By Quint Turner

Not even the perpetual double-team was able to stop Josh Hawkinson as he managed to score 30 points in a 69-55 Shorewood victory over Meadowdale Tuesday at the Stable.

The Mavs tried their best to keep Hawkinson contained, but not even Jacob Perkins could stop the 6-8 behemoth. Taylor Freeman scored 15 points for the T-Birds in support, while Griffin Over led all MHS scorers with 16 points. The T-Birds led all game, thanks to shooting 21 from 25 at the free throw line, which helped them keep some distance. The Mavs hit only 12 of 21 free throws, but  knocked down 7 of 21 from behind the arc.

The T-Birds got off to a 5-0 lead to start the first. Zane Hopen drove through the hole in the Maverick defense, which was left there when they double-teamed Hawkinson, and Hopen scored a nifty lay-in. Over hit his first of four threes in the game right afterwards; he notched this one from the corner of the court, and made it 5-3 T-Birds. Soon after, Hawkinson received a pass in the paint. He took the double-team head on and managed to hit the lay-in to make it 9-5 T-Birds with 5:30 to go.

Back the other way, Collin Costello drove into the paint and then banked a tough shot off the glass and in over Hawkinson to get the Mavs to 12-7. The T-Birds got their last points of the quarter when Ben Andrews faked a three-pointer attempt, then dished it down low to Hawkinson. He did the rest, and it was 16-9. Costello hit a three just before time expired to make the score 16-12 Shorewood after the end of the first.

Hawkinson started the second quarter the way he ended the first: he hit two contested lay-ins to put the T-Birds up 20-12. Over responded by hitting a three to bring the score to 20-15. The Mavs got within a point of Shorewood before Karson Gronvold restored the lead to three points with a long two-pointer, making it 24-21 SHS with 1:30 to play. The Mavs continued to fight, and Kenley Ackerman hit a long two-pointer of his own to cut the deficit to one. However, the T-Birds went on a short 6-0 run in the last minute to get up 30-23. Chikodi Ezeokeke managed to hit a one-handed floater just before time expired to make the score 30-25 T-Birds at half. 13 of the T-Bird points were scored by Hawkinson.

Hawkinson continued to dominate in the paint in the second half. He hit three straight contested lay-ins as well as a free throw to give the T-Birds a 7-0 run in the first two and a half minutes. The run was broken when Aidan O’Neill hit a free throw, but it took until 3:30 remained in the quarter before the Mavs hit their first field goal of the half. That came when Eyasu Mulugetta hit a three-pointer to get the score to 42-31, Shorewood.

From then on, scoring in the quarter was back-and-forth. Freeman dribbled past the Maverick defense with 2:45 to play and hit a lay-in to give the Hawks their largest lead of the night at 51-31. Back the other way, Ezeokeke hit a three while being fouled; he made the free throw as well to complete the rare four-point play, and brought the score to 51-36 with 1:00 to play. Just before the quarter ended, Ezeokeke stole an in-bounds pass at halfcourt, then went on a breakaway. He hit the lay-in as time expired, and the Mavs went in to the fourth quarter down only 52-38.

The first basket of the fourth was scored by Charlie White after he dribbled past the T-Bird defense and hit a lay-in to get the Mavs within 12. That was the closest the Mavs got to tying up the score for the rest of the game. The T-Birds were able to close the game out thanks to their 88-percent free throw shooting percentage, which kept the Mavs from starting a comeback. Meadowdale was behind 20 points for most of the quarter as the game wound down until Over hit back-to-back three pointers with under a minute to go to bring the score to 69-55. The game would end with that score, and the T-Birds got a big conference win over the Mavericks.

With the win, the T-Birds improve to 3-2 on the year (2-0 in conference). Their next game is Friday at Mountlake Terrace, at 7:15 p.m., which should be a preview of the district finals. As for the Mavs, they fall to 2-4 (0-2 in conference), and will play at Glacier Peak on Friday, at 7:15.

Meadowdale Scorers: Jacob Perkins 1; Caleb Tingstad 2; Kenley Ackerman 4; Collin Costello 5; Aidan O’Neill 5; Eyasu Mulugetta 5; Charlie White 7; Chikodi Ezeokeke 10; Griffin Over 16
Shorewood Scorers: Max Hundhausen 1; Karson Gronvold 2; Brandon Mar 3; Zane Hopen 3; Ian Kirk 4; Ben Andrews 5; Zach Rattray 6; Taylor Freeman 15; Josh Hawkinson 30

Sports correspondent Quint Turner is a student at Meadowdale High School.