Zach Reznick made two free throws and Denis Kirichenko made one in the final seconds, and Combs broke free for a lay-up at the buzzer for Union’s finishing touch.
“My guys just found me when I was open,” Combs said of his big night — he was 6 of 9 from the floor. “They got me the ball at the right time, and I had a good shooting night.”
Kirichenko finished with 13 points and 15 rebounds. Cameron Cranston scored 14 points. And Nico Bricker had six of his 12 points in the fourth quarter, including two scores off of his offensive rebounds down the stretch.
Grant’s Russell Tillery scored 19 points to pace the Generals. Aaron Deloney scored 18 off the bench, connecting on 4 of 5 3-pointers.
Union (12-2) took this non-league game to be part of what Lower Columbia College officials hope will become a tradition. Chad Meadors, the women’s coach at LCC and one of the organizers of this event, said Clark County schools will always be invited in the future. The Columbia River boys played in an earlier game Monday.
“It’s great to come out here on this day and play with my brothers and honor Martin Luther King,” Combs said.
Union coach Blake Conley said the team had a talk a few days ago about this event.
“We talked about why we have the day off (of school) and what an honor it is to play on a holiday like this,” Conley said. “Our kids understand it’s an honor to play this game and at the same time honor MLK and all the progress we’ve made because of him.”
The Titans also are always looking for quality competition. The team went to San Diego over the Christmas break, then scheduled this event even though there is a league game Tuesday night.
“This game definitely prepared us for what we’re going to see, hopefully at the Tacoma Dome,” Combs said, referring to the state tournament. “They applied a lot of pressure. We did a pretty good job of handling it. But there’s always room for improvement.”
Conley would not go as far as the dome in his comments, but shared the same philosophy as Combs.
“If we’re fortunate enough to make it out of district, we’ll be battle-tested,” Conley said.
UNION 74, GRANT 68
GRANT — Russell Tillery 19, Aaron Deloney 18, Nate Bradford 11, James Bullock 5, Damon Hickok 0, Zach Leonard 6, Ty Rankin 3, Noel Bangsberg 2, SataieVior Ayilola 0, Ian Downey 4, Grant Ewell 0. Totals 24-61 (6-23) 14-19 68.
UNION — Keithen Shepard 7, Brennan Paulson 0, Zach Reznick 2, Tyler Combs 22, Nico Bricker 12, Austin Lewis 0, Christian Agarpo 0, Kai Gamble 4, Cameron Cranston 14, Denis Kirichenko 13. Totals 27-59 (7-16) 13-18 74.
Grant 16 11 17 24–68
Union 22 15 14 23–74
