Lakewood stuns No. 1 B-E to advance to state

Lakewood’s boys basketball team made school history Tuesday night, upsetting top-ranked Burlington-Edison 58-47.

As a result, the Cougars will face two-time state champion Lynden Saturday night at 7:30 at Mount Vernon High School. Lakewood lost to that squad 75-65 Jan. 27.

As for history, it’s the first time Lakewood has advanced to the 2A Northwest/Sea-King Bi-District title game and the regional round of the state tournament.

“This is an incredible feeling. It still hasn’t really hit me yet,” coach Anthony Wiederkehr told The Herald. “You know Lakewood has been to this game a lot. We’ve never been able to get over this hump… This is honestly a little bit of a dream come true for me.”

Senior Alex Jensen was clutch in the final quarter, scoring 14 of his 20 points. The school’s all-time leading scorer has actually cut back his shooting this year, getting his teammates more involved. But when his team needed him, he hit 8-8 free throws in the final period, and the team connected on 11 of 12.

“I think at that point they knew how important those free throws were and probably got a little extra concentration,” Wiederkehr said, adding they’ve shot well there all year, setting a school record at 72 percent. The game was close throughout, but a 3-pointer by Shea Dixon with 2:28 to play put the Cougs up 47-38.

Jensen hit all 10 of his free throws in the game. Dixon added 10 points, all in the second half, and Morgan Stacey and Jackson Schultz each had eight.

Wiederkehr was impressed with his team’s defense.

“This is a great example of what a team that just has a lot of heart and can play together, what they’re capable of doing. Not the most-talented group I’ve ever had, but just a group that plays as a team and works their hearts out,” Wiederkehr said.

In their only other meeting this year in Northwest Conference play, B-E won 69-58. B-E is 20-2, while the Cougs are 14-8. Lakewood plays another 20-2 team Saturday.

To reach that game, Lakewood beat Liberty 82-71 Saturday. Lakewood had some problems with Liberty’s half-court trap early in the game as the visitors took an 11-4 lead. But the home team went on an 8-0 run on 3’s by Dixon and Stacey and an old-style three-point play by Stacey. When Schultz passed inside to Andrew Molloy Lakewood took a 19-15 first-quarter lead.

Alex Jensen, Jared Taylor and Schultz hit buckets to start the second period but Liberty came back to tie it at 51-51 after three quarters.

But the home team started hitting its shots outscoring the visitors 31-20 in the final quarter to take the win.

Stacey led the way with 29 points, often scoring inside over Liberty’s bigs who were around 6-foot-6. Jensen added 24 and Schultz 11.

MARYSVILLE AND ARLINGTON

Marysville-Pilchuck won a thriller, while Marysville Getchell eliminated Arlington in the playoffs Wednesday night.

Luke Dobler took it to the bank as M-P edged Edmonds-Woodway 59-56 to advance to state.

The Tomahawks will play Saturday night at 8 against Shorecrest at Everett Community College in the district title game.

Dobler’s 3 with 27 seconds left was the difference, and he did it the unconventional way but it still paid off on his way to 19 points, 14 in the final period.

Aaron Kalab led the team with 20, and Cameron Stordahl added 16.

E-W led 56-54 with 41 seconds left, but Dobler’s 3 and then his two free throws decided the game.

The teams battled back and forth, but were tied at halftime 24-24.

It didn’t look good for the Tommies as E-W took a 45-39 lead after three quarters.

But M-P held E-W to 11 points in the final stanza, while scoring 20 of their own, to take the win.

M-P’s defense held the Bol brothers, Matdung and Nuer, to 19 points to key the victory, along with Dobler’s trip to the bank.

Meanwhile, for three quarters Wednesday night, it looked like Arlington was going to avenge a recent loss to MG.

But then the last period came, and it was Malakhi Knight time as the Chargers outscored the Eagles 34-17 on the way to a 77-70 come-from-behind victory.

The win means MG plays Friday night at 6 at Jackson High School against E-W. If they win they play again Saturday at 4:15 p.m. at EvCC for a chance to go to state. A loss in either game knocks them out of the playoffs. Against Arlinlgton, Knight ended up with 41 points after being held to eight points in the first half, when Arlington led 34-26.

Josiah Koellmer added 12. Ethan Martin led Arlington with 31. Will Abram added 9.

MG took the early lead on two 3-pointers by Cole Norton. Koellmer hit a 3 and when Landyn Olson scored inside with an assist from Austin Townsend MG went up 11-4. Koellmer hit a runner and Townsend a 3, but the Eagles came back with Abram and then Jaden Roskelley scoring inside to make it 19-16 after one.

Arlington tied it for the first time on a 3 by Colby Williamson early in the second quarter then took its first lead at 25-24 midway through the quarter on a 3 by Martin. Abram scored after grabbing an offensive rebound and later with a dunk as Arlington led at the half. They outscored MG 18-17 in the third period to take a 52-43 lead before Knight went wild in the fourth.

To reach that point, M-P won its game Saturday easily over Squalicum 63-46. Against the Storm, M-P had the game in control as Ethan Jackson’s bucket at the end of three made it 46-30. Stordahl’s three-straight baskets, including a dunk and a 3, put the game out of reach, with Dobler’s 3 the icing on the cake making it 60-38 with about three minutes remaining.

Shorecrest beat MG 65-61 Saturday to knock the Chargers into the consolation bracket.

Stanwood avenged a late-season regular-season loss by beating Arlington 63-61 Saturday in the first round of the 3A Northwest District playoffs.

An Arlington comeback made their game at Stanwood exciting. Joseph Schmidt hit two 3’s and Martin scored seven straight to cut the lead to 61-59. But free throws ended any chance for the visitors.

Abram led the Eagles with 14 points, Schmidt had 13 and Gavin Hawthorne 10.

Meanwhile, Arlington qualified for its game by winning a play-in game last Thursday. At the beginning of the season Ferndale whipped Arlington 71-54. But that was a long time ago in high school basketball.

The Eagles have come on strong the last part of the year, and they pulled out a 63-59 win over the visiting Golden Eagles.

Martin willed the Eagles to victory, scoring 18 of his game high 29 points in the last quarter. The rest of the team only had two points that period.

Arlington actually was trailing going into the fourth 47–43. But they outscored the visitors 20-12 to take the win. For the normally balanced Eagles it was a one-man show as Jaden Roskelley was the only other Eagle in double figures with 14. Abram added 7.