Top-ranked Bell. Christian wins title, 59-54, in OT

By SCOTT SANDSBERRY
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC

At halftime of the game that would produce the first state basketball championship in school history, Bellevue Christian standout Jeffrey Downs had done everything he could.

He had hit turnaround jumpers and leaners. He had driven the lane past some of the quickest athletes in the Class 1A ranks. He had provided nearly half of his team’s offense against two-time defending state champion Brewster.

But the sophomore all-stater’s heroics weren’t enough.

It was up to the two seniors — steady senior point guard, Spencer Kraker, he of the 4.8-point season scoring average, and darting two-guard Bryan Egly — to save the day in Bellevue Christian’s improbable 59-54 come-from-behind victory over the Bears.

The finish was improbable only in that Brewster had led for all but about two very early minutes. The Bears’ sensational 1-2 punch of Michael Taylor and Hawkins Gebbers, who combined for 42 points, had staked Brewster to a 52-47 lead with just 54 seconds remaining.

Then Egley buried a bloodless 3-pointer from the top of the key and, after Gebbers missed the front end of a 1-and-1, the Vikings turned to Downs for the equalizer.

The stellar sophomore whirled down the right side of the key against Clay Gebbers and banked in a twisting, off-balance, turnaround jumper to tie the game at 52-52 with 21 seconds remaining in regulation.

“Gebbers played great defense on me,” said Downs, who finished with 20 points and a game-high eight rebounds. “He cut me off at the baseline, so I spun inside, saw a little daylight and somehow hit the shot.”

When Taylor’s twisting 16-foot jumper bounced off the buzzer, the stage was set for overtime — and, as it turned out, for Kraker.

Kraker hit one of two free throws to open the extra four-minute period, then, when his defender slipped while covering him at the top of the key, drove into the lane and put up a one-handed 10-footer that banked in with 1:20 remaining.

“In a situation like that, we like to pull it out, but we try to be aggressive when it’s there,” Kraker said. “You don’t really want to shoot only it’s layups or something, but when he slipped I had a chance to get into the lane and I took it.”

“He scored a lot of points for us in the OT, but he played great the whole game,” Downs said of Kraker. “He controlled the ball for us like he’s done all year, got the ball to the right people at the right time, and made every play he needed to make.”

That gave the Vikings a three-point lead at 55-52 and, after Hawkins Gebbers answered with a driving layup, Egly all but clinched it with a pair of free throws. Avery Gorter’s two free throws with 0:03 remaining made the final five-point margin.