When Sunnyside Christian went through its morning shootaround and game-plan walk-through Thursday morning on its home court — one of the perks of being the closest thing to a home team the Class 1B basketball tournament has — there was a major problem at hand.

It was a hand. Specifically, Joel Koopmans' right hand.

Sunnyside Christian's Danny Van Boven goes to the hoop on a fast break, defended by Rosalia's Garret Kerle, during Thursday's quarterfinal game.   ANDY SAWYER/Yakima Herald-Republic

The Knights' senior leader had taken a hard fall in the previous night's victory, and when he woke up on Thursday morning, the back of his hand was swollen. And it hurt.

He tried shooting at practice but, he said, "It didn't work too well. I didn't have any power in my wrist, and it hurt on the follow-through."

Problem? Well, after seeing a local doctor and receiving some medication for the swelling — "Never taken so many pills in my life," Koopmans said — he was ready for Thursday night's quarterfinal against Rosalia.

Which he then took over.

Koopmans scored 26 points — outscoring the Spartans by himself — while sinking half of his 18 shots in Sunnyside Christian's 43-25 victory, putting the Knights into today's 4 p.m. semifinal against Entiat.

"He's playing at the all-tournament level right now," said guard Danny Boven, who was the Knights' second-leading scorer with eight points. "Last year on our team, Aaron and Cole (Van de Graaf) pretty much shared the responsibility of leading the offense. It's kind of nice to have a go-to guy right now."

And the Knights (18-5) definitely went to him when it counted. After John Kuhn swished a 24-footer to pull Rosalia (18-9) to within nine points late in the third quarter, Koopmans scored the next six points. That made it 34-19 with 6:53 remaining, and in a game this offensively tentative on both sides, that lead was untouchable.

"I didn't want to be that patient," Knights coach Dean Wagenaar said. "But after we missed some bunnies, I knew the kids were struggling a little bit. You could see them losing a little bit of their confidence."

Not Van Boven. The junior point guard hit a couple of 3-pointers during a 19-7 first-half run that put Sunnyside Christian in control of the game even before the intermission. His willingness to shoot them — in light of the Wagenaar's propensity for, well, patience — almost seemed out of place.

"I shoot when I'm open," he said. "We have so many guys penetrating that somebody's always open outside. And Joel always draws so many guys to him that Jesse (Brouwer) or Marc (DeJong) or somebody else is always open."

Rosalia, which has reached the quarterfinals five times in its school history but never reached the semis, was getting yeoman work from Jim Maley, who finished with 10 points and eight rebounds — and some accolades from Wagenaar.

"They were tough," Wagenaar said of the Spartans. "And that 34 (Maley), he hit three or four incredible ball-beside-the-head flips. I couldn't even believe it."

But the Knights are now within two steps of something that might have seemed inconceivable after the graduation of last year's stellar seniors: a second straight title.

"It's just patience on defense and offense. That's how we win our games," Van Boven said. "And we have a great chemistry on our team."