Wildcats rally to defeat Bellingham / Boys basketball

Adding a little happy to its holidays, the Oak Harbor High School boys basketball team came from 20 points down to win 70-65 at Bellingham Saturday, Dec. 22.

The non-league win helped soothe the sting of a sloppy 62-41 conference loss to visiting Lynnwood the previous night.

Oak Harbor (1-2, 3-5) entertains Mount Vernon (6-3) in a non-league game at 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 28.

Oak Harbor 70, Bellingham 65

“It was a great team win,” coach John Weston said. “The guys played awesome.”

Most of the “awesome” came in the second half.

The Raiders, behind 8 points by Rand Bentley, raced to a 19-7 first-quarter lead. Bellingham (3-6) led by 15, 38-23, at halftime.

Despite hitting only four of 12 free throws in the third period, the Wildcats came storming back.

“I credit the second half rally to the way Gavin Allen and Haven Brown started the half, putting the team on their backs,” Weston said. “Shortly after the rest of the team rallied around them and all contributed.

“Austin Boesch made some incredible passes in the second half and also hit a few big shots.”

Boesch sank a pair of three-balls and scored 8 points, while Allen, Brown and Matt Kelley all had 6, and Oak Harbor exploded for 27 points in the third period to trim the gap to 5, 55-50, heading into the final frame.

The Wildcats scored 8 points in the first two minutes of the fourth quarter to tie the game at 58 and took the lead a minute later.

Dorian Hardin scored 13 of his game-high 24 points in the fourth period to help the Wildcats secure the lead.

Allen finished with 12 points, Boesch 10, Kelley 8, Brown 7, Kevin Schuldt 7 and Andrew Baloy 2.

Bentley tallied 18 for the Raiders.

“All of our momentum came from what we were able to do on the defensive end of the floor,” Weston said. “I also want to give credit to the energy brought from our bench and our JV and C-team guys sitting behind the bench; they were great.”

Lynnwood 62, Oak Harbor 41

Lynnwood’s pressure crippled the Wildcats and helped the Royals survive to win a mistake-filled game that featured 53 turnovers, 31 by Oak Harbor.

“Any game where you turn it over as often as we did is going to be hard to win,” Weston said. “We did a much better job on the defensive boards tonight, and we also forced a lot of TO’s from Lynnwood, forcing 22, which is typically enough to win a game, but they were able to force nine more and capitalize on them.”

The Royals outscored Oak Harbor 26-14 off turnovers.

Lynnwood (3-1, 3-5) led 17-10 after the first quarter and steadily pulled away.

Hardin scored 13 points; Schuldt 8; Allen 6; Brown 3; Terrell Crumpton, Ta’Shaun Howard, Rylee Simmons, Baloy and Boesch 2 each; and Kelley 1.

Allen added three assists and three steals; Howard had two assists and two steals; and Hardin and Kelley registered three steals each.

Jayden Acosta scored 16 points for Lynnwood.