[ t o u r n e y t o w n . c o m -- 2005 Class 1A state tournament ]

Zillah -- Martinez 1-4 3-7 5, Gonzalez 0-0 0-2 0, Gasseling 3-6 0-0 8, Ross 0-1 0-0 0, Inions 0-2 1-2 1, Torrez 3-8 7-7 13, Moritz 0-2 0-0 0, Rico 5-10 2-2 14, Jones 1-8 2-7 4, Winters 0-0 0-0 0, Collins 0-1 1-2 1, Wiley 5-9 2-3 12. Totals 18-51 18-32 58.

Colfax -- M. Johnson 1-4 1-2 4, C. Hatley 0-2 0-0 0, N. Johnson 0-1 0-0 0, Wick 4-10 1-2 11, Aune 2-9 3-5 7, Jordan 1-6 1-2 3, Bruya 1-5 8-8 10, Hart 1-2 0-1 2, Vantrease 1-1 0-0 2, S. Hatley 0-0 0-0 0, Danaher 1-7 3-4 5, Lyon 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 12-49 17-24 44.

Zillah

Colfax

3-point goals--Z 4-12 (Rico 2-2, Gasseling 2-4, Martinez 0-2, Moritz 0-2, Jones 0-2), C 3-10 (Wick 2-5, M. Johnson 1-2, Hatley 0-1, N. Johnson 0-1, Aune 0-1). Rebounds--Z 35 (Wiley 9, Martinez 6), C 34 (Bruya 8, Danaher 7). Assists--Z 7 (Martinez 3), C 5 (Jordan 2). Steals--Z 6 (Torrez 2), C 4 (Bruya 2). Blocked shots--Z 6 (Wiley 6), C 4 (Hart 2). Fouled out --Danaher. Total fouls--Z 23, C 23. Technical fouls--None. Turnovers--Z 8, C 10.

The Zillah High School boys basketball team was in the last place it wanted to be for its 100th state tournament game — the losers’ bracket.

But the Leopards kept their hopes for a trophy alive with a 58-44 win against the Colfax Bulldogs in a loser-out game Thursday in the SunDome. Zillah will play its 101st state tournament game against Burbank (16-10), which defeated Cascade Christian 48-35 in a loser-out game, at 9 a.m. Friday.

Setting their alarm clocks to get up early will be nothing new for the Leopards (20-5). They have played at 9 a.m. in three of the last four tournaments and will play the first game at the SunDome for the third straight day.

“As long as we win, I don’t care if I have to get up at (9 a.m.),” Zillah guard Duran Torrez said. “It’s nice, we have the rest of the day to do whatever and just relax.”

Leopard forward Justin Rico definitely enjoys starting his day with basketball. Despite averaging only 7.8 points per game this season, Rico scored 12 of his game-high 14 points in the first quarter and finished 5 of 10 from the field and 2 of 2 from 3-point range.

“The weight was off our shoulders and we just came together as a team and played better as a team,” said Rico of the team’s mindset after losing 54-41 in the first round to Seattle Christian on Wednesday. “The loss just opened our eyes.”

As for his uncharacteristic scoring outburst, Rico struggled to describe what clicked.

Unfortunately for the Leopards, Colfax guard Erik Wick also got off to a fast start. With the Bulldogs (9-17) easily beating Zillah’s full-court press, Wick scored 10 of his 11 points in the first quarter to keep Colfax within 3, 16-13, at the end of the first quarter.

“In the first quarter we didn’t come ready to play, and when you’re not ready to play, you’re not ready to play pressure defense,” Torrez said.

So the Leopards dropped back to its man-to-man defense in the second and third quarter and struggled to pull away from the Bulldogs, who tied the game 26-26 with 43.2 seconds left in the first half on two free throws from guard Adam Bruya.

Bruya was the only other Colfax player in double figures with 10 points, and he grabbed eight rebounds.

But Torrez, who finished with 13 points and went 7 of 7 from the foul line, put Zillah back ahead for good with a three-point play with 1.7 left to give the Leopards a 29-26 lead at halftime.

From there the Bulldogs couldn’t cut back into the lead as they shot only 3 of 23 (13 percent) from the field in the second half to finish 24.5 percent for the game.

Zillah forward Jesse Wiley started the fourth quarter with a three-point play to stretch Zillah’s lead to eight, 42-34, with 7:24 left in the game. Wiley scored six of his of his 12 points in the fourth quarter to help spark a 12-2 run and just missed a double-double with nine rebounds.

The Leopards also returned in the fourth quarter to the full-court pressure they abandoned after the first with plenty of success. Despite turning the ball over only 10 times in the game, the Bulldogs did not get anything going against the press and scored only five points in the final frame.

“(The full-court press) is a little easier when you have a lead and they’re forcing their offense,” Zillah coach Doug Burge said. “We just started to deny them the ball and play tenacious defense. At the beginning of the game they just threw over the top of us.”

With both teams committing 34 fouls in the second half, everything slowed down for the Leopards, who hit only 14 of 27 (51.9 percent) of their free throws after halftime. But they held onto the lead thanks to the Bulldogs’ poor shooting.