Shorecrest overcomes shooting woes to end Tumwater’s championship run, 47-41

The noise from neighboring locker rooms told the story.

Behind Shorecrest’s door, players and coaches chanted, “One more!”

Behind Tumwater’s? Silence.

The Highlanders rallied from a scoreless third quarter to slip by the T-Birds, 47-41, in Friday’s Class 2A state tournament semifinal nightcap at the Yakima Valley SunDome.

“I thought we had a great game plan,” Tumwater coach Thomas Rowswell said. “I thought we made everything tough for them. They hit some tough shots in key moments that gave them momentum, which led to a couple of easy shots. Give them credit.”

Simon Acker ended a 12-minute field-goal drought for the Highlanders when he tipped the ball in with 6 minutes, 53 seconds to play.

And Shorecrest took the game’s final lead two minutes later when Tobyn Lawson hit a wide-open 3-pointer from the left corner to make it 37-35.

He scored a game-high 19 points.

“We knew we were cold and we had to adjust,” Lawson said. “Make the proper adjustments and just stick to what we do best, and we get our buckets.”

The Highlanders built a six-point lead at halftime, but Jacob Gibbons hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give Tumwater momentum heading into the locker room.

Gibbons finished with 10 points for the T-Birds. Weston VandenHazel recorded a double-double with a team-high 14 points, 11 rebounds.

“I think we were just playing a little flustered and we let the momentum swing at the end of the half get to us,” Lawson said. “We came out soft and it just took us awhile to get back into it mentally.”

When the Highlanders finally did, Tumwater didn’t have an answer.

The T-Birds scored only six points in the final quarter, and missed their final six shots as time expired.

“We had some open looks and just didn’t knock them down, and that’s basketball,” Rowswell said. “I thought we did everything we needed to, slowed them up, made it tough. They just made a few more shots tonight.”

Four, to be exact. Shorecrest finished 18 of 50 (36 percent) shooting to Tumwater’s 14 of 43 (32.6).

The best the T-Birds can finish now is third.

“We just fight for each other like a family of brothers,” Gibbons said. “It’s a lot of motivation because the best team in our school’s history ended in third place 40 years ago. So, we’re going to come and get the last ‘W’ as a group.”

Tumwater (18-7) will play No. 2 Lynden (24-3) at 1 p.m. Saturday in the third/fifth-place game.

“It’s kind of a cool opportunity because we know it’s going to be our last game together,” Rowswell said. “These guys have just battled, and we care about each other, and we’re playing good basketball at the right time.

“We’ll just let it fly tomorrow, and whatever happens, happens.”

Shorecrest (19-8) will play No. 3 Clarkston (24-1) at 3 p.m. Saturday for the state championship.

“There’s just one game ahead of us,” Lawson said. “All of that stuff behind us means nothing. All we have is one game left.”

The Shorecrest girls (17-10) also advanced to Saturday’s 2A championship game against third-ranked Lynden (23-3) at 5 p.m.

“Neither of us were league champions, we’re all considered dark horses in all of this,” Lawson said. “We just stuck to what we could do, we knew we had talent. We just came through at the end.”

This story was originally published March 4, 2016 at 11:44 PM with the headline "Shorecrest overcomes shooting woes to end Tumwater’s championship run, 47-41."