
Riding a 13-game winning streak, defeating foes by an average of 21.3 points during the streak and sitting atop various 3A state rankings, it seemed inevitable that the No. 1-ranked Mountlake Terrace boys basketball team would continue rolling along and capture postseason trophies, including a third straight District 1 tournament championship.
But someone forgot to inform the Arlington Eagles of Terrace’s supposed invincibility.
On Saturday, the Eagles not only stood toe to toe with the Hawks but flew past them, upsetting Mountlake Terrace 61-53 in the District 1 3A tournament title game at Marysville-Pilchuck High School.
Arlington, the No. 3 seed in the tournament, outscored Mountlake Terrace 27-14 in the fourth quarter to take home the District 1 championship hardware.

Mountlake Terrace Coach Nalin Sood chalked up the loss to Arlington’s ability to disrupt his squad’s regular rhythms.
“I just told the guys, when you get beat like that you’re going to do things at this point of the year that are uncharacteristic of you,” Sood said after the defeat. “And it’s either the other team did that or it’s a lack of focus. Give credit to Arlington; they played a good basketball game. They’re playing well.”
“And we could have been better focused,” Sood added.
The matchup was tight throughout the first three and a half quarters with three ties and 13 lead changes. The final swap of the lead came with 3:21 to go when Arlington’s Billy Kooy scored deep in the lane while being fouled by Terrace’s Gabe Towne; Kooy made the free throw to give the Eagles a 50-48 lead and begin a 14-5 Arlington run to finish the game.
While Kooy scored 10 points in the Eagles’ win, it was teammate Leyton Martin that was the biggest thorn in Terrace’s heel on Saturday. The junior point guard scored 27 points — 18 in the fourth quarter.

Sood called Martin’s ability to penetrate into the lane Arlington’s biggest disruption in his team’s usually stubborn defense.
“Number 2 (Martin) got in the paint and we didn’t guard that; we could have guarded that better,” Sood said. “Maybe we need to have a better scheme. I thought we were going to be able to keep him out of the paint better.”
Sood also said he believed his squad got outhustled in the contest’s final minutes.
“That’s when they (Arlington) got 50-50 (balls), they got second shots and those second shots were the difference in the basketball game,” Sood said.

Zaveon Jones led Terrace in scoring with 20 points. Jaxon Dubiel scored 15 points while Rayshaun Connor added 10.
The defeat is only the second of the year for the Hawks (21-2 overall). Despite the loss, Terrace is still expected to receive one of the top seeds in the upcoming 3A state tournament; seeding and the schedule for first- and second-round games of state tournament are expected to be announced on Sunday, Feb. 18.
Sood wasn’t ready to put aside Saturday’s district championship loss after the game, but wanted his team to ruminate on it before preparing for the state tourney.
“They should feel down and disappointed for about 24 hours and then they’d better come back to work because it’s going to be like this from here on out; good teams,” Sood said. “We’re a good basketball team when we do things the right way. But we did things uncharacteristic tonight.”
To view the entire District 1 3A Boys Basketball Tournament bracket, visit www.wpanetwork.com/wiaa/
— By Doug Petrowski

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Arlington 61, Mountlake Terrace 53
Arlington 10 14 10 27 – 61
Mountlake Terrace 10 10 19 14 – 53
Mountlake Terrace individual scoring: Zaveon Jones 20, Jaxon Dubiel 15, Rayshaun Connor 10, Logan Tews 2, Gabe Towne 2, Svayjeet Singh 2, Joe Asalifew 2
Arlington individual scoring: Leyton Martin 27, Billy Kooy 10, Jacoby Falor 9, Kaid Hunter 6, Ryan Miller 4, Jackson Trotter 3, Jake Willis 2, Silas Miller
Records: Mountlake Terrace 21-2 overall; Arlington 18-6 overall
Mountlake Terrace next game: versus opponent to be determined; date, time and place to be announced (3A state tournament Round 2 game)
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