A frigid first quarter doomed the Oak Harbor High School boys basketball team in a 71-49 loss at Marysville-Pilchuck Friday, Feb. 5.

The loss eliminated the Wildcats (1-8, 2-17) from postseason contention. They will finish the season at home with Everett (4-5, 7-12) at 7:15 p.m. Monday, Feb. 8.

The win was second-place M-P’s (7-2, 8-10) fourth in a row and seventh in the past nine games after a 1-8 start.

Oak Harbor came out cold against the Tomahawks, trailing 15-1 after the first quarter.

“We were getting good looks but couldn’t get anything to drop,” coach John Weston said. “Eventually we started making some shots. Toward the end of the second quarter and through the fourth I thought we played them really tough and outscored them, we just dug ourselves too big of a hole to climb out of.”

Marysville-Pilchuck scored in 13 points in its first 20 possessions; Oak Harbor, one.

In addition to the cold shooting, Oak Harbor “gave up too many offensive boards for second chance points and 13 points on free throws,” Weston said.

The Wildcats’ offense picked up in the second quarter, but so did Marysville-Pilchuck’s. M-P led 44-16 at halftime.

Oak Harbor outscored the Tomahawks 33-27 in the second half.

Dyllan Harris scored 19 points for the Wildcats, Malcolm Jackson had nine, Adam Nelson six, Sean Erskine six, Diangelo McKinney five and Preston Rankin four.

“I was impressed with the way Adam Nelson took control of the offense after the first quarter,” Weston said. “I also thought we got a good spark from Preston and Malcolm; they helped us get going offensively. Dyllan didn’t shoot as well as normal but was able to get some buckets in transition and from offensive boards.”