Tumwater boys survive Ellensburg in OT to advance to 2A semifinals

YAKIMA — Weston VandenHazel insists he never came close to choking on his bubble gum.

Though, Ellensburg gave him plenty of reasons to in Thursday’s nightcap at the Yakima Valley SunDome.

Tumwater fended off a flurry of late scoring runs to slip by Ellensburg, 58-57, in overtime in the Class 2A state quarterfinals.

“We were going to win, or we were going to go down fighting,” VandenHazel said. “We just fought through it, fought through adversity, and we just played our game.”

VandenHazel — who scored a team-high 23 points for the T-Birds — had to pause as teammate Spencer Dowers clobbered him with a hug.

“We just kept fighting,” VandenHazel continued. “That’s what we do, we don’t give up. We’ve been through so much, we can get through anything. We just proved it.”

The T-Birds had to get through plenty to advance to Friday’s semifinals.

After extending the lead to 13 midway through the third quarter, Tumwater couldn’t do much more than watch as Coleman Sparling led the Bulldogs on a 16-3 run to tie it at 37-37 by the end of the period.

“We just knew this time of year they’re going to make a run,” Tumwater coach Thomas Rowswell said. “Especially in a new environment, you just have to acclimate and play all four quarters.

“I thought we relaxed a bit in the third, and when you have a kid like Sparling who can score in bunches, you just have to be engaged.”

Sparling finished with a game-high 29 points, and nearly sent the T-Birds to the consolation bracket.

He blitzed down the floor with seven seconds to play, and fired off a 3-pointer at the final buzzer to tie the game at 50-50.

Sparling then opened the overtime period with four straight points to give Ellensburg the lead. The Bulldogs led by as many as six, but Tumwater went on a 8-1 run to win it.

“When they got back in it, we knew it was going to be a dog fight the rest of the time — and it was,” Rowswell said.

VandenHazel slapped the ball out of Sparling’s hands underneath the hoop in midair with less than a minute to go to prevent Ellensburg from taking another lead.

And Jacob Gibbons — who scored seven points — sunk the game-winning free throw with four seconds to play. Dowers added another 13 points for the T-Birds.

“They call it survive and advance for a reason,” Rowswell said. “And tonight was survival.”

Tumwater (18-6) advances to play Shorecrest (18-8) at 9 p.m. Friday in the semifinals.

The Highlanders knocked off top-ranked River Ridge — which bested Tumwater earlier in the season — on Thursday to move on.

“I think we’re prepared for anything they can throw at us,” VandenHazel said. “We’ll be ready.”

And he’ll likely stick with the same pink bubble gum he was chewing in Thursday’s overtime nail-biter.

“Gum is very crucial,” VandenHazel said.

This story was originally published March 4, 2016 at 1:01 AM with the headline "Tumwater boys survive Ellensburg in OT to advance to 2A semifinals."