The old adage says when it rains, it pours.
If that was the case for the Oak Harbor boys basketball team, it experienced a monsoon Tuesday night.
The Wildcats (0-4, 0-7) fell victim to a barrage of second-half turnovers, resulting in a 57-43 home loss to WesCo North opponent Lake Stevens.
Up two points, 25-23 at halftime, Oak Harbor appeared to have a legitimate shot at its first victory of the season.
They came out frigid from the field and sloppy with the ball, however, to start the third quarter. The Wildcats hit just 2-of-7 shots from the field, while committing 10 turnovers.
“You’re not going to win many basketball games when you turn the ball over 10 times in a quarter,” OHHS head coach Bryan Schulle said.
Using a full-court man-to-man press, the Vikings caused all kinds of confusion among the Oak Harbor guards, never allowing the offense to get in sync.
Lake Stevens took advantage of its pressure on several easy transition baskets, while going on a 16-4 run in the third.
“Honestly I think in the second half they just came out with more intensity than us,” Schulle said.”They were excited and getting into it. They just wanted the game more than we did — and they got it.”
The Vikings kept up their pressure in the fourth quarter, never allowing the Wildcats to get closer than 12 points. The Wildcats finished the game with 27 turnovers.
Despite its second-half struggles, Oak Harbor looked strong to start the game. Junior guard Chris Hughes scored eight first-quarter points, connecting on several perimeter shots.
The Wildcats took the lead into the locker room after Bryce Waller nailed a 12-foot jump shot from the right wing just before the buzzer sounded.
Sophomore forward Dallas Heidt also had an impressive performance, putting in season and career varsity high 13 points.
“He shot the ball really well and looked confident,” Schulle said.
Senior guard and leading scorer Marc Ferguson was out of the lineup due to an unspecified team rule violation, but will return to the floor for the next game.
Winless in the first seven games, Schulle believes his team will start getting some wins in due time.
“We’ve got to keep our confidence, we’ve got to stay positive,” he said. “We’re going to win some basketball games.”
Oak Harbor hopes to move into that win column on Tuesday when they travel to face the final non-league opponent, Kamiak (4-2).
“They’re fairly big and pretty athletic,” Schulle said. “They present a pretty good non-league challenge for us.”
Oak Harbor has its next home game at 7:30 p.m., Friday, Jan. 7 at home against Arlington.
Lake Stevens 12 11 18 16 — 57
Oak Harbor 15 10 4 14 — 43
Scoring — Oak Harbor: Heidt 13, Hughes 10, Hunter 7, Lobbestael 4, Lopez 4, Waller 3, Hunt 2. Lake Stevens: Roe 16, Smith 13, Rojas 11, Tennant 5, Kinney 3, Merrill 3, Aker
2, Lasher 2, Walton 2.
