It wasn’t exactly a debate and it wasn’t at all heated.

In fact, the disagreement was about as jovial as one could imagine — if it could even be considered as such.

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“Guts,” Toppenish coach JoJo Mesplie said. “You had to have guts to have even played in that game.”

“Heart,” claimed Patrick Peters. “That’s where this win came from.”

Whatever the source, those who witnessed Top-Hi’s latest if not greatest triumph in the Class 2A state tournament, a 62-54 overtime defeat of Anacortes on Friday, were treated to much more than a lesson in human anatomy.

The vast and vocal SunDome crowd also was presented compelling evidence regarding the human condition — if not conditioning — meaning if a team plays hard enough long enough, it can reach an unlikely goal.

Or in this case, win a trophy.

Unranked Toppenish (16-12), it turns out, was worthy of more than the four quarters of fame gained by Wednesday’s upset of No. 2 Mark Morris.

It will thus meet Clarkston at 1:30 p.m. Saturday with the winner finishing fourth and the loser seventh.

To secure the school’s first such reward in 17 years, the Wildcats were forced to look deep within themselves. And whatever they found, Mesplie confirmed, looked clearly familiar.

“This team,” he said, “had already played three winner-in, loser-out games just to get to the tournament. I’m convinced that helped us today.”

Especially when Top-Hi was down 10 in the first half and committing turnovers at an alarming rate.

But the Wildcats steadied themselves, erased their deficit and reduced their mistakes, then engaged the Seahawks in a spirited see-saw battle that saw Toppenish finally seize control with a 7-0 run in OT.

Ramon Ramirez, the ‘Cats’ leading scorer with 17 points, highlighted the burst with a 3-pointer off a nice feed from Peters, who then dealt another assist to Ramirez’ identical twin Roman for a layup.

That made it 56-52, Toppenish, with 48 seconds left. After two free throws by Anacortes’ Alec Mavar, Ramon Ramirez cashed three more breakaways — the last one with time running out and his teammates dancing in triumph.

To-Hi victory notwithstanding, the game produced its share of unsightly numbers. There were 24 Wildcat turnovers, for example, and 16 for 36 (44 percent) free-throw shooting by the Seahawks. Anacortes was especially gracious in the second half, making only 5 of 17 from the line.

But the Hawks (14-13), too, came back, overcoming a 45-41 deficit in the final 1:27 of regulation.

After Josh Schutz made one of two foul shots for a 46-44 Wildcats lead with 31 seconds left, Toppenish forced a jump ball at 0:09 but the possession arrow was with Anacortes.

Mavar’s driving hoop at 0:02 forced overtime — but for the Seahawks it would only be borrowed time.

Heady decisions thereafter by Peters helped mightily.

“Tell that to my coach,” the 6-foot senior guard said, smiling, after totaling 12 points, six assists and four steals. “He wasn’t very happy with me for awhile there.”

Said Mesplie, “I did have to get on him a little. Early in the game he was dribbling with his head down, and that was causing us problems. Once he got his head up, we were a lot better.”

Mackenzie Larkin, a 6-5 senior, led Anacortes with 19 points and eight boards while Mavar added 15 points.

But the Seahawks turned the ball over 27 times as Ramon Ramirez augmented his game-high nine rebounds with five steals.