’Cats can’t recover from T-birds big start / Boys basketball

Shorewood used a red-hot first quarter to defeat the Oak Harbor High School boys basketball team, slipping by the visiting Wildcats 49-41 Tuesday, Jan. 3.

The win was the first of winter for the Thunderbirds (1-2, 1-10), while Oak Harbor fell to 2-8 (0-3).

Shorewood shot 66 percent in the first quarter, including hitting three of five from beyond the arc, to go up 22-11. Oak Harbor was able to “buckle down defensively” from that point, according to coach John Weston, and the T-birds shot less than 30 percent in the remaining quarters but hung on for the win.

“We did a good job getting stops and forced some big turnovers,” Weston said. “Unfortunately we were not able to consistently convert on the offensive end to take advantage of the momentum we were gaining on the defensive end.”

Shorewood pushed its lead to 17 points, 29-12, early in the second period, then Oak Harbor finished the half on a 9-2 run to cut the gap to 31-21.

The Wildcats trailed 38-30 going into the fourth period and got within five, 42-35, before falling.

Oak Harbor failed to take advantage of the three statistical categories it dominated. The Wildcats forced 19 turnovers to their own 10 but were outscored off mistakes 7-6. Oak Harbor committed 12 fouls, seven less than Shorewood, but made only five of 14 free throws to 8-for-10 for the Thunderbirds. The Wildcats missed all 14 of their three-point attempts; Shorewood hit five of 22.

The poor night at the foul line “really killed us,” Weston said. “We had plenty of opportunities to take the lead and potentially win the game late in the fourth.

“Give the Shorewood program credit, they were hungry for the win and were able to capitalize on our lack of conversion.

“We gave ourselves opportunity to win, and that’s where we want to be at the end of games.”

The Thunderbirds outrebounded Oak Harbor 47-26 and outscored the Wildcats 16-3 in transition points.

Ozell Jackson led the Oak Harbor offense with 10 points. Ty Baker scored 6; Kevin Schuldt 5; Weston Whitefoot, Adam Nelson, JJ Mitchell and Gavin Allen 4 each; and Justin Ellison and Gabe Salinger 2 apiece.

Ellison added six rebounds and Mitchell five; Nelson took three charges.

“I was really happy with performances by Ty Baker and Kevin Schuldt,” Weston said. “They both sparked us with some offense when we were struggling to score. I was also pleased with Malcolm (Ozell) Jackson’s performance; I think he had his highest scoring output of the season.”

Oak Harbor hosts sixth-ranked Stanwood (3-0, 10-1) at 7:15 p.m. Friday, Jan. 6.