Two showdowns, 1 time

By SCOTT SANDSBERRY
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC

Every state tournament seems to feature some first-round matchup of semifinal-worthy teams that seems egregiously early for such high-caliber teams. They’re invariably the result of a district-tournament upset, or a particularly tough district with two title-contending teams. Or, in the case of this year’s 1B tourney, both.

Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. was a good time to sit high enough in the SunDome stands to watch both courts, because each featured the day’s most intriguing matchup. On the boys’ side, Moses Lake Christian — top-ranked, with the tourney’s best inside-outside punch with 6-foot-7 Riggs Yarbro (20.6 points per game) and 6-2 guard Adrian Moffet (20.1) — faced 20-1 Oakville, which had been upset in district play by Lake Quinault.

On the girls’ court, No. 2 Almira/Coulee-Hartline faced No. 3 St. John-Endicott, which came in as a second-seed simply because the Eagles have the misfortune of being in the same league and district as unbeaten No. 1 Colton.

The boys’ game remained interesting well into the third quarter — which began with a 10-0 Oakville run that put the Acorns up by four points — but then became the Yarbro Show. Yarbro, very athletic at his height and with excellent post moves and body control, shot 8-for-11 the rest of the way, scoring 19 of his game-high 29 points over the final 11:09 as the Lions rolled to a 62-51 triumph.

The girls’ game also remained intriguing for one half, only to see ACH then fall apart against SJE’s active defense. The Warriors opened the second half with a 3-pointer and then missed their next 17 shots, during which SJE ran off 16 unanswered points. And it actually went downhill from there, because after ACH’s drought-ending basket, the Warriors missed their next 10 in a row.

Wow: Colton and SJE in the same league. How tough was that league, huh?

SCHEDULE CHANGES: This week’s 1B tournament and the two to follow over the next two weeks, the 1A and 2A, will each have a different Saturday schedule than previous state tourneys at the SunDome.

The starting time for the opening game of the day will be 8:30 a.m. rather than the normal 9 a.m. That will be for the first fifth-eighth game — which this year will be the girls, with the boys playing the late championship game in all three tourneys this year under the alternating-year format.

Friday’s schedule will also be different for the 1B and 1A tourneys (though not for the 2A). Friday’s openers will begin at 11 a.m. (instead of 9 a.m.), and the lost time will be made up during the boys’ and girls’ semifinals, which will be played simultaneously instead of one after the other.

SEEING IS BELIEVING: Jordan Waugh, a 6-foot-4 senior on the Taholah Chitwhins, has an eye condition that renders him legally blind, though he can see enough to be a very valuable member of the team — he’s been their third-leading scorer and leading rebounder this season.

Waugh matched his season scoring average with seven points in the Chitwhins’ opening-round loss to second-ranked Almira/Coulee-Hartline.

SHORT JUMPERS: The line of the day belonged to Tulalip Heritage’s Lesjar McKinney — 22 points on 9-for-15 shooting (including 4-for-8 from beyond the 3-point arc), plus 13 rebounds, seven assists, four steals and a pair of blocks. … Two boys and six girls playing in the 1B tournament aren’t even in high school yet. They’re eighth-graders. Most of them didn’t do much Wednesday, but Moses Lake Christian’s Hannah Dietzen sure did, scoring seven of her team’s 26 points in the Lions’ loss to Sprague-Harrington.