Saturday, Jan. 6, was game day for the Mountlake Terrace High School basketball teams as the varsity, JV and C squads prepared to host their counterparts from Mount Tahoma High School for an afternoon and evening of matchups on the hardwood.

Unfortunately for the players, coaches and fans of the two schools, those games never happened as Mount Tahoma discovered a drive up Interstate 5 through Seattle can occasionally be as difficult as a drive to the hoop against a stubborn Hawks defense.

The games — scheduled to be played on the Hawks home floor — had to be called off as the buses bringing the Thunderbirds never made it all the way to Mountlake Terrace due to a closure of the northbound lanes of I-5 in downtown Seattle.

As described by the Washington State Patrol, “a large number of protestors participated in a coordinated and intentional disruption of traffic” that rendered I-5 “impassible” for nearly five hours.

The unexpected closure of the lanes caught the Mount Tahoma coaches by surprise and it was determined that afternoon their pre-planned travel arrangements wouldn’t get the teams to Mountlake Terrace in time for the full slate of games.

Those contests have been rescheduled for Saturday, Jan. 20, at Edmonds-Woodway High School — much to the delight of players and coaches from both schools.

With the prep basketball season in its second half, a complete cancellation of the games between the two schools was a looming possibility. Mountlake Terrace coach Nalin Sood said he’s relieved that a new date for the games was found and that the contests will take place.

“Kids need to play games, they love to play,” Sood said.

Sood also noted that the varsity matchup between the two programs will provide another strong test for his squad.

“(It’s) an opportunity to play a different team, a very good team, and take on the challenges that come with that,” he said. “(It’s) why we scheduled the game originally.”

The Thunderbirds varsity team is 7-4 this season and ranked in the top third of all 3A teams in the state, according to the WIAA RPI rankings; at 11-1, the Hawks are currently the state’s No.1-ranked Class 3A team.

Getting the Hawks-Thunderbirds games rescheduled had a complication in that the Mountlake Terrace gym for Jan. 20 was already booked with an all-day prep wrestling tournament. So Sood called upon some of the Edmonds School District athletic department leaders to help find a different venue for the basketball games; they did in Edmonds-Woodway.

“ESD athletic administrators always work collaboratively,” Sood said. “And at the forefront of their thinking is ‘what is best for kids, fans and coaches.’ I appreciated Angie McGuire (the district Athletic Director), Sharalee Malloy (MTHS Athletic Director) and Tyler Geving (E-W Athletic Director) for their support to make sure this game would get played.”

The schedule is set for the Terrace-Mount Tahoma games on Jan. 20, with the ‘C’ team matchup tipping off at 5:30 p.m., the JV game taking place on an adjacent court at 5:40 p.m. and the varsity clash starting at 7:15 p.m.

That is, if I-5 is clear and Mount Tahoma makes it through Seattle on game day.

— by Doug Petrowski