The Oak Harbor High School boys basketball team suffered through a tough weekend, losing 92-67 to Shorecrest at home Friday, Dec. 4, and 49-46 at Burlington-Edison Saturday.

The Wildcats, now 0-3, travel to Mount Vernon (0-2) at 7:15 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 8.

Oak Harbor jetted to a 12-2 lead against Shorecrest, led 18-10 at the quarter behind 10 points by Dyllan Harris and were up 31-20 with 3:29 left in the half.

At that point, the Scots took off. They went on a 23-2 run to take cover.

It started with a 15-0 run that helped Shorecrest go up 35-33 at the half.

The Scots scored the first eight points of the third quarter before Oak Harbor’s offense finally got back on track.

From there, Shorecrest (3-0) steadily pulled away.

The Scots used a strong transition game (with Malcolm Butler scoring 12 points in the second quarter) to overcome Oak Harbor’s early lead and then turned to its inside strength to put the game away.

Shorecrest’s starting post, 6-7 Philip Pepple, picked up two fouls in the game’s first 70 seconds and sat the remainder of the half. After the break, he poured in 18 points.

Butler finished with 25 points and Tobyn Lawson added 18.

Harris led all scorers with 30 points. Josh Cote had 14 and Adam Nelson 10 for the Wildcats.

DiAngelo McKinney scored five points, and Ozell Jackson, Princeton Lollar and Sean Erskine added two each.

Oak Harbor coach John Weston was pleased on how his club handled Shorecrest’s pressure, showing vast improvement from Tuesday’s loss to Edmonds-Woodway.

“However, we still need to be stronger with the ball,” he added.

“I’m really proud of them playing hard all night.”

Weston liked the play of Preston Rankin and Nelson, “who was attacking the rim.”

“(Nelson) was going right at them, not backing down.”

Against Burlington, a last-second shot to tie was off line, finishing a game where the Wildcats were off kilter all night, according to Weston.

“It was a real off game for us,” Weston said. “Shots didn’t fall, we had a lot of players in foul trouble, our energy was low and we didn’t execute. I am not sure if it was because we had played such a tough game the night before, but we just seemed off. Give Burlington credit for forcing us to play that way.

“I was pleased that despite not playing well, we still had a chance at the end.”

Harris piled up 22 points and 11 rebounds.

McKinney “did a great job coming off the bench” and giving Oak Harbor “a spark,” Weston said, finishing with 11 points, four rebounds and three steals.

Jackson played “his best game,” according to Weston, getting five points and four boards while playing “tough defense.”

Cote and Nelson had four points each, and Rankin and Erskine two apiece.

(Sean Erskine muscles through the Shorecrest defense. Photo by John Fisken.)