MOUNT VERNON — Ocosta’s history-making season came to an abrupt end on Saturday, Feb. 27. The Wildcats went cold in the second half and fell to Friday Harbor 62-52 in a Class 2B Regional contest at Mount Vernon High School.
While the 2015-16 Ocosta squad will remain a trivia answer as the best regular-season record in school history, the Wildcats will come up one game short of the state tournament and finish with a 22-5 record. Friday Harbor (19-4) will continue on to Spokane next week.
Ocosta got rolling in the first half and led by as many as nine points, but the wheels seemed to come off for the Wildcat offense in the third quarter. Senior 6-foot-6 post Connor Pegg, who had been controlling the paint for the first 16 minutes, picked up two quick fouls in the third quarter and went to the bench.
With Pegg on the bench, the Wildcats were unable to have the inside-out movement they had in the first half and they scored just two field goals the rest of the half. The Wolverines took advantage of their chance and hit 3-pointers on back-to-back-to-back possessions grabbing the lead for good. From there, Friday Harbor stayed just out of reach for Ocosta.
“In the second half, they just made more shots than we did, that is really what it came down to,” Ocosta coach Jason Quinby said. “I don’t think we were nearly as aggressive at attacking in the second half as we needed to be. We could have forced the issue a little bit more on offense. We settled at times. I don’t know if it was fatigue or what, but in the second half we just didn’t make shots.”
It was a tail of two presses for Ocosta. Trailing 11-9 in the first quarter, the Wildcats’ full-court press began to force the Wolverines to turn the ball over and Ocosta went on an 8-0 run fueled by its defense. The Wildcats went on another 8-0 run in the second quarter, capped by a Kyle Bambauer layup to give Ocosta a 35-26 lead with 22 seconds left in the half.
In the second half, it was Friday Harbor that began to employ a 2-2-1 full-court press to get the Wildcats to speed up play and turnover the ball. The Wolverines pressure defense led to the trio of treys by Eli Cooper West, Jake Lowe and Luke Stromberg.
In the fourth quarter, the Wolverine press continued to give the Wildcats fits, forcing turnovers on three straight possessions and allowing Friday Harbor to take a 7-point lead with 2:30 to go in the contest. Down the stretch, Friday Harbor made 9-of-14 free throws to seal the victory.
Over the final 16 minutes, the Wildcats shot an uncharacteristically icy 1-for-13 from 3-point range.
Bambauer and Zach Allton each finished with 13 points, with Bambauer adding nine rebounds and Allton swiping three steals. Pegg finished with 12 points, seven rebounds and four blocks.
Quinby cited seniors Bambauer, Pegg, Anthony Juarez, Peter Samuelson, Matthew Clark and Ryan Short for their effort throughout the season and thanked them for their dedication to the program.
“I’m going to miss how hard these kids work each and every day,” Quinby said. “It was fun to show up to practice. I enjoyed coaching these guys and watching them grow. They’ve taken Ocosta to another level.”
Ocosta 17 18 7 10 — 52
Friday Harbor 14 15 15 18 — 62
Ocosta (52) — Bailey, Juarez 3, Allton 13, Beck, Samuelson 2, Bambauer 13, Thomas 8, Bjornsgard, Short 1, Mitby, Pegg 12. FG — 23-60 (.383). FT — 2-8.
Friday Harbor (62) — Cooper West 11, Mayer 5, Sonjaya, Stromberg 17, Gustafson 13, Lowe 3, Mapstead 2, Vincent, Jangard 11. FG — 19-50 (.380). FT — 15-24.