A 15-0 run that spanned the first and second quarters propelled the Archbishop Murphy boys basketball team to a 85-48 win in Oak Harbor Wednesday, Dec. 18.

Oak Harbor’s overall record fell to 1-4 after the loss in the Western Conference opener.

The Wildcats go to Shorewood (1-0, 2-2) at 7:15 p.m. Friday, Dec. 20, for another league contest, and then they host Bellingham (1-4) in a non-conference game at 7:15 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 21.

Oak Harbor trailed Archbishop Murphy by only 2, 11-9, midway through the first quarter, then Murphy finished the period on a 12-0 run to go up 23-9.

Murphy opened the second quarter with a 3-ball before Kenneth Tofah hit a 3 for Oak Harbor to stop the winner’s streak.

Archbishop Murphy, which scored between 20 and 23 points in every period, led at the half 43-25 and 65-34 after three quarters.

Oak Harbor was missing its only returning starter from last year, 6-4 Matt Kelley, who injured his ankle in practice. In addition, 6-5 post Mason Myers played sparingly before leaving with an injury. With Oak Harbor’s two tallest players out, Murphy’s 6-5 center Lukas Doyle dominated the paint, scoring 26 points before leaving midway through the third quarter with his own injury.

After a relatively clean first half, the second was filled with fouls. The teams combined to shoot 18 free throws in the third quarter alone.

For the game, 59 foul shots were attempted.

Oak Harbor failed to take advantage of its opportunities, sinking only 18 of 32. Murphy was 14-for-21.

Together, the teams were 3-for-12 in the first half, missing eight straight at one point.

Will Rankin led Oak Harbor in scoring with 10 points. Brock Boyer had 8, Garrett Levell 7, Gage McLeod 7, Myers 5, Tofah 5, Kaito White 3, Jerome Dones 2 and Alaki Kitchens 1.

“I applaud the effort and great energy that freshman Shane Warden gave us in both the JV game and in his first quarter of varsity time,” coach Nate Sullivan said. “He knows how to play hard at all times when he is on the floor. The overall intensity of our team was much higher while he was out there.”

Tanner Ingle backed Doyle by scoring 12 points, all in the fourth quarter, for Murphy (1-0, 2-2). Ten different players scored points for the Everett team in the contest.