11-10 by the end of the first period. But E-W got rolling in the second quarter and outscored Jackson 19-8 en route to a 30-18 lead by the break. Laue scored eight points in final 7:17 of the half and his 12 first-half points led all players.
After Jackson’s Ryan Todd made a 3-pointer to get Jackson within 18-16, E-W closed the second quarter with a 12-2 spurt. Jackson could have been much closer but hurt itself with miserable free-throw shooting. The Timberwolves were just 6-for-17 on first-half foul shots.
“That was frustrating,” Jackson coach Steve Johnson said.
The Timberwolves shot much better at the foul line in the second half (14 for 15) but by that time they were too far behind.
E-W’s defense limited Jackson to 18 first-half points. Max Ortiz guarded Brett Kingma, Jackson’s season-leading scorer, most of the game and limited him to one point and no field goals through two quarters. Kingma finished with 12 points.
Todd and David Sullivan led Jackson with 15 apiece.
One key factor appeared to be E-W’s experience. All five Warriors starters were seniors, while Jackson started just one senior, Josh Gootee, along with the freshman-sophomore backcourt of Kingma and Todd.
“They’re an experienced team and we clearly are not, and I thought that was quite obvious,” Johnson said.
Antoinne Wafer came off the bench to score 11 second-half points for E-W.
Halfway through its 16-game Wesco South schedule, E-W has lost only one league game. It came Dec. 7 against Meadowdale.
“Tough loss to Meadowdale,” Donaldson said, “but I think we’ve come a long way since that game. It’s halfway through the season … but you can never stop improving.”
Mike Cane writes for The Herald in Everett.
