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On Saturday, Cam Hiatt had had enough of the E-W slide and decided to take matters into his own hands.
The senior scored 38 points to lead E-W past the Meadowdale Mavericks 62-54 in a Wesco League rivalry matchup played in front of a spirited crowd at Meadowdale High School.
After a subpar performance in the Jan. 28 loss to the Scots — with a below-average scoring night of 16 points — and just two points in the game against West Seattle on Jan. 25, Hiatt went on a scoring frenzy against the Mavericks on Saturday. His night peaked in the third quarter with back-to-back-to-back buckets — a two-handed dunk, a tough turnaround jumper while double-teamed and a corner 3-pointer — that gave the Warriors a 20-point lead, 44-24, near the midpoint of the quarter.
Hiatt said after Saturday’s victory that he wasn’t going to let any negative thoughts of his recent scoring slowdown affect him. “I feel like my mindset is in a good place,” Hiatt said.
“You’ve got to be confident as a player,” Hiatt continued. “You hear it all the time, even from the pros — it’s a matter of believing in yourself. And there’s going to be bad games, there’s going to be good games, but you’ve got to stay steady.”
Meadowdale Coach Roger O’Neill admitted that Hiatt’s big night proved impossible for his Mavericks to overcome.
“He’s a really, really special player and I thought the guys we had on him were working their butts off,” O’Neill said. “We tried three or four different defensive looks. But when a player of his caliber gets going sometimes, it’s hard to slow down. But I loved the way our guys tried and fought — but 38 points is a lot.”
Despite being down by 20 points midway through the third quarter, the Mavs did climb back into the game over the next 11 minutes. Meadowdale trailed by just six points, 57-51, after a pair of free throws by Natnael Ghirmay with 1:34 to go in the game. But that was as close as the Mavs would get as the team could only muster three more free throws for the remainder of the contest and fell short in their comeback bid.
Even with the loss, O’Neill was pleased with this team’s effort on Saturday.
“Tonight we scratched and clawed, getting it to a six-point game with the ball with (less than) two minutes left,” O’Neill said. “So I’m really proud of us for fighting against a really, really good basketball team.”
Marley Miller led the Mavericks (3-8 in 2A/3A Wesco League South Conference play, 9-10 overall) in scoring with 18 points, all in the second half. Ghirmay ended the night with 15 points.
For Hiatt and his E-W (10-1 in 2A/3A Wesco League South Conference play, 19-1 overall) teammates, the victory brought some authentic smiles to a team that looked more like the giants they had been during their streak of 17 wins early this season.
“It’s an exciting game, but more than anything we’re just out there playing, having fun,” Hiatt said.
Prep Boys Basketball: Edmonds-Woodway at Meadowdale, Feb. 1
Edmonds-Woodway 18 15 15 14 – 62
Meadowdale 8 9 16 21 – 54
Edmonds-Woodway individual scoring: Cam Hiatt 38, William Alseth 8, Grant Williams 7, DJ Karl 7, Julian Gray 2, Luke Boland, Dre Simonsen, Cavan Schillinger
Meadowdale individual scoring: Marley Miller 18, Natnael Ghirmay 15, Noah Million 6, Khalil Botley 5, Jordan Berhe 3, Payton Hernandez 3, Adam Desta 2, Orion Ezeonwuka 2, Nolan Lee
Records: Edmonds-Woodway 10-1 in 2A/3A Wesco League South Conference, 19-1 overall; Meadowdale 3-8 in 2A/3A Wesco League South Conference, 9-10 overall
Edmonds-Woodway next game: versus Shorewood; Tuesday, Feb. 4; 7:15 p.m. at Shorewood High School
Meadowdale next game: versus Shorecrest; Tuesday, Feb. 4; 7:15 p.m. at Meadowdale High School
— By Doug Petrowski
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