Shorecrest boys basketball headed for State tournament after comeback win Saturday

Phillip Pepple #55
Photo by Geoff Vlcek

By Frank Workman

For the second straight season, the Shorecrest boys basketball team is headed to the state tournament following their comeback win over Edmonds-Woodway Saturday at Bothell HS, 74-63.

It didn't come easily though, as the Warriors took a 32-26 lead into the halftime locker room on the strength of hitting six 3-pointers in the second stanza.

But the Scots came out ready and rarin' to go in the third quarter, as evidenced by the fact they outscored the Warriors 48-31 over the final sixteen minutes.

Chris Lee #5
Photo by Geoff Vlcek

"We knew we needed to buckle down and we really put the clamps to them on defense in the second half," said junior guard Chris Lee after the game. Lee led all scorers with 24 points, including a clutch 9-for-9 from the free throw line in the decisive fourth quarter.

At halftime, senior captain Steven Lin "told the team to not be fazed, that we've dealt with bigger adversity. I was just trying to keep everyone's mindset positive and to be confident with one another and just really go after them. We had to be more aggressive".

The Scots' aggression showed in how often their guards drove the lane, resulting in 25 free throw attempts, with 20 of them going in.

Malcolm Rosier-Butler #3
Photo by Geoff Vlcek

Senior Malcolm Rosier-Butler was sidelined with a leg cramp for the last three minutes of action, but not before finishing with 19 points, most of them coming on drives to the hoop. When he did miss, junior Philip Pepple was there to grab the rebound and put the ball back in. Pepple scored 18.

Ed-Way closed the lead to 61-56, but SC senior Walter Wang drilled his second three of the game with1:35 left to put the game out of reach. Lee and Pepple closed out the scoring from the free throw line to end the game.

Afterward, a happy coach Brian Fisher had this to say, "We made some mistakes in the first half, but we got smarter as the game went on. We know E-W is good, they have a lot of players, and they really went on a run in the second quarter. 

"This has really been a dream season for us, such as excellent team. We practice hard, we play hard, the boys play for each other. I am so proud of them."

Last year the Scots competed at the 2A level and came within an eyelash of winning the championship, settling for second place.

Stepping up to the 3A ranks this season, the road figures to be rockier for the Scots if they're going to hang another banner in the gym.

They open play Wednesday at 5:30pm in the Tacoma Dome against another Wesco rival, Stanwood, in a loser-out game. The teams split their two games, with the Spartans winning 75-61 on their home court to finish the regular season. The Scots knocked them off 55-52 to win the District Championship ten days later.

The winner of that game figures to face Nathan Hale in the quarter-finals. The number one ranked team in the country had a great recruiting off-season.

Tournament bracket can be found here