Depleted by eligibility problems and players on vacation, the Oak Harbor High School basketball team dropped its fifth-straight game Friday night, losing to visiting Everett 60-56.
The Wildcats are now 1-2 in WesCo North games and 2-5 overall.
“What we need to do is get all our players on the court,” coach Mike Washington said. “The players we have out there are battling, but they need help. We have some of our players who are not out there or are out of town, and we’re simply not ready.”
Oak Harbor had a tough time scoring in the first period and fell behind 16-10 after the first eight minutes of action.
Eric McCardle scored the first five points for the Wildcats in the second quarter to cut the lead to a single point, but the Seagulls went on an 8-1 run to up the margin once again.
McCardle’s third trey of the period with 1:33 left made the score 26-24, but Everett put in a pair of buckets in the waning moments to hold a 30-25 halftime lead.
Oak Harbor cut the lead to three points twice early in the third quarter before the Seagulls went on another run to push the lead to 37-31.
But the Wildcats didn’t quit and were down by one point, 44-43, heading into the fourth quarter.
McCardle, who finished with a game-high 20 points, scored at the 7:25 mark to give Oak Harbor its first lead, and the two teams traded baskets until late in the quarter when four free throws by Flynn Mattson put the game away for Everett.
Mattson finished with 18 points for Everett and Rendel Jones had 17.
Bryce Schulle scored 12 points for Oak Harbor and teammate Robert Brooks had 11.
“We just have to apply ourselves better and put ourselves in a position to win,” Washington said. “The players I had out there tonight played to the best of their abilities, but it’s frustrating. You want to be able to put your best players on the court and they aren’t there.”
Everett 60, Oak Harbor 56
Everett 16 14 14 16 — 60
Oak Harbor 10 15 18 13 — 56
Everett (60) — Flynn Mattson 6 6-7 18, Rendel Jones 7 3-4 17, Stephen Homer 2 0-0 6, Will Brown 0 1-2 1, Dustin Gunnerson 0 0-0 0, Derrick Grim Jr. 1 0-0 2, Michael Murray 3 1-2 9, Mikey Nguyen 0 1-2 1, Jake Frauenholtz 0 0-0 0, Val Hennings 2 2-2 6. Totals 21 14-17 60.
Oak Harbor (56) — Eric McCardle 8 0-0 20, Bryce Schulle 4 2-6 12, Robert Brooks 4 3-4 11, Jake Rouser 3 0-1 6, Beaux Haley 1 2-2 4, James Edens 0 0-0 0, Tre Haslom 0 0-1 0, Jay Stout 0 2-3 2, Josh Fiske 0 1-2 1. Totals 40 10-19 56.
Three-point goals — Everett 4 (Homer 2, Murray 2); Oak Harbor 6 (McCardle 4, Schulle 2). Total fouls — Everett 17, Oak Harbor 17. Fouled out — Brooks.
