Only a sophomore, Mountlake Terrace Hawk Khyree Armstead has already made game-winning shots in his youth basketball career, but none were as big as the one he had Thursday night.
Armstead banked in a running right-hander with 4.3 seconds left in the game to lift the Hawks to a 74-72 victory over the Edmonds-Woodway Warriors in a Wesco League South Conference match-up played at Mountlake Terrace High School.
With the game knotted 72-72, Terrace Coach Nalin Sood drew up a play that put both the ball and the game in the hands of Armstead. The sophomore would receive an inbounds pass from teammate Gabe Altenberger and then consider his options.
“I got the ball off the screen, looking for Shimron (Masih) at the top (of the key) on a high-low, but I saw the open lane and I got the lay-up,” Armstead said.
Down by two points, the Warriors had one last desperation shot at the final buzzer, but a half-court heave by senior Jordan Rice missed the mark.
With Terrace’s top scorer Derek Anyimah out of the game due to foul accumulation, Sood showed his belief in Armstead during the critical final seconds. “When he does the things that he does, how can’t you have confidence in him?” Sood said.
“One thing is, can he play with poise,” the coach continued. “And he does play with poise; he doesn’t get rattled out there. So a kid like that, you get him into the system; that’s a no-brainer.”
Armstead’s final-seconds game-winner was only possible due to a torrid performance at the free throw line by the Hawks. Terrace made 18 of 20 fourth quarter free throw attempts — 27 for 30 in the entire game — to come back from a deficit of as many as five points earlier in the second half.
The Warriors led by as many as eight points in the game only to see Terrace come back with big point totals of 25 points in the second quarter and 27 points in the fourth.
“We weren’t very good consistently on defense,” admitted E-W Coach Robert Brown.
“We’re built around defense. That’s what we do, and if we don’t do it well we’re not going to be very good,” Brown added.
The Warrior defensive letdown led to four Hawks scoring in double figures. Alternberger scored 21 points, Masih had 18 points, Armstead added 10 points and Anyimah — before fouling out late in the game — had 10 points.
David Woodard led E-W in scoring with 22 points; Jordan Rice added 19 points while Tre’var Hollard scored 10 points.
Sood praised his squad for the effort they expended against an Edmonds-Woodway team that many expect to challenge for the Wesco League title this year.
“Right from the get-go I thought our guys played hard,” Sood said. “They had good energy. They had a lot of pride, because they know if they don’t there are too many weapons on that other side. So I thought we competed well.”
The Warriors have little time to dwell on the tough loss Thursday as they are right back on the court on Friday, Dec. 18, hosting the Shorewood T-Birds. The quick turnaround after a defeat is welcome, Brown said.
“It’s the best way to get back,” Brown concluded. “The guys know, defensively, we didn’t play a good game. So we have to get after the basketball and defensively play a better game. And they have a chance to improve (Friday).”
Prep Boys Basketball: Edmonds-Woodway at Mountlake Terrace, Dec. 17
Edmonds-Woodway 16 15 18 23 — 72
Mountlake Terrace 11 25 11 27 — 74
Edmonds-Woodway scoring: David Woodard 22, Jordan Rice 19, Tre’var Holland 10, Ali Gaye 8, Noah Becker 4, Henry Tillman 3, Brady Edwards 2, Edi Seare 2, Ryan Peterson 2
Mountlake Terrace scoring: Gabe Altenberger 21, Shimron Masih 18, Khyree Armstead 10, Derek Anyimah 10, Daniel Johnson 5, Joey Gardner 4, Gabe Powter 4, Carson Dallas 2
Records: Edmonds-Woodway 1-1 in Wesco League, 5-2 overall; Mountlake Terrace 2-0 in Wesco League 5-2 overall
Edmonds-Woodway next game: versus Shorewood, Friday, Dec. 18, 7:15 p.m. at Edmonds-Woodway High School
Mountlake Terrace next game: versus Canyon Springs (Las Vegas), Tuesday, Dec. 29, 7 p.m. at Mountlake Terrace High School
— By Doug Petrowski
NOTE: This game was broadcast live on the Sound Live Sports Network and you can watch the archived version here.
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