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With a District 1 3A Boys Basketball Tournament play-in opportunity already set at the end of the week, the Mountlake Terrace Hawks were looking to start the week with a momentum-building victory over the winless Marysville-Getchell Chargers on Monday.
But unfortunately for the young Hawks, that win didn’t come.
The young Hawks were outscored 13-5 in the final quarter and fell 58-54 to the more-experienced Chargers in a rescheduled contest Monday at Mountlake Terrace High School.
(The Hawks-Chargers matchup had originally been set for Dec. 17, but power outages at a number of their schools caused the Marysville School District to close for the day, canceling all sports contests for Marysville-Getchell teams that evening.)
Monday’s win was the first for Marysville-Getchell this year after starting the season 0-18.
Hawks Coach Johnny Phillips tried to stay positive after his team’s disappointing loss. “Every game, we’re good for a while; we’ve just got to get that consistency,” he said. “That’s what we’re trying to find. It wasn’t really there when we needed it tonight.”
Terrace led 49-45 after three quarters and 51-47 with just over five minutes to go, but Marysville-Getchell outscored the Hawks 9-3 down the stretch to steal the victory.
Victory Maldonado led the Chargers in scoring with 20 points. Evan Trinidad added 19 points, eight of which came in the final 5:10 of the game.
Terrace’s Adam Desta led all scorers in the contest with 21 points, but only five came in the second half as the Chargers clamped down on the Hawks’ sophomore after the halftime break. Jordan Wilson contributed 15 points in the loss while Anthony Fuentes added 11 points.
With nine of the 11 Hawks on the roster being sophomores or freshmen, Phillips knew it would take time this season for his squad to gel and mature.
“We’ve got a bunch of basketball players that just love to play ball,” Phillips said. “The dynamic of how to play with each other – 19 games in, I would have hoped that we had it figured out. But I guess it’s not really figured out yet.”
Despite the team’s 2-17 record, Mountlake Terrace still has a pathway open to qualify for the postseason District 1 tournament that begins on Feb. 11. The Hawks can slip into the 12-team tourney as the number-12 seed with a win on Saturday, Feb. 7, against either Lynnwood or these same Marysville-Getchell Chargers. (The Royals and the Chargers will meet Thursday with the winner facing the Hawks on Saturday in the winner-to-district, loser-out game.)
Before Saturday’s big contest, Terrace will have a chance to fine tune their play with a home matchup against the Archbishop Murphy Wildcats on Wednesday, Feb. 4.
Phillips is hoping his Hawks can put Monday’s loss to the Chargers — and their less-than-stellar record — behind them, improve their play on Wednesday against the Wildcats and then take advantage of the chance they have on Saturday.
“Our record isn’t what we want it to be, but the opportunity is there,” Phillips said. “We’re playing on Saturday; if we win that game we’ll be in the District playoffs and the road we want to be on will be right there.”
“If we do what we’re supposed to do, then we’ll be where we want to be,” he said.
Prep Boys Basketball: Marysville-Getchell at Mountlake Terrace, Feb. 2
Marysville-Getchell 19 11 15 13 – 58
Mountlake Terrace 18 12 19 5 – 54
Mountlake Terrace individual scoring: Adam Desta 21, Jordan WIlson 15, Anthony Fuentes 11, Jasiah Hatfield 3, oliver Shaw-Jones 2, Victor Mkrtychyan 2, Luke Stone, Chase Fleishman, Jaxon Jamison
Marysville-Getchell individual scoring: Victor Maldonado 20, Michael Evan Trinidad 19, Jade Brodie 6, Bereket Ambaye 6, Mikhaile Saunders 4, Bertapelle 3, Taylor Kildall, Monaco Edwards
Records: Mountlake Terrace 2-9 in 2A/3A Wesco League South Conference, 2-17 overall; Marysville-Getchell 0-9 in 2A/3A Wesco League North Conference, 1-18 overall
Mountlake Terrace next game: versus Archbishop Murphy; Wednesday Feb. 4; 7:15 p.m. at Mountlake Terrace High School
Marysville-Getchell next game: versus Snohomish; Tuesday, Feb. 3; 7 p.m. at Marysville-Getchell High School
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