The Oak Harbor boys basketball team put a fright in Meadowdale before falling to the host Mavericks 46-38 Tuesday, Jan. 4.

Meadowdale (4-1, 6-5), the Wesco 3A second-place team, outscored the Wildcats 29-14 in the middle periods to pull out the win.

Oak Harbor jumped to an 8-3 lead behind Mike Washington’s two three-point buckets. At that point the Mavericks switched to a box-and-one defense which slowed Washington until the fourth quarter.

As Meadowdale put the defensive focus on Washington, the other Wildcats were unable to pick up the slack.

Oak Harbor led 12-9 after the first period, but trailed 22-16 at halftime. The Maverick lead jumped to 16 in the third quarter before Oak Harbor bounced back and chopped the gap to six in the fourth quarter.

The Wildcats fouled at the end but couldn’t take advantage of the missed Maverick free throws.

Poor shooting again plagued the Wildcats, who hit just 29 percent of their shots (14-for-48). Meadowdale shot 40.5 percent (17-for-42).

Two of Oak Harbor’s top scoring threats, Jay Stout and Stevie Bratt, combined to shoot just 4-of-19, and finished with four and seven points respectively. Washington Jr. finished with 15 points and seven rebounds. Bratt grabbed nine boards. Denzel Massey scored seven points, Drew Washington three and Connor Paul two.

Meadowdale out rebounded Oak Harbor 34-30, but committed two more turnovers (14 to 12).

Oak Harbor coach Mike Washington Sr. was pleased with his players’ defensive effort. He added, “Denzel was solid; didn’t try to do too much. Mike was solid.”

Washington Sr. said, “We battled all night. I am really proud of our program. I am not upset; the kids played well. It was a respectable game.”

Oak Harbor (1-4, 2-9) journeys to Shorecrest (3-2, 6-5) Friday, Jan. 7, and then comes home for two games next week with first-place Glacier Peak (5-0, 8-3) Tuesday, Jan. 11, and Lynnwood (1-4, 2-8) Friday, Jan. 14. All games start at 7:30 p.m.