By Quint Turner

The third-ranked Mountlake Terrace Hawks downed the Meadowdale Mavs 72-36 Wednesday night in what is a likely preview of the first game of districts. Blake Fernandez led all scorers with 15 and five Hawks scored at least eight points. The game was at Meadowdale, but the Terrace fans took over and made the Hawks feel at home. Torin Dooley scored 14 to lead the Mavericks.

The first quarter started well enough for Meadowdale. Two minutes in, Dooley had a great drive through the stingy Hawk defense and finger-rolled a shot in to make it 4-2. Eric Moisant saw that, and responded by draining a three. The Hawks only shot 4 for 15 from beyond the arc, but they made up for it with lots of field goals. A few minutes after that three, Moisant caught an offensive rebound and put it back to make it a 9-3 game. Then Greg Bowman capped the 9-1 run with a three of his own to make it a 13-3.

But the Mavs weren’t out of it yet. Dooley hit a three to make it just 15-9. However, Terrace continued to score by spreading the ball around. Dooley tried again to get MHS back in it when he faked a pass at the top of the key, then drove through everyone for a lay-in and cut the deficit to 19-12. The Mavs were down 23-13 after the quarter though.

The Mavs got outscored 19-3 in the second. Now, you’d think that the reason for such a low-scoring quarter was lots of turnovers, but it was the Terrace defense putting a hand in the face of any open shots for Meadowdale. Right away, the Hawks went on a 6-0 run, which included a spin move by Fernandez for easy access to the bucket, and then Bowman floated a pass down to Coby Russell, who scored a tough lay-up in traffic to make it 27-13. Dooley scored the only field goal for the Mavs on a mid-range jumper with 4:30 left and it was 29-15. Right after, the Hawks went on another 6-0 run, capped off by a great isolation move by Marquis Armstead to get around the D and hit a lay-in to make it 35-15.

Spencer Linton took a nasty spill after missing a midrange floater, and he came up limping. He’d be taken out of the game for the quarter, but came back in the third. The Hawks closed out the quarter on a 7-0 run. That was capped off when Russell took a pass at midcourt and went on a breakaway. He threw down a two-handed slam a few seconds before the buzzer, and it was 42-16 Hawks at the end of the half.

The third was more of the same for the Hawks. On Linton’s first shift back, he stole the ball at midcourt, went on a breakaway, and hit an easy lay-up to make it 44-20. But Fernandez imitated the move and he drove through traffic and hit a lay-in. Then it was Moisant again as he swished a three, then stole the ball and went on a breakaway for another two points, and it was 53-22 with 4:15 left. Kenley Ackerman of the Mavs scored his only field goal of the game when he drove by the Hawk defense, thanks to a sweet crossover move, and he hit a finger-roll to get the score to 55-22. Armstead hit a lay-in just before the quarter ended, and it was 63-24 MTHS at the end of three.

The Mavs outscored the Hawks 12-9 in the fourth. Dooley had a ridiculous lay-up when he shifted his entire weight from one foot to the other while going up, and he was fouled as well. He hit the free throw, and the Mavs cut the deficit to 63-27. Then the Mavs went on a 6-0 run after another Hawk bucket that was capped by Colin Costello clowning the Hawk D with a one handed lay-in after a nifty move to get open, making it 65-33. That would be the closest the Mavs came to coming back though, and they lost 72-36.

With the win, the Hawks are now 19-0 (15-0 in conference), and their final game of the season is at Shorewood this Saturday, at 7:15 p.m. With the loss, the Mavs fall to 6-14 (4-11 in conference). Meadowdale has their last game at home, vs. Marysville-Getchell on Friday at 7:15 p.m.

Meadowdale Scoreboard: Kenley Ackerman 2; Charlie White 1; Collin Costello 3; Tyler Ackerman 2; Grantland Over 2; Spencer Linton 2; Matt Hirsch 8; Brian Feldhaus 2; Torin Dooley 14

Sports contributor Quint Turner is a sophomore at Meadowdale High School.