It would be nice to gain experience without aging.

But Sunnyside Christian's Knights, while learning some indelible lessons Thursday night, were unable to avoid an excruciatingly harsh reality.

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Cusick, executing a length-of-the-court, game-ending play to perfection, got a banked bucket by Spencer Shanholtzer at the buzzer to deal SC a 51-49 defeat in a Class 1B state tournament quarterfinal in the SunDome.

The loss -- SC's first in 10 state 1B games -- ended the youthful Knights' hopes of winning the school's third straight state title.

Sunnyside Christian (12-12) will meet Curlew, which fell to top-ranked Moses Lake Christian in the preceding game, at 4 p.m. Friday in a loser-out game and can finish as high as fourth.

The fifth-ranked Panthers (20-5) will meet MLC in an 8 p.m. semifinal Friday.

Their hero? There were three of them, starting with Dustin Villegas, who with four seconds to play and the score tied at 49, fired a baseline-to-midcourt pass to 6-foot-3 Tyler Edwards, who in turn flicked the ball to Shanholtzer streaking down his right sideline.

Shanholtzer hesitated briefly -- he had hit a 3-pointer shortly before -- then drove hard toward the basket and banked in a close-in leaner as time expired.

"We practice that play every day," a euphoric Shanholtzer said while accepting congratulations from fans. "Tyler gave me a perfect pass, and if he doesn't do that the play doesn't work. I looked up at the clock, saw I had three (seconds) and just went to the basket.

"It was just amazing ... almost ridiculous, actually. Oh, my goodness."

The Knights led 47-40 with 1:29 to play when Matt Crabtree converted one of two free throws.

But Shanholtzer hit a three at 1:15, after which SC's Trevor Wagenaar made two foul shots at 0:50. Edwards, with 42 seconds to go, connected on a deep three to tie it, and SC called time at 0:40 and again at 0:12 to set up a potential winning play.

The Knights got the ball down low to 6-5 sophomore Steven Broersma, their top scorer with 14 points. But his  turnaround jumper missed and was rebounded by Cusick's Riley Bauer.

"We prepare for every situation," said Panthers coach J.R. Bluff. "On that one we want to throw it to our biggest guy and have him hit Spencer on the run. With that much time he didn't have to take the three, which he didn't, and he ended up making a great play."

Wagenaar scored 11 points for SC, which includes six sophomores and a freshman on its roster. But the Knights, who led 16-7 during the second quarter, committed 17 turnovers and made only 7 of 17 free throws.

Six of their misses came during the final 3:15. Cusick, on the other hand, shot only 23 percent during the first half (7 for 30) and 35 for the game (19 for 55).

Shanholtzer led all scorers with 18 points while Bauer, hitting 4 of 8 3-pointers, totaled 12.

A 6-0 junior who brought a team-best 18.4 per-game scoring average to the tournament, Shanholtzer said his team had not tried the game-ending play before.

"Even if it works in practice, it's not the same as doing it in a game," he said. "But at least now we know we can do it, and this one tonight was something I'll never forget."