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As the No. 1 seed in the District 1 3A Boys Basketball Tournament, the Edmonds-Woodway Warriors were able to take to their home floor — where they had been undefeated this season — for their district tourney semifinal matchup against the No.4-seeded Shorewood Stormrays Tuesday.
Unfortunately for the Warriors, their home-court success ended with their lowest scoring production for a game in more than three years. E-W suffered a 42-40 loss to the Stormrays in front of an electric crowd at Edmonds-Woodway High School.
The 40 points scored by the Warriors matched a low produced on the same court on Jan. 17, 2023, in a 64-40 defeat to Arlington.
“We missed a lot of shots right at the rim, but that’s been kind of standard for us all year,” E-W Coach Tyler Geving said after Tuesday’s loss. “We had some easy looks at the rim. It changes the game if you make a few of them.”
The Warriors struggled to find a consistent scoring touch against the defensively aggressive Stormrays. Edmonds-Woodway missed their first seven shots of the game — and turned the ball over three other times — before Will Alseth sunk a short jumper in the lane with 2:58 to go in the first quarter.
Despite going more than five minutes before scoring, E-W was able to stay close as the Stormrays weren’t lighting up the scoreboard either. Alseth’s bucket closed the Shorewood lead to 5-2; by the end of the quarter, the Warriors trailed by just one, 10-9.
As the Warriors continued with their shooting woes, Shorewood was able to pull out to a 23-17 lead when Thomas Moles raced down the lane for a layin with 1:07 to go before halftime. E-W shot just 29.6% (7-for-24) in the first half but only trailed 23-20 at intermission after DJ Karl drained a long 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer.
Edmonds-Woodway pulled ahead for the first time in the game at the 6:56 mark of the third quarter — 26-25 — after Grant Williams converted a shot from behind the 3-point arc. But it was one of only three leads that the Warriors saw in the contest. The other two were a 30-28 advantage later in the third and then a 40-39 lead with 1:59 to go in the game after an Alseth drive and score.
The one-point E-W late-game lead — achieved when the Warriors went on a 9-0 run over a 6:02 stretch of the fourth — was short lived as Moles sank two free throws with 1:26 to go, giving the Stormrays a 41-40 advantage.
With their subsequent possession, Warriors Julian Gray and Karl missed 3-point shot attempts. But E-W got the ball back with 15.2 seconds to go after Shorewood couldn’t score either, setting up a chance for a dramatic late-game moment for the Warriors.
With the game’s final seconds running down, Alseth got the ball at the top of the key, drove the right side of the lane but missed a short jumper over Shorewood’s Jaden Marlow.
“On our last play, Will made a great move, a great play; it was just in and out,” Geving said. “We set it up for Will to catch and attack. And he attacked and just missed it. We executed what we wanted to do. If it goes in, we’re celebrating.”
After grabbing the rebound of Alseth’s miss and quickly being fouled, the Stormrays’ Tyler Marlow converted one of two free throws with 0.9 seconds to go. Then after a timeout, Alseth got one more chance, receiving a hail Mary, full-court inbounds pass and getting off an awkward, close range, over-the-head backwards shot at the final buzzer. But the attempt was no good and Shorewood fans cheered the Stormrays’ tournament semifinal road win.
Shorewood and Edmonds-Woodway had split their first two regular season matchups this season, each winning at home. Geving said that because this was the third clash between the two this year, it’s understandable that it was a low-scoring game.
“I think both teams were dialed in defensively; both teams know what the other guy is going to run,” Geving said. “So baskets are at a premium in the playoffs.”
Moles led all scorers in the game with 15 points and Nathan Abraha added 10 points for the Stormrays. No Warriors reached double-figure scoring in the contest.
With the victory, Shorewood (17-7 overall) moves into the District 1 tournament championship game against No. 3-seed Snohomish, which had upset No. 2-seeded Monroe 57-54 earlier on Tuesday at Edmonds-Woodway High School. The Shorewood-Snohomish title game will be played at 5 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21 at Jackson High School in Mill Creek.
Both Shorewood and Snohomish are guaranteed spots in the WIAA 3A State Boys Basketball Tournament that begins next week.
While a District championship is no longer available to Edmonds-Woodway, a berth in the state tournament is still within their grasp. But the Warriors will have to defeat the District tourney’s No. 6-seeded Everett Seagulls on Saturday to punch their ticket to State. The Warrior-Seagull game is set for 10 a.m. at Jackson High School.
While disappointed that the team won’t be playing for a District championship trophy, Geving quickly set his sights on earning that ticket to the state tourney.
“At the end of the day, you want to get to State,” Geving said. “We’ll battle back; we’ll be prepared, we’ll be ready to go. That’s our challenge come Saturday.”
To view the entire District 1 3A Boys Basketball Tournament bracket, click www.wpanetwork.com/wiaa/brackets/tournament.php?act=view&tournament_id=5044.
Prep Boys Basketball: Shorewood at Edmonds-Woodway, Feb. 17 (District 1 3A Boys Basketball Tournament semifinal game)
Shorewood 10 13 14 5 – 42
Edmonds-Woodway 9 11 11 7 – 40
Edmonds-Woodway individual scoring: DJ Karl 9, Will Alseth 9, Grant Williams 7, Jillian Gray 6, Dre Simonsen 4, Harris Dobson 2, Joaquin Escandon 2, Shayaan Shah 1, Cruz Escandon
Shorewood individual scoring: Thomas Moles 15, Nathan Abraha 10, Jaden Marlow 9, Tyler Marlow 3, Yuto Allison 3, Elijah Haub 2, Kevin Cambronero
Records: Edmonds-Woodway 11-1 in 2A/3A Wesco League South Conference, 21-3 overall; Shorewood 10-2 in 2A/3A Wesco League South Conference, 17-7 overall
Edmonds-Woodway next game: versus Everett; Saturday, Feb. 21; 10 a.m. at Jackson High School (District 1 3A Boys Basketball Tournament third-place winner-to-state, loser-out game)
Shorewood next game: versus Snohomish; Saturday, Feb. 21; 5 p.m. at Jackson High School (District 1 3A Boys Basketball Tournament championship game)
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