The last time the Edmonds-Woodway Warriors brought home a boys basketball District 1 championship trophy to add to the school’s trophy case was in 2016. After a tough loss on Saturday, the team will have to wait for another season down the road to add that coveted hardware again to the school’s collection.

With hopes of celebrating a District title on Saturday, the no. 1-seeded Warriors were instead bewildered on offense, battered on the boards and bothered by foul trouble, leading to a 61-56 defeat to the no. 3-seeded Monroe Bearcats in the District 1 3A Boys Basketball Tournament championship game played at Marysville-Pilchuck High School.

Monroe was able to capture the District title by grabbing a lead over E-W near the midpoint of the second quarter, going on a scoring run to close out the first half, and then keeping the Warriors at arm’s length through the remainder of the matchup.

With Saturday’s victory, the Bearcats avenged a 57-40 loss to the Warriors in the 3A Wesco League crossover game between the two conference champions — Monroe of the North Conference and E-W of the South — on Feb. 10, prior to the start of the District tourney.

“I tip my hat to Monroe,” E-W Coach Tyler Geving said after Saturday’s loss to the Bearcats. “I thought they came in and played a way better game than they did the first time. I thought they were dialed in and their coach did a good job and had them prepared.”

The two teams traded the lead five times in the first 12 minutes of Saturday’s game, with the last lead change occurring when Monroe’s Chayce Waite-Kellar scored in the lane to give the Bearcats a 19-18 advantage. Just 25 seconds later, Waite-Kellar grabbed an offensive rebound and scored again, all part of the 10-2 Monroe run to close out the first half and give the Bearcats a 27-20 lead at halftime.

The Warriors’ 20-point first half was a testament to the zone defense Monroe used, something the Bearcats didn’t apply in the Feb. 10 contest. Geving admitted the zone was a surprise and rattled his squad somewhat.

“I thought the second half we attacked it a lot better,” Geving added.

After falling behind by nine points, 29-20, in the first seconds of the third quarter, the Warriors were able to tighten the game and draw within two, 43-41, going into the fourth. E-W also trailed by just two at the 3:30 and 1:59 marks in the fourth quarter, but never could get closer.

The Warriors’ final push for a comeback victory was thwarted with 25.5 seconds to go in the game when, trailing 56-51, the team couldn’t secure a rebound off a free throw miss by Monroe’s Wyatt Prohn. The Bearcats went on to sink five more free throws in the remaining seconds to keep E-W at bay and earn the victory.

“We got hurt on their offensive glass a couple times, especially at the end of the game,” Geving said. “We had a couple of big rebounds we needed to get and, credit to them, they made the plays on the offensive glass and we didn’t.”

Saturday’s game featured combined totals of 45 fouls and 51 free throws for the two teams. E-W’s Will Alseth picked up his fourth foul before the midpoint of the third quarter while teammate Cam Hiatt was whistled for his fourth foul with 1:34 to go in the third. Geving admitted that the foul trouble that Alseth, Hiatt and other Warriors got themselves into hurt the squad.

“I don’t know if guys can be as aggressive as they usually are because you’re trying to play with three fouls or four fouls,” Geving said. “So I think it changes the way we play a little bit.”

Three Warriors ended up fouling out of the contest: Alseth, Grant Williams and Dre Simonsen.

Hiatt led all scorers in the game with 29 points; Williams scored 12 while Alseth added 10 for the Warriors. Sophomore Isaiah Kiehl paced the Bearcats (21-3 overall) with 19 points while Waite-Kellar scored 16.

Despite Saturday’s loss, being the runner-up in the District 1 3A tourney still qualifies the Warriors (23-2 overall) for the regional round of the WIAA 3A State Boys Basketball Tournament. Geving expects his squad will play their regional round matchup on either Feb. 28 or March 1, giving the team plenty of time to iron out some wrinkles in their game.

“We’ve got to get back to just the basics of rebounding, defense — all our principles that we do,” Geving said on Saturday. “The good thing is we don’t play for a week. We’ve got a week that we can spend the first first few days spending time on ourselves and getting better at some of that stuff.”

View the entire District 1 3A Boys Basketball Tournament bracket here. 

View the entire WIAA 3A State Boys Basketball Tournament bracket here. 

Prep Boys Basketball: Monroe vs. Edmonds-Woodway, Feb. 22 (District 1 3A Boys Basketball Tournament championship game)

Monroe 11 16 16 18 – 61

E-W 11   9 21 15 – 56

Edmonds-Woodway individual scoring: Cam Hiatt 29, Grant Williams 12, Will Alseth 10, Julian Gray 3, DJ Karl 2, Luke Boland, Dre Simonsen, Dre Lloyd, Caban Schillinger, Declan Crawford

Monroe individual scoring: Isaiah Kiehl 19, Chayce Waite-Kellar 16, Kieren Greear 8, Dominic Castillo 8, Wyatt Prohn 6, Tate Hammerquist 2, Dylan 2, Caleb Campbell

Records: Edmonds-Woodway 11-1 in 2A/3A Wesco League South Conference, 23-2 overall; Monroe 10-0 in 2A/3A Wesco League North Conference, 21-3 overall

Edmonds-Woodway next game: versus opponent to be determined; Feb. 25, 28 or March 1, place and time to be announced (Regional round of the WIAA 3A Boys State Basketball Tournament)

Monroe next game: versus opponent to be determined; Feb. 25, 28 or March 1; place and time to be announced (Regional round of the WIAA 3A Boys State Basketball Tournament)