M-P boys, Arlington girls advance at state; Eagle boys ousted

Swish, swish, swish.

Windshield wipers? Nope. A broom? Nope.

What kept making that sound Saturday at Everett Community College were shots put up by Marysville-Pilchuck junior guard Luke Dobler.

Inside, outside, all around the town his shots were hitting nothing but net as he scored a career-high 33 points in leading the Tomahawks to a state regional romp over Kelso 72-51.

In other games involving local teams, the Arlington girls put up a fight before losing to top-ranked Prairie 55-46. And the Eagles boys team was eliminated from the state tourney Friday, falling in double overtime to Wilson 63-54.

In the state tournament at the Tacoma Dome Thursday, fourth-ranked M-P will play the winner of Wednesday’s game between 11th ranked O’Dea and sixth-ranked Lincoln at 3:45 p.m. If they win, they play Friday at 5 p.m. and if they win that they play at 5 Saturday for the 3A title. If they lose Thursday they would play at 12:15 p.m. Friday. Depending on the outcome of those games they would play for third or fifth Saturday at 1:30 or fourth or sixth at 9:30 a.m.

For the eighth-ranked Arlington girls, they play a loser-out game Wednesday against ninth-ranked West Seattle at 2 p.m. If they win they play No. 2 Mount Spokane at 2:30 p.m. Thursday.

In last weekend’s M-P game, Kelso was never in it as the Tomahawks went on a 14-0 run in the first quarter to take a commanding 18-4 lead.

As the M-P student section chanted “D-Up” the Tommies did just that with numerous steals and blocked shots.

After the only senior on the team, RaeQuan Battle, assisted on two buckets by Cameron Stordahl, Dobler started his streak hitting 3’s from right of the key, from the corner and from NBA distance at the top of the key. He also scored a fastbreak bucket, and Brady Phelps passed to Ethan Jackson for the other two inside.

Dobler hit a bucket and another 3 to start the second period as M-P built a 34-13 lead when Phelps knocked down a 3. Kelso star Shaw Anderson, who is headed to Seattle Pacific next year, scored two 3-point plays to get the Hilanders to within 12. But Dobler connected on four three throws to make it 40-22 at the half. Dobler already had 20 points by halftime, while Anderson led Kelso with 13 of his 22 points.

Neither team could score the first half of the third quarter until Battle hit his first bucket of the afternoon at the 4:42 mark. But then he displayed the athleticism showing why he will be playing for the University of Washington next year.

Dribbling to the left of the key, Battle went backdoor behind the defenders and a lob pass from Dobler resulted in a slam dunk.

When Aaron Kalab missed a fastbreak layup Battle again ignited the crowd with a follow-up rebound and dunk all in one leap.

And when Battle stole the ball, resulting in a two-handed flush, the crowd went wild.

Stordahl followed that up with a deep 3 to put the Tommies ahead 55-34 after three quarters.

Adding to his highlight reel in the fourth, Stordahl stole the ball and passed to Battle for a one-handed jam to make it 59-34.

Not to be outdone, Dobler hit three more 3’s in the final quarter – he had seven on the night – one a bank shot showing just how hot he was, that gave M-P its largest lead of the game at 65-36.

Battle finished the game with 16 followed by Stordahl with 9, Phelps 5, Jackson 4, Kalab 3, and with 1 each T.J. Severn and Alec Jones-Smith .

Arlington boys

In the Arlington boys game, it was a defensive battle the entire way as only five Eagles scored.

After a back-and-forth first quarter, Wilson raced to a 20-12 lead with a 12-3 run to start the second. Arlington cut the lead to five when senior Anthony Whitis scored on a layup in the final seconds to make it 25-20.

Whitis kept things going in the third, knocking down an early 3 to pull the Eagles within two, and senior Josh Gutierrez gave Arlington its first lead since the first quarter when he drained a 3 for his only bucket of the night.

Wilson took the lead right back, but Whitis cut the Eagles’ deficit back down to two at the end of third quarter with a pair of 3-pointers.

Trailing 40-36 early in the fourth quarter, Griffin Gardoski hit the first of his three triples and sank another on the next possession. Whitis, who scored a game-high 22 points, put Arlington back on top, 45-43, with his sixth 3-pointer of the night.

Both teams traded missed opportunities until the final buzzer of regulation sounded with the scored knotted at 45-45.

Arlington was cold in the first overtime, but fought its way back with both teams scoring 10 points.

Gardoski, who had 17 points, hit a step-back 3 with 3.9 seconds left to send the game to a second overtime.

The Eagles simply couldn’t find the bottom of the net in the second overtime, failing to score until Gardoski hit an open layup with less than 30 seconds remaining after the Rams had rattled off the first 11 points of the period.

Will Abram scored 8 and Ayodele Aribibola 4 for Arlington.

Arlington girls

In the state playoffs, teams are going to run into other teams with stars heading to play college ball.

Arlington found that out Saturday at Battle Ground.

Cassidy Gardner, who is headed to Portland State, hit 8 of 15 shots, 5 of 10 from 3-point range, to lead Prairie to victory with 25 points.

Prairie never trailed after Brooke Walling gave the Falcons an 11-9 first-quarter lead. Walling scored 11 points and had three blocked shots.

Prairie led by as many as 15 points twice, including 51-36 with 3:29 to play. Arlington made a little run at the end but it was too little too late.

Sierra Scheppele led the Eagles with 10, followed by Keira Marsh with 9, Josie Stupey 7, Abbey Hassing 6, Allison DeBerry 5, Abby Schwark 3 and with 2 each Jordan Bartlow and Makenzie Gage.

M-P boys, Arlington girls advance at state; Eagle boys ousted
M-P boys, Arlington girls advance at state; Eagle boys ousted
M-P boys, Arlington girls advance at state; Eagle boys ousted
M-P boys, Arlington girls advance at state; Eagle boys ousted
M-P boys, Arlington girls advance at state; Eagle boys ousted
M-P boys, Arlington girls advance at state; Eagle boys ousted
M-P boys, Arlington girls advance at state; Eagle boys ousted
M-P boys, Arlington girls advance at state; Eagle boys ousted
M-P boys, Arlington girls advance at state; Eagle boys ousted
M-P boys, Arlington girls advance at state; Eagle boys ousted
M-P boys, Arlington girls advance at state; Eagle boys ousted
M-P boys, Arlington girls advance at state; Eagle boys ousted
M-P boys, Arlington girls advance at state; Eagle boys ousted
M-P boys, Arlington girls advance at state; Eagle boys ousted
M-P boys, Arlington girls advance at state; Eagle boys ousted