Maybe the deciding moment came when point guard Steven Bosma trotted onto the court Friday evening for Sunnyside Christian's semifinal against athletic Wellpinit -- arguably the quickest team in the Class 1B tournament field -- and felt as if he was, well, a step quicker than normal.

Sunnyside Christian's Tim De Vries grabs a rebound in front of Wellpinit's Jacob Abrahamson during Friday's Class 1B state semifinals at the SunDome.   ANDY SAWYER/Yakima Herald-Republic   View all photos for this story.

And then he played that way.

Or maybe the crux point was just over an hour later when, the Knights' 10-point second-half lead now down to a tenuous three, senior wing Tim De Vries went up in the lane intending to pass, had no one to pass it to, and put up the ugliest shot of the night ...

"... And absolutely willed that thing over the front of the rim," Knights coach Dean Wagenaar said of what might well have been the biggest and most unexpected basket of his team's 56-48 triumph over the Redskins. After that improbable 12-footer, Wellpinit never again got closer than four points.

Or maybe the pendulum had simply swung Sunnyside Christian's way the night before, when the Knights (22-3) rallied from a seemingly insurmountable 19-point, second-half lead simply to reach this high-voltage semifinal and, ultimately, tonight's 7 o'clock championship game against St. John-Endicott.

"No shakes. We had no shakes. Nothing can be worse than being 19 down, and having to come back from that," said Bosma, whose 14-point, eight-rebound, six-assist, four-assist night was as complete a performance as he has ever played. "After that, I was ..." He paused and grinned. "Content."

And quick. Let's not forget that part. His four steals included a backside strip and coast-to-coast layup that capped a 7-0 run that created that 10-point third-quarter bulge, plus a diving steal that both created a turnover and sent him to the foul line in the final minute, as the Knights were trying to fend off yet another valiant Redskin rally.

"He's quick. He's stepping up. He's had a huge tournament so far," said 6-foot-6 center Steven Broersma, most of whose 17 points (on 8-for-11 shooting) came on nifty assist passes from Bosma. "He and Kevin (De Jong) have really been huge here."

De Jong even got to cap the game with something the 6-5 junior center, who's deadly from the field and often deathly at the foul line, doesn't do very often: He sank back-to-back free throws with 12 seconds to go to clinch the victory.

"When that first one went in, I had a smile on my face," said De Jong, who was still smiling 20 minutes later. "It felt so good when it went in. Hey, I went 3-for-4 (at the line) -- that's my best ever!"

Against Wellpinit (23-4), which had knocked No.1-ranked, previously unbeaten Rosalia into the consolation bracket the night before, the Knights certainly needed a best-ever effort. Redskin star Cody Flett, who had scored 20 in the win over Rosalia, had an abysmal 3-for-20 shooting night, but Dakota Ford picked up the slack with 11 first-half points, including a trio of 3-pointers. And Kennedy Seyler racked up 17 points, knifing through the lane for skywalking layups or pulling up for 15-foot jumpers.

One of Seyler's slashing drives for a basket and two mid-range Flett jumpers had rallied Wellpinit, and the Knights' lead was just 48-45 with 5:10 remaining when De Vries found himself in mid-air with nary a target in sight.

"(The Redskins) took away the pass, and" -- when he decided he had no choice but to throw up an off-balance shot -- "I was hoping I could at least get a rebound," said DeVries, who finished with10 points. "I was hoping for that. Instead I found, well, two points."

That was a lucky break, perhaps, but these were different Knights than the ones who had fallen into that 19-point well against Almira/Coulee-Hartline on Thursday.

"I told the kids last night was when they grew up," Wagenaar said. "That was when we stopped playing not to lose. You've got to play like you're in a pit with snakes and wild animals and you've got to fight to stay alive. You've got to have that pit mentality. Tonight, they had it."