A season that started with so much promise for the Mountlake Terrace Hawks came to an end Saturday as the Hawks were beaten by the Burlington-Edison Tigers 59-43 in a District 1/2 2A Boys Basketball Tournament loser-out game played at Mt. Vernon High School.

With the defeat, Terrace is eliminated from the district tournament and ends the 2018-2019 season with an overall record of 15-7.

A victory on Saturday would have qualified the Hawks for the regional round of the WIAA state basketball tournament play for the fourth year in a row and eighth time in the past nine years. Instead, the team will be watching the 2019 state tourney from the sidelines.

The District 1/2 2A tournament No. 3-seed Hawks were never able to challenge the hard-charging No. 5-seed Tigers on Saturday. Burlington-Edison built a 35-19 halftime lead with a balanced offensive attack and stingy defense, then converted 14 of 15 second-half free throws to hold off any comeback by Mountlake Terrace.

The Hawks, who had been averaging an even 60 points per game going into Saturday’s contest, dug themselves a hole early by scoring only six points in the first quarter. The game total of 43 points was Terrace’s third-lowest offensive production of the season and their lowest against a 2A opponent.

Burlington-Edison’s Jackson Reisner and Taino Ferdinand each scored 15 points in the win; teammate Wyatt Walker contributed 12 points for the Tigers.

Terrace had gained some attention when they won their first eight contests of the season and rose to as high as No. 3 in the WIAA 2A state RPI rankings. After team lost five of their next seven games — including an emotionally-draining buzzer-beater loss at home to Lynnwood on January 18 — the Hawks seemed to right the ship with four straight wins to close the season.

The 12-team district tourney featured eight squads from the highly-competitive Northwest League that included to state champions from last year — Lynden and Lynden Christian. Terrace’s two tournament losses this past week were to two Northwest League teams, Sehome and Burlington-Edison.

To view the entire District 1/2 2A Boys Basketball Tournament bracket, click www.wescoathletics.com/tournament.php?tournament_id=2779&sport=3.

Prep Basketball: Burlington-Edison vs. Mountlake Terrace, Feb. 16 (District 1/2 2A Boys Basketball Tournament winner-to-regional/state, loser-out game)

Burlington-Edison 16 19 12 12 — 59

Mountlake Terrace  6 13  8 16 — 43

Mountlake Terrace individual scoring: Mason Petersen 9, Jace Breakfield 8, Mason Christianson 7, Bradey Blackmer 5, Trazz Pepper 4, JesseJames Martineau 3, Jeffrey Anyimah 3, Trevor Leen 2, Robbie Baringer 2

Burlington-Edison individual scoring: Jackson Reisner 15, Taino Ferdinand 15, Wyatt Walker 12, DJ Clark 6, Logan Wright 4, Brian McGovern 4, Michael Larson 3, Erik Altenhofen, Connor Nelson, Alex Thurmond, Isaac Donovan

Records: Mountlake Terrace 15-7 overall; Burlington-Edison 18-6 overall

Mountlake Terrace next game: 2018-2019 season completed

— By Doug Petrowski