[ t o u r n e y t o w n . c o m -- 2009 Class 1A boys state tournament ]

Bellevue Christian -- Pattison 1-2 0-0 3, Coulter 0-0 0-0 0, Iseman 5-9 0-4 14, Pressey 1-3 0-0 3, Neal 0-1 0-0 0, Kats 4-6 0-0 12, Downs 6-20 0-0 13, Schubert 0-0 0-0 0, Stack 0-0 0-0 0, Rerucha 3-11 0-0 8. Totals 20-52 0-4 53.

Vashon -- Pieterick 1-2 5-6 8, Timm-Skove 4-7 2-2 10, Weston 0-0 0-0 0, Wegner 5-7 5-6 15, Kerns 0-0 0-0 0, Burnham 0-3 3-4 3, Stoffer 0-0 0-0 0, Hoffman 0-2 0-0 0, Gage 11-15 8-10 30, Bakker 0-0 0-0 0, Jacobovitch 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-36 23-28 66.

Bellevue Christian

Vashon

3-point goals--BC 13-32 (Iseman 4-5, Kats 4-6, Pattison 1-2, Pressey 1-2, Rerucha 2-7, Downs 1-9, Neal 0-1), V 1-5 (Pieterick 1-2, Timm-Skove 0-1, Burnham 0-1, Hoffman 0-1). Rebounds--BC 18 (Downs 6), V 34 (Gage 14). Assists--BC 12 (Downs 9), V 11 (Timm-Skove 6). Steals--BC 4, V 8 (Gage 3). Blocked shots--BC 1, V 3 (Gage 2). Fouled out--Iseman, Kats. Total fouls--BC 23, V 7. Technical fouls--None. Turnovers--BC 11, V 13.

A year ago, the Vashon Pirates were young, a little tentative and not quite ready for prime time.

Vashon's John Gage shoots for two of his 30 points against Bellevue Christian during
Friday's Class 1A state semifinal game.

ANDY SAWYER/Yakima Herald-Republic

Things have changed.

With 6-foot-9 junior center John Gage going off for 30 points and 10 rebounds, the top-ranked Pirates dominated a very good Bellevue Christian team 66-53 in the Class 1A semifinals.

They built a 19-3 lead and then withstood a tournament-record run of long-range shooting by the Vikings to reach their first championship game.

“That’s a championship-caliber team,” said Vikings coach Mike Downs, whose teams won two of the last four titles. “They controlled the tempo, they hit their free throws down the stretch — they’re a very impressive team. They played like champions.”

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Which was precisely what Vashon coach Andy Sears said about Bellevue Christian, which after its early deficit came back with a torrid run of 3-pointers.

“They were unbelievable. I’ve never seen anything it. They were really dialed in,” Sears said of BC’s single-game record total of 13 3-pointers. “That’s the heart of a champion: Bellevue Christian kept fighting and fighting and fighting.”

The Vikings’ eight first-half treys pulled them from that early 16-point deficit to within 29-26. Brandon Kats hit four 3’s in that comeback, and the Pirates seemed to be reeling.

Nope.

“It’s always important to come out strong. You want to start out well,” Gage said. “We didn’t continue playing that hard after we got the lead, though, and that’s what we have to do. But each time they came back and challenged us, we had the maturity and the confidence in ourselves to calm down and fight through it.

“Last year I’m not sure we would have been able to do that.”

A year ago, certainly, Gage wouldn’t have been able to. Although he won’t ever talk about it and doesn’t even want it mentioned if you ask — “Our guys take it really personal to be tough,” Sears noted — Gage was fighting a nasal infection so bad during the 2008 tournament he never left the team hotel except for the games. The sophomore-laden Pirates went out in three games.

On Friday, the Pirates — notably Gage — lived up to their No. 1 ranking. Alex Wegner and Thomas Timm-Skove scored 15 and 10 points, respectively, Vashon outrebounded the Vikings 34-18 and the Pirates came up with eight steals.

And, of course, Gage was dominant.

“We had no answer for his size, his shooting and his touch,” Downs said.