No. 6 Issaquah explodes in second half to knock out Timberline, 64-39

Jarryn Bush and the Timberline High School boys basketball team walked out of the locker room at Bellevue College to a sea of supporters wearing green and black.

But Bush — like many of his teammates — needed a minute to wipe away a tear, and embraced his mom, Jennifer.

“This is the last time I can put on a Timberline jersey with my brothers, and Coach Thomas and just everybody from Timberline,” Bush said. “It’s hitting me pretty hard.”

Sixth-ranked Issaquah put on a shooting clinic in the second half on Saturday to knock off Timberline, 64-39, in a Class 4A state regional game.

The blow comes after Timberline won three in a row to clinch a fourth consecutive trip to the regional round — though this is the third year in a row the Blazers have been eliminated at this stage in the tournament.

“It’s a repeating effect,” Bush said. “Since sophomore year, we started out slow and we found a way to win towards the end when it mattered the most.”

But not quite this time.

The Eagles put up a blistering 39 points in the second half — to Timberline’s 18 — to send the Blazers home short of a trip to the Tacoma Dome. Issaquah (21-3) will play a team to be determined Thursday in the state quarterfinals.

“Their experience showed up big time in the second half,” Timberline coach Allen Thomas said. “They just kept coming — over and over and over again.”

Tanner Davis hit a turnaround jumper in the paint to open the third quarter for the Eagles, who built a double-digit lead that the Blazers never recovered from.

Davis led all scorers with 17 points, while Trevon Ary-Turner added 16.

Issaquah finished on 25 of 55 (45.5 percent) shooting, while Timberline was 14 of 42 (33.3).

“We were very cold from the field,” Thomas said. “You’re not going to have a chance to win if you shoot that bad.”

Timberline put up only six points in the third quarter after trailing by four at halftime.

“In the first half I thought we were right there,” Thomas said. “Defensively we got a couple of steals, but we didn’t convert the steals for layups. And that morale was down a little bit, and guys started overthinking it. It’s like a domino effect.”

Timberline continued to topple as time ran out, and didn’t cut the lead below 20 after Scott Kellum, who had 12 points, made a basket with four minutes, 22 seconds to go.

Bush and sophomore Erik Stevenson — the Blazers’ two leading scorers this season — combined for only 11 points. No Timberline player scored in double-digits, though Eli Morton had a team-high nine.

“Playoff time, state time, the top guys come out and perform,” Thomas said. “And our two guys combined were 5 for 20. That’s tough.”

It was even tougher for Bush, and Timberline’s other three seniors — Austin Curry, Derek Williams and Mika Allison — as they watched Issaquah celebrate a third consecutive berth to the Class 4A state quarterfinals.

“It was just a team that you could tell has been there before,” Bush said.

Timberline will drop to Class 3A beginning with the 2016-17 school year and join the newly founded South Sound Conference.

“Now you’re talking about the Rainier Beaches and the Seattle Preps of the world — it doesn’t get any easier,” Thomas said. “We just know we have a lot of work to do. Back to the drawing board again.

“We’ll be back.”

This story was originally published February 27, 2016 at 6:48 PM with the headline "No. 6 Issaquah explodes in second half to knock out Timberline, 64-39."