The Edmonds-Woodways boys basketball team lost another close game to South division rival Jackson 53-50. This is the second meeting between the first- and second-place teams and just like the first time, the Warrior boys played hard and kept it close, but left the Timberwolves’ gym without the victory.

The game started at a quick pace as both teams scored fairly easily in the first quarter, with Jackson taking a slight edge 17-15.  Wesco leading scorer Jason Todd tallied nine first-period points to pace Jackson. The Warriors, meanwhile, continued their balanced scoring trend of late with their 15 points being spread among six different players.

Edmonds-Woodway outscored the home team from Jackson 5-2 to begin the second period, but Jackson answered with a 10-0 run and suddenly it was 29-20 in favor of the Timberwolves.  E-W rallied back and finished the half with a 3-pointer from Devin Joseph to cut the margin to 31-27.  Joseph led the Warriors with eight first-half points, followed by Jason Smarr, Henry Olson and Travis Bakken with four each. The big story continued to be Jason Todd, scoring seemingly at will as he had 18 points in the firts half.

The third period saw the defensive intensity continue to rise and Jackson paid for it, drawing six quick fouls in the first two minutes of the quarter, including the fourth personal on 6-5 Connor Willgress, sending him to the bench.  Sadly, senior post Henry Olson’s battle with the flu kept him out of the second half as well.

Still, with Willgress sidelined, things got a little easier inside for Bakken and Smarr as the Warriors continued to hang close. Bakken and Smarr each scored six in the quarter to account for all 12 of the Warriors points. Unfortunately for E-W, Todd and Brian Zehr also scored six each and together with Dan Kingma’s long 3-pointer, increased their lead to 46-39 after three quarters.

In the fourth quarter, having  yielded 44 of the 46 points to just three Jackson players, the Warriors switched to a man-to-man defense. Meanwhile, senior guard Brad Rice came off the bench, nailing two quick 3-pointers and a foul shot as the Warriors quickly closed the gap to 50-46. Brian Zehr answered with a powerful dunk, which was answered by a knifing lay-in by Alex Hull.

Todd made one of two free throws to put Jackson up by five, but Bakken scored with a soft hook and suddenly the Warriors were down by just three. Edmonds-Woodway had the ball with 43 seconds left. Joseph drove to the basket, but was swarmed by three Jackson defenders and had his shot blocked with possession going to Jackson. The Warriors were forced to foul, sending an extremely good foul shooter Kingma to the line. Kingma, however, missed the front end of a one-and-one and the Warriors rebounded — and following a timeout, had 3.6 seconds left to try to tie the game with a 3-pointer.

Inbounding from the far baseline, Hull’s pass was deflected, so Joseph scrambled and heaved up a desperation half-court shot that went long, resulting in the final three-point loss for the Warriors.

Jackson remains undefeated, moving to 11-0 in league and 15-0 overall. With District playoffs only a few weeks away, the Warriors can take some solace in knowing that the closest Jackson has come to defeat is in their two game with the boys from E-W.  The Warriors dropped into a tie for second place in the Wesco south with Kamiak Four games remain to be played in league,   including a home game with Kamiak and also a crucial road match-up with Mariner, which trails both teams by just a game.

Warrior statistical leaders included  Bakken with 12 points along with eight rebounds, followed by Smarr, who had 10 points and eight boards. Joseph scored eight points and also added seven assists and three steals. Hull and Rice each had seven points with Rice being named the Action Jackson player of the game on Warrior Radio for his momentum-changing sequence early in the fourth quarter. Jackson’s Todd led all scorers with 29, followed by Zehr with 12 and Kingma with 10 as the three players accounted for 51 of the 53 Jackson points.

Up next for the Warriors is a home game Tuesday, Jan. 22 against Lynnwood, followed by a road game at Mariner on Jan. 25 and, of course, the big re-match with Kamiak at E-W on Jan. 28.

Warriors scoring:  Bakken 12, Smarr 10, Joseph 8, Hull 7, Rice 7, Olson 4, Lebesis 2, Langdale

Timberwolves scoring:  Todd 29, Zehr 12, Kingma 10, Willgress 2, Waite, Bates, Graff,