Tumwater boys rain 3-pointers on Selah to advance to state quarterfinals
An uncomfortable sense of déjà vu could have set in for the Tumwater High School boys basketball team.
A year ago, the Thunderbirds squandered a 10-point fourth quarter lead against Fife in the regional round of the Class 2A state tournament and lost by a point.
On Friday night at Mount Tahoma, Tumwater scored the first basket of the fourth quarter to take an 11-point lead against Selah. The Vikings rallied when 6-foot-1 freshman Elijah Pepper abruptly took over the game, scoring 11 points in a row and assisting on Calvin Herting’s 3-pointer from the corner that put Selah up by one.
But, said T-Birds coach Thomas Rowswell, his team was focused only on the present and with some clutch shooting in the final three minutes, Tumwater earned a 60-54 victory and a trip to the Yakima SunDome for the state quarterfinals Thursday against a team to be determined. State matchups are drawn Sunday.
With two minutes to go, Spencer Dowers, who scored 10 of his 13 points in the fourth quarter, buried an open 3-pointer from the right wing to put the T-Birds back in the lead, 52-50. Pepper, who finished with a game-high 28 points, was able to tie it up at 54-all with just under a minute to go before Dowers answered with another 3-pointer from the right corner and Tumwater never trailed again.
“That felt so good,” the 6-foot-2 senior point guard said. “Thank the Lord. I had lots of room, let it fly and it went in. We kept driving and passing, driving and passing. When you get fast ball movement, you wind up with open shots.”
Tumwater was rattled early by Selah’s extended, trapping zone defense and later by its full court pressure, but Rowswell said it wasn’t an unexpected challenge.
“We haven’t played a team like that,” he said. “We’ve seen teams that trap and press, but not for the full game like Selah does. They call it ‘controlled chaos.’ We knew there would be an adjustment period.”
Down by as many as six points in the first quarter, Tumwater rallied on 3-pointers by Jacob Gibbons, CJ Geathers and Brian Marty — the latter a 40-footer at the buzzer — to lead by five at the end of the first quarter.
Tumwater’s 6-foot-10 post Weston VandenHazel, who led the team in scoring with 17 points — including three dunks — owned the second quarter, scoring 10 of his team’s 15 points. Cade Otton, who was scoreless on the night, contributed with several pinpoint passes to VandenHazel.
“Those two have really developed a bond the last month,” Rowswell said. “They each benefit from the attention the defense gives the other.”
Gibbons followed VandenHazel with 16 points, which included four of Tumwater’s nine 3-pointers total.
Dustin Yates joined Pepper in double-figures for Selah, which is located near Yakima, with 12 points.
This story was originally published February 26, 2016 at 10:07 PM with the headline "Tumwater boys rain 3-pointers on Selah to advance to state quarterfinals."