TACOMA — It’s no surprise the no-quit Skyview Storm — trailing by seven with 40 seconds to go in Thursday’s Class 4A boys quarterfinal game to Davis — made it a one-possession game so quickly in the final minute.
What was so eye-catching was how it happened for the only double-digit seed in the 4A quarterfinals.
In a span of 4 seconds, Demaree Collins was fouled as he hit a 3-pointer. He missed the ensuing free throw, and when Malakai Weimer collected the offensive rebound, he found Collins, who again, drained another 3-pointer.
Six points, and a three-point game.
The three-point deficit inside 23 seconds to play was as close as the Storm got in a 75-69 defeat to the Pirates. The loss sends Skyview (17-10) to the consolation semifinals where they’ll face No. 2 seed Tahoma. The Bears lost to the tournament’s No. 1 seed, Mount Si, in Thursday’s other quarterfinal.
While it’s the third time Skyview is in the state quarterfinals since 2018, a win Friday can cement its first state trophy since the 2018 team placed sixth. When Skyview last reached state in 2020, it lost in the consolation semifinal on the tournament’s third day after dropping its quarterfinal game to Central Valley.
The Storm have no intensions of having their season end Friday, which is why head coach Matt Gruhler’s focus postgame against Davis was to stay positive, keep players’ heads up, and fight for a win Friday because it means playing for fourth place Saturday, said senior Jaxson Filler.
“We gave it our all,” said Filler, who had nine points in 20 minutes. “In the end, we’ve got to keep our heads up … We’re trying to go for a trophy, so for (Friday), we’ve just go tot get back at it, and just play our hearts out.”
Filler and others had one of the tougher defensive assignments against the Pirates out of Yakima. Whatever defense strategies Skyview threw at Davis’ Finnegan Anderson, the senior was a force for all 32 minutes.
Thursday’s game was a rematch of a non-league tilt the two teams played in Portland in mid-December. Davis won, 66-61, behind Cesar Hernandez’s 23 points.
But at the Tacoma Dome, it was Anderson who went off for a game-high 36 points and nine rebounds — including five on the offensive glass — that stole the show. In fact, after Skyview took a brief 49-46 lead at the 7:21 mark of the fourth quarter that led to four lead changes, it was Finnegan’s bucket down low that gave Davis its eventual lead for good at 52-51 inside 6 minutes to play.
But the theatrics continued until the end, thanks in part to Demaree Collins.
Skyview’s senior guard joined Anderson in the 30-plus-point category with 31. And the six points in a two-second span that pulled the Storm within 70-67 with 23 seconds to play were the biggest of the game.
Skyview shot 51 percent for the game.
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DAVIS 75, SKYVIEW 69
SKYVIEW — Landon Webb 4, Javen Fletch 2, Gavin Packer 4, Gavin Perdue 9, Malakai Weimer 10, Demaree Collins 31, Ryan Hanson 0, Jaxson Filler 9. Totals 26 (6) 11-18 69.
DAVIS — Brandon Lee 8, Blake Garza 9, Tyson Lee 0, Phoenix Sanchez 0, Nate Stephenson 7, Cesar Hernandez 15, Finnegan Anderson 36. Totals 24 (3) 24-35
