Missed opportunities in the first half and a disastrous finished doomed the Oak Harbor High School boys basketball team in its 61-55 loss to visiting Mariner Monday, Dec. 21.
The loss dropped the Wildcats to 0-7 for the season; Mariner lifted its mark to 5-3.
Up next for Oak Harbor is the Bulldog Holiday Classic at Mount Vernon High School Monday and Tuesday, Dec. 28 and 29. The Wildcats open with Skyline (2-3) at 3:45 p.m. Monday. Mount Vernon (2-5) and Sedro-Woolley (1-4) meet in the other side of the bracket. The winners square off at 7:45 p.m. Tuesday; the losers meet at 3:45 p.m.
In the loss to Mariner, Oak Harbor scooted to a 6-2 lead, then went cold as the Marauders led 13-6 at the end of the quarter and carried a 13-0 run into the second period.
The Wildcats were getting to the rim but couldn’t finish.
“We got the shots we wanted,” coach John Weston said, “but the ball wouldn’t go in.”
Mariner led 24-14 at the break as no Oak Harbor player had more than three points.
The Wildcats doubled their point total in the first four minutes of the third quarter.
Savion Hollins-Passmore got things going with a three-point play, Dyllan Harris and Adam Nelson scored three times and Oak Harbor led 36-33 with 1:34 left in the third period.
The Marauders recovered to take a 39-37 lead going into the final quarter.
A couple of hoops by Josh Cote helped Oak Harbor take a five-point lead, but Mariner bounced back to even the score at 50 with 3:33 remaining.
Oak Harbor went up 55-52 with 1:42 left, then things went south for the Wildcats. Mariner scored seven consecutive points while Oak Harbor failed to get off a shot because of turnovers and surrendering offensive rebounds.
Mariner hit 10 of 12 free throws in the final quarter to help cement the win.
Weston wasn’t happy with the finish, but he liked the energy his team generated throughout the game and the play of Hollins-Passmore, who had “his best game of the year.”
Harris paced the Wildcat attack with 19 points (16 coming in the second half), eight rebounds and five steals.
Nelson had eight points, Hollins-Passmore seven, Cote seven, Preston Rankin four, Sean Erskine four, Diangelo McKinney three, Ozell Jackson two and Taeson Hardin one.
