Boys Basketball vs Sedro-Woolley 12-27-08

The 1st Annual Santa Slam boys basketball tournament (in abbreviated form) continued on Saturday, December 27th, with the Oak Harbor Wildcats facing off against Friday’s winners, the Sedro-Woolley Cubs.
Again, the Wildcat freshmen had an exciting game. The ‘Cats were in control throughout the first half, building a 23-12 halftime lead. In the 3rd, however, the Cubs came out on fire and went on a 20-6 streak to lead at the end of the 3rd 32-29. Oak Harbor was able to settle down in the final period. With Ed Denmon scoring all 5 of his points and Josiah Miller all 6 of his in the 4th period, the Wildcats were able to regain the lead and build a 10-point lead. The Cubs weren’t done yet, and with just a few minutes left chipped away at the OH lead, but the ‘Cats were able to hold on for a 47-41 win. Since Sedro beat Coupeville on Friday and OH beat Sedro on Saturday, if the Wildcats can get the win against Coupeville on December 31st (the final game of the tournament), they will be tournament champions! Matt Burgoyne led the Wildcat scoring with 20 points, 15 of them in the 1st half. Burgoyne scored in every quarter as did Kevawn Brooks with 10 total. Others scoring were Patrick Bell 2, Paul Johannsen 2, Denmon 5, Miller 6, and Elias Whitefoot 2.

An early 4-0 lead by the OH JV team gave hope, as Colby Anter scored twice in the 1st minute and added a pair of free throws later, but an 8-8 tied at the 3:30 mark in the 1st went on to be a 17-10 Sedro lead at the end of the 1st period. In the 2nd, both teams had problems getting the ball in the hoop. Sedro scored quickly, then the game went back and forth until around the 3:15 mark, when Sedro scored again. The Wildcats didn’t score until 2:55 in the 2nd. At half the score was 23-17, with OH scoring 7 in the 2nd and Sedro scoring only 6. Starting the 2nd half, The Wildcats showed some spark as Anter, Chance Gill and Nate Young all scored twice and the defense held the Cubs to 10 points. Both of Young’s scores came in the last two minutes of the 3rd, with the 2nd shot tying the game at 31. The Cubs scored once more, then Connor Paul tied the game at 33 with 21 seconds left. The tie continued to the 6:14 mark when Sedro scored two, followed 10 seconds later by a Steven Bratt score to tie the game again. At this point the Cubs went on a 10-1 to build a 45-36 lead with just over 2 minutes left in the game. From that point, the Cubs went into their “keep-away” offense, so the Wildcats were only able to score twice more as the game ended in a 49-41 Cub win. Colby Anter had 14 for the Wildcats, 10 in the 1st half and Nate Young scored 8. Steven Bratt and Chance Gill had 4 each, Josh Evans and Ryan Fakkema each hit a 3-pointer for their only score, Connor Paul and Blake Schulle had 2 each and David Tillotson hit one free throw. The JV boys did well at the FT line, hitting 5 of 7 attempts.

In the 1st period of the varsity game, the Wildcats started out fast, building a 5-0 lead in the 1st two minutes and led 7-4 until the 4:16 mark when Sedro hit a 3-pointer to tie the game. A score by Rashaad Smith and Denzel Hardin (with a great behind-the-back pass from Beaux Haley) gave the lead back to the Wildcats 11-7, but by the end of the period Sedro was able to tie the game at 12 each. In the 2nd, Zac Cole got a pair of scores early, but starting at the 6:05 point, the Cubs went on a 12-1 run lasting until the 2:50 mark when Haley put it in for two, but at the half, the Sedro-Woolley Cubs led 32-22. The 3rd period was slow, with each team scoring 11 points, 6 of the OH points coming off free throws. The 3rd ended with a 43-33 Cub lead. In the 4th, the Wildcats just couldn’t get the shots off, and it was halfway through the period before the ‘Cats got their first score. With 2:21 left in the game the Cubs held a 53-38 lead, but a 3-pointer by Bratt at the 2 minute mark closed it to 53-41, and ended the scoring for the game. Mike Washington, Jr. was the leader for the Wildcats, hitting for 13 points and going 7-for-9 from the line. Denzel Hardin had 5, Beaux Haley, Zac Cole, Jay Stout and Rashaad Smith each had 4, Aaron Boesch and Steven Bratt had 3 each and Jimmy Edens 1.

Next up for the Wildcats are games against Coupeville on New Years’ Eve, starting at 1pm with the freshman and JV games, then varsity at 3pm.

69 Photos of freshman, JV and Varsity action, including two photos of the Sedro varsity team with their trophy can be found by clicking HERE.

5 video clips of the JV and varsity games are HERE.