It was a nice show of sportsmanship, not to mention a display of league solidarity, but Roger Sonderland would not take credit for the idea.

"Actually," the River View coach said, "White Swan did that for us before our game. It was a neat thing for them to do."

Sonderland, whose Panthers had just survived a 47-45 gut-wrencher over the defending champion Bears, shook the hand of each Connell player as the Eagles awaited their game with Bellevue Christian on Thursday.

The SCAC, of which River View, White Swan and Connell are all members, had acquitted itself nicely, thank you, in the Class 1A state boys tournament.

Already the Cougars (21-5) and Panthers (22-3) had forged a semifinal matchup, opposite each other, at 4 p.m. today in the SunDome.

That meant a local league will be represented in Saturday night's title game for the first time since 1996, when Zillah fell to La Center.

River View's victory also meant Brewster would not play for the championship for the first time since 2002.

Though the SCAC'S victory parade ended with Connell's loss to Bellevue Christian and Granger's 51-43 defeat to Charles Wright, the success of River View and White Swan was refreshing to some observers and surprising to others.

Sonderland wasn't surprised.

"I'm proud of the SCAC," he said. "There's no super dominant team in the tournament like last year. None of us would have beaten Brewster. But we feel like we've had a good, competitive league this year."

But wasn't the East, inhabited by RV and Connell, superior to the West with White Swan and Granger?

"Not necessarily," Sonderland said, alluding to his team's narrow conquest of the Cougars in a district semifinal. "Speed plays. White Swan does what it does, and it does it well. "

As taller and favored Vashon, beaten 46-42 by the Cougars, would attest.

Bellevue Christian (23-2), which advanced 37-35 on Brian Baranowski's buzzer-beating 3-pointer, will oppose another pre-tournament favorite, Charles Wright (20-6), in today's other semifinal at 7:30 p.m.

The Vikings won titles in 2005 and 2006, beating two-time defending titlist Brewster each time, before the Bears regained the crown last year.

Said coach Tim Taylor, who guided Brewster to five consecutive title games, "Our MO this year, unfortunately, has been untimely turnovers and missed free throws (the Bears were 7 for 16 against River View).

"The guys definitely wanted to get back to the championship game. But we'll still try to trophy."