Wildcats succumb to 4th-quarter surges / Boys basketball

Shorecrest and Meadowdale each used high-scoring fourth quarters to put away the Oak Harbor High School boys basketball team over the weekend.

Shorecrest defeated the Wildcats 78-56 Friday, Jan. 17, in Shoreline, and Meadowdale won in Oak Harbor 72-44 Saturday.

The Wildcats were within striking distance heading into the fourth quarter of both games. Oak Harbor trailed Shorecrest 58-47 and Meadowdale 50-38 after three periods.

The Scots (3-2, 7-2) pumped in 20 fourth-period points and the Mavericks (4-2, 6-6) 22 to secure the Western Conference wins.

While the finishes were similar, the beginnings weren’t.

Oak Harbor led much of the first half at Shorecrest, going up 17-14 in the opening period and trailing by only 3, 35-32, at halftime.

Meadowdale blitzed Oak Harbor early, taking leads of 26-10 and 41-19 in the first two quarters before Oak Harbor clawed back into the game.

Oak Harbor (0-7, 1-12) goes to Stanwood (2-3, 4-7) for a 7:15 p.m. game Tuesday, Jan. 21.

Shorecrest 78, Oak Harbor 56

Mason Myers scored 6 points in the first period to spur the Wildcats to their early lead.

The Scots hit five three-pointers in the second quarter to offset 5 points each from Oak Harbor’s Will Rankin and Gage McLeod.

Kaito White sank a pair of shots from long range and Brock Boyer drained five free throws, but Shorecrest began pulling away in the third quarter.

White and Boyer each finished with 12 points and Rankin 11.

McLeod had 9, Myers 8, Matt Kelley 3 and Josh Pendleton 1.

“Kaito had a good, sound game,” Oak Harbor coach Nate Sullivan said. “He was getting hounded and handled the pressure and hit some big threes.”

“Mason rebounded well and kept us in the game,” he added, “and Garrett Levell provided great energy and great defense.”

Elijah Johnson scored 18 points for Shorecrest, one more than Hayden Bohag and Jack Sims.

Meadowdale 72, Oak Harbor 44

The Wildcats led 8-6 and then the Mavericks went on an 18-0 run, fueled by 10 points from Mason Vaughn.

Down by 22, 41-19, at the half, Oak Harbor battled back by outscoring Meadowdale 19-9 in the third quarter. Kelley scored 5 points and Boyer, Rankin, McLeod and White all hit three-pointers to lead the Wildcat rally.

The comeback fizzled in the fourth. Oak Harbor managed only one field goal, a three-ball by McLeod, while the Mavericks piled up 22 points, including going 10-for-13 at the foul line.

McLeod led the Oak Harbor offense with 12 points. Rankin and Kelley had 7, Boyer and Levell 6, and Myers and White 3.

Vaughn topped Meadowdale with 20.

“We responded well in the third quarter,” Sullivan said. He added that all the pregame notes on the locker room board were defensive principles.

“We didn’t meet those in the first half; we kind of woke up in the third quarter.”

Sullivan lauded the effort of Myers, who has provided a spark in each of the last three games. Myers gave the undersized Wildcats an inside presence, Sullivan said, and the coached estimated that the 6-5 junior pulled down at least a dozen rebounds.