Stephen Jardin scored 16 points and Tevita Palaki added 15 as the Columbia Adventist boys basketball team held off a big fourth-quarter comeback by Lummi of Bellingham to beat the Blackhawks 62-60 in the opening round Friday of Class 1B state tournament in Lacey.
The win sends the Kodiaks (16-0) to the Class 1B state quarterfinals in Spokane for the first time in school history.
“This is very exciting for eveyone,” Columbia Adventist coach Jay Pierce said. “This has been our goal from the start of the season — to make to Spokane for the first time. This is uncharted territory for us, and I’m very proud of our players.”
After being tied 23-23 at halftime, the Kodiaks pushed ahead of Lummi to take a 14-point lead in the third quarter. CAA held that 14-point advantage into the fourth quarter when the Lummis went on a big charge with about four minutes to play.
“We were just missing free throws, turning the ball over,” Pierce said. “But we did enough in the end to hold on.”
Jardin hit some key free throws in the final minutes to preserve the victory for Columbia Adventist.
Thomas Reed added 13 points for the Kodiaks, who will Colton or Moses Lake Christian at 7:15 p.m. Thursday in the state quarterfinals at the Spokane Arena.
Northport 59, King’s Way Christian 57 — A length-of-the-floor pass with 1.2 seconds left set up the winning basket for Northport and ended King’s Way stay in the state tournament.
The game was tied 57-57 when Northport inbounded the ball under its own basket.
The long passes found David Higgins, who had broken free. Higgins caught the pass and made the layup for the victory, stunning the Knights.
“To be honest, I still feel like we won,” King’s Way coach Don Russell said.
The Knights were in control in the first half, building a 34-27 lead. But King’s Way also lost one of its key players to a first-half injury.
Freshman Jay Becker went to the hospital with an elbow injury after a fall in the first quarter.
“We played hard, but we let down a little in the second half,” senior Chris Crenshaw said. “Even so, this was the best season of my life.”
Junior Josh Snyder had 12 points and 15 rebounds for the Knights (18-6). Christian Bukant had 12 points, Matt Johnson added 11 and Jake Tront scored 10 points.
“King’s Way is going places, and this is just the start,” Tront said.
Girls
Neah Bay 64, Columbia Adventist 46 — The Kodiaks stumbled in their first attempt to reach the state quarterfinals. They’ll get another chances tonight at Mountlake Terrace.
CAA will play the Selkirk for a berth to the 1B quarterfinals. Game time was not set by the WIAA, and no other details from Friday’s game were reported.
