Friday afternoon in the SunDome, Burlington-Edison easily punched their third straight trip to the championship game, cruising past Lynden 72-51, and leaving it up to Squalicum to seal the deal.

And not even a spectacular effort by Ephrata's Patrick Simon could prevent that repeat performance tonight.

The Tigers' 6-foot-9 forward electrified an already boisterous SunDome crowd with a tournament-record, 48-point performance, punctuated by a 33-point second half.

Simon got almost no help, however, and Ephrata couldn't overcome a nine-minute drought in which Squalicum outscored them 27-0, as the Storm rolled to a 77-62 victory.

"To do that to the number-two ranked team in the state is quite an accomplishment," Squalicum coach Dave Dickson said of the run that turned an early 6-2 Ephrata lead at the 6:42 mark into a 29-6 Storm advantage with 6 minutes left in the second quarter.

But that defensive wasn't invincible, as Simon hit 13 of 27 shots from the field (7 of 16 3-pointers) and all 15 free-throw attempts to shatter the record of 38 points set by Wapato's Willie Blodgett against Clarkston in last season's tournament.

"Patrick was amazing," Ephrata coach Brandon Evenson said.

But Squalicum countered that one-man show with a three-pronged attack, led by guard Derek Dickerson, who poured in 28 points, featuring eight 3-pointers. Patrick Voeut and Michael Greene added 14 points each, with Greene grabbing 14 rebounds -- including seven of the Storm's 17 offensive rebounds that produced 26 second-chance points.

Now the only thing preventing the Storm from becoming the first back-to-back 2A state champion since Blaine in 1999 and 2000 is another clash with Burlington-Edison, which got 21 points from Evan Coulter and 19 from Colin Stewart in Friday's victory.

Burlington-Edison has come up empty in its last two title-game appearances, and in two prior outings against the Storm this season, but those results aren't important to coach Rick Skeen.

"Regardless of what happens (tonight)," he said, "you can't take anything away from what these kids have accomplished the last three years and the last three days."