[ t o u r n e y t o w n . c o m -- Nooksack Valley 56, Pullman 54]

Pullman -- Hinrichs 0-1 0-0 0, Cummins 0-0 0-0 0, Brossman 3-8 0-0 8, Peete 10-20 5-9 26, Sanders 2-6 0-2 6, Wood 1-3 0-0 2, Haynes 1-4 0-0 2, Walker 0-0 0-0 0, Payne 2-4 2-2 6, Simpson 2-5 0-1 4. Totals 21-51 7-14 54.

Nooksack Valley -- Heutink 12-26 4-5 30, Willemsen 0-3 0-0 0, Boon 2-2 0-0 5, Vermeulen 2-5 2-2 7, Silves 4-14 2-2 10, Vinkes 2-2 0-0 4, Wells 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 22-54 8-9 56.

Pullman

Nooksack Valley

3-point goals--P 5-15 (Brossman 2-4, Sanders 2-6, Peete 1-3, Haynes 0-2), NV 4-14 (Heutink 2-9, Boon 1-1, Vermeulen 1-3, Willemsen 0-1). Rebounds--P 34 (Peete 12), NV 28 (Silves 11). Assists--P 10 (Simpson 4), NV 9. Steals--P 6 (Simpson 2), NV 11 (Heutink 4). Blocked shots--P 1, NV 1. Fouled out--Vermeulen. Total fouls--P 11, NV 13. Technical fouls--None. Turnovers--P 16, NV 10.

By SCOTT SANDSBERRY
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC

In the aftermath of the biggest play of his young life, in the most important basketball game he may ever play, Jason Heutink wasn’t quite sure what to say, how to react, what to think ... or even what had just transpired.

“I don’t know. I’m still shaking,” said Heutink, whose 15-footer from the left corner of the key lifted Nooksack Valley to a 56-54 victory over Pullman before an estimated 4,800 screaming fans in what will go down in Class 2A championship-game lore as one of the classics. “I don’t know whether to cry, to smile or not do anything. It’s unbelievable.”

It was made even more unbelievable by the fact that the Pioneers seemed to have lost control of a game they had owned from the first minute, leading for probably 30 of the 32 minutes.

Their lead, as big as 41-32 midway through the third period, had melted away.

Versatile Phil Silves, whose scoring, passing and rebounding had helped the Pioneers reach the final, wrenched an already tender knee, went down just before the end of the third period, clutching the knee in pain. “I landed on it wrong and it jammed,” he said. “It hurt for about three minutes, but in a game like this, with so much adrenaline, there was no way pain was going to keep me out of there.”

With 2:15 remaining and the score tied at 49-49, Kyle Vermeulen — “the heart and soul of our defense,” says Heutink — picked up his fifth foul. “Very scary,” Heutink said.

Twenty seconds later, Pullman’s sensational Fred Peete, a high-flying 6-foot-4 senior who had been Vermeulen’s responsibility, scored a layup to put the Greyhounds on top.

Heutink — who would score 30 points in all, including Nooksack Valley’s last 18 — knotted the score with a pair of free throws, only to see Pullman guard Jay Brossman bury a 3-pointer at 1:16. When Peete rebounded a Heutink miss, Pullman had the ball and the lead in the final minute.

But Silves, who finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds, called that stretch “just a little setback.” And he was right, because Silves made a steal near midcourt and, and Heutink hit a leaning 3-pointer at :43 to knot the score again.

With 28 seconds left, Peete went to the line for two free throws. “Phenomenal player,” Nooksack Valley coach Bill Kelly said of Peete, who would finish with 26 points and a dozen rebounds. “He’s amazing,” Heutink said.

But even great players miss, and Peete did — twice. The rebound on the second was slapped around until Pioneer junior Darin Vinkes grabbed it and, with hands scrapping for the ball, called timeout.

There were 24 seconds remaining, but it would be the last timeout the Pioneers would call. The rest would be up to Heutink.

“No sense calling a (second) timeout. He (Heutink) is a helluva lot smarter than I am,” said Kelly, who has a few basketball smarts of his own, as evidenced by his four previous state championships as Cashmere coach ... and now this one.

Everyone in the SunDome knew Heutink would take the shot. “Jason loves to take that big shot,” Silves said. “He wants the ball, and you have to love that about him.”

And Heutink ad-libbed on the play. He wanted to drive to the right side of the key behind a Silves screen, but 6-7 Pullman center Tavarius Payne — the kind of guy who could get a hand on a ball — was defending Silves. So Heutink cut to the left behind Vinkes, went up for the shot, popped it toward the basket ... and found nothing but net with 2.2 seconds left.

The Greyhounds called timeout with 1.6 seconds left, but they weren’t able to do anything with it, and the title belonged to Nooksack Valley.

In the end, the fact that Peete didn’t simply take over against Nooksack Valley — which was smaller, in terms of height, not heart, than every team it faced here — might have been the difference.

“Kyle Vermeulen did a great job of defending him (Peete),” Kelly said. “In the second half, Peete got shut down.” In fact, Peete didn’t score his first field goal of the second half until 5:41 remained.

Heutink, meanwhile, was doing a Peete-like takeover, with those final 18 Pioneer points, including the tying and winning baskets.

“You always dream and think about taking that last big shot, counting down the 3, 2, 1,” Heutink said. “I dreamed about this back in December and I couldn’t sleep.

“I couldn’t sleep, worrying that I wouldn’t be able to do it when it came down to it.”

Well, he did it.

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