Lakeside's Alex Stillar, left, and Hoquiam's Justin Reed dive after
a loose ball during the second half of Friday's second semifinal.
JEFF HALLER/Yakima Herald-Republic
Hoquiam
Rallies Back, 63-51
By
MICHAEL ANDERSON
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC
The Hoquiam Grizzlies picked the right time Friday night to showcase their
high-scoring offense.
Trailing underdog Lakeside by nine points with just
over three minutes remaining in the third period, the Grizzlies buried the
Eagles under a blizzard of 3-pointers -- five in a stretch of 4:30 -- to
advance to Saturday’s Class 2A title game with a 63-51 semifinal win at the
SunDome.
The Grizzlies (27-0) will face another underdog, East
Valley (15-10), in the 7 p.m. championship game.
Hoquiam came into the tournament having scored more
than 70 points 18 times in the regular season, but had been slowed down in
the district tournament, where the Grizzlies maxxed out at 51, and here,
where the 63-point effort against the Eagles was their best.
Hoquiam's Jeff Niemi grimaces as
he
is injured on a play as Lakeside's Logan Erickson, left, and D.J.
Thomas go for the ball during the
first half of Friday's semifinal.
JEFF HALLER/Yakima Herald-Republic
With only a half to put on a demonstration after
Lakeside took a 33-23 halftime lead, the Grizzlies heeded coach Brian Grun’s
advice to cut the margin down a bit at a time for about four minutes.
Then they took matters into their own hands, and ended
up outscoring the Eagles 40-18 in the final 16 minutes.
The Grizzlies reeled the Eagles in quickly behind a
barrage of second-half 3-pointers. Hoquiam hit four straight 3’s in the
third period, two by sniper Justin Reed from opposite sides on the wing, and
no sooner than Lakeside coach Ron Cox could say timeout, the lead had been
chopped to three.
Sky Cearns hit from deep on the left wing to tie the
game at 37, and Jeff Niemi, playing despite a nasty cut under his eye,
banked one in at the third-period buzzer to make it one-point game with a
quarter to play.
David Brittinen opened the fourth period with a dunk.
“That was big because it got our crowd really going,” Grun said, and then
the dam broke.
Reed hit two more 3s in the next 2:10, giving Hoquiam a
48-41 lead and ending any thoughts of a title match-up between two teams
with a collective 21 losses.
Hoquiam hit six of 14 3-pointers in the second half
after hitting just four of 16 in the first half.
“We knew that was going to happen,” Lakeside coach Ron
Cox of Hoquiam’s offensive firepower. “We hoped we could keep the lead where
it was at halftime, but they sucked that lead right down the drain.”
