Second-quarter surge carries Seagulls over ’Cats / Boys basketball

Published 1:30 am Monday, January 30, 2017

Everett outscored the Oak Harbor High School boys basketball team by 12 points in the second quarter, and that proved to be the difference in the Seagulls’ 48-36 win on the Wildcats’ court Friday, Jan. 27.

Oak Harbor (0-10, 2-15) will take a break from league play when it hosts Burlington-Edison (6-9) in a non-conference game at 7:15 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 31. The Wildcats wrap up the regular season with two Western Conference games: at Marysville-Pilchuck (5-4, 10-7) Friday, Feb. 3, and against Meadowdale (4-5, 5-12) at home Monday, Feb. 6.

Everett (5-5, 10-8) scored 18 points in the second quarter and held the Wildcats to 6 on the way to its win Friday.

With the scored tied at 7 midway through the first quarter, Everett finished the half on a 26-10 run to lead 15-11 and 33-17 after the first two periods.

Oak Harbor’s Adam Nelson scored 8 points in the third quarter, the final bucket on a nice assist from JJ Mitchell, and the Wildcats cut the lead to 8, 37-29 with just over three minutes left in the period.

Oak Harbor’s comeback bid then stalled. The Wildcats wouldn’t hit another field goal until Nelson converted at the final buzzer.

Nelson finished with 16 points, Mitchell 6, Justin Ellison and Ozell Jackson 5 each, Weston Whitefoot 2, Joe Arinaza 1 and Gabe Salinger 1.

“I thought we played good half-court defense,” Oak Harbor coach John Weston said. “Also, in the second half we did a much better job against their press.”

Desmond Burton scored 15 points and Wes Erickson 14 for the Seagulls.