Mickelson’s late three seals Capital win over Timberline, 52-50

Erik Stevenson dribbled quickly to his right and launched a line-drive shot from 60 feet. The ball bounced high off the front rim before hitting a basket guide wire and falling away. Game over.

Capital 52, Timberline 50.

That’s how close the Cougars’ huge Class 3A South Sound Conference road win over the Blazers was on Friday night.

After the first exchange of baskets, Timberline didn’t lead again until early in the fourth quarter when it grabbed a four-point edge. It took a smart read and a big shot from Capital senior guard T.J. Mickelson to finish the Blazers.

Down 50-49 with two seconds left, Mickelson came off a Grant Erickson screen and hit his second clock-beating 3-pointer of the night from the right wing.

The win gave Capital (14-2, 9-1 SSC) a two-game lead over Timberline (11-5, 7-3) with four games to play.

“I kind of knew I was going to get the shot in that situation,” Mickelson. “I saw Grant coming to set the screen and no defender was following him, so I knew I’d be open.”

Mickelson, who finished with 11 points, spent most of the night setting up sophomore guard Chris Penner. Fresh off hitting the final go-ahead shot in a win over Peninsula on Tuesday, Penner scored the Cougars’ first 12 points and finished with a career-high 27.

“I got that first layup, then got fouled shooting a three and made all the free throws. That really got me into rhythm. Plus T.J. was getting me some amazing passes,” said Penner, who lost 15 pounds because of the flu in December and has yet to gain back all the weight.

He was in double figures with barely two minutes gone.

“I had a feeling Chris was going to have a big game. Nothing fazes him. He’s got an amazing competitive spirit,” said Capital coach Brian Vandiver. “But I’ve never seen him start out a game that hot. Maybe in summer league.”

Penner’s outburst allowed Capital to take a 12-4 lead, but Timberline hung in and cut the margin to 16-15 on a 3-pointer by Eli Morton with three seconds left in the first quarter.

That’s when Mickelson struck for the first time, nailing a shot from beyond half-court at the buzzer to give the Cougars a four-point edge.

“I’ve taken a lot of those this season and had a few come close,” said Mickelson.

Revived, Capital took its largest lead, 24-15, shortly thereafter, but couldn’t shake Timberline, which played most of the game without Stevenson, who averages 20 points but got into foul trouble and finished with seven.

Morton, who led the Blazers with 17 points, tied it with a pull-up jumper midway through the third quarter. Early in the fourth quarter, Timberline took its first lead, 43-42, on a free throw by post Jalen Bush, who finished with 14 points.

The Blazers used much of the shot clock during the second half, seeking to post up Bush. Timberline coach Allen Thomas said it wasn’t because they wanted to buy time, waiting to get Stevenson back into the lineup.

“We were settling too much,” he said. “We wanted to take more time and get the shots we wanted.”

Stevenson was held without a field goal until less than six minutes remained, but his three-pointer from the top of the key gave Timberline its largest lead, 46-42.

Capital rallied to go up 49-48 on a jumper by Penner with 40 seconds to play.

As they had much of the second half, the Blazers got the ball to Bush in the post, and his basket gave Timberline its final lead 14 seconds from the end.

Mickelson’s heroics were symptomatic of Timberline’s downfall in the game, said Thomas.

“We didn’t finish out quarters well at all. The two shots T.J. hit, one in the first, the one at the end, and the baskets Penner had at the end of the second and third.”

Nonetheless, Thomas believed the close call, though it dealt a serious blow to Timberline’s hopes of an SSC championship, can make believers out of his team going forward. The Blazers played without guard Tariq Romain, absent for personal reasons, and Stevenson had a subpar game. Yet the result was more competitive than Capital’s 76-51 rout on Dec. 14.

“This one hurts a lot more, though,” Thomas said.

This story was originally published January 20, 2017 at 10:42 PM with the headline "Mickelson’s late three seals Capital win over Timberline, 52-50."