Dylan Cooley goes off, but Cascade Christian’s season ends in Yakima heartbreak; Tacoma Baptist boys, Life Christian girls advance in Spokane

Jerry Williams won a lot of games in his Cascade Christian coaching career — 299 of them.

No, it’s not 300. But he’d give back so many of them just to get this one.

“I’d rather have 150 wins and see those boys still playing,” Williams said after his team’s 60-57 loss to King’s Way in the 1A first round. “I would give back 100 of them to still be playing. I love these guys on this team and they gave their hearts and souls today. I’m proud of the way we played. We just came up short.”

This was a crazy game.

Dylan Cooley scored a game-high 27 points for the Cougars (14-10), they outrebounded King’s Way, 33-23, and had just nine turnovers in the loser-out first-round game on Wednesday in the Yakima SunDome. It went about as well in those respects as Williams could have hoped.

Except King’s Way shot lights out in the second half — making 11 of 18 (61 percent).

“You just don’t see teams shoot that well in the SunDome. It’s probably one of the better halfs I’ve ever seen a team shoot here,” Williams said. “Some of those shots we had kids right in their face. It was tough.”

And King’s Way’s Brady Metz was awarded three free throws when Cooley was called for a foul (which Williams didn’t agree with … at all) on Metz’ 3-point attempt with about 12 seconds remaining. He made two of them for a 60-57 lead.

Cascade Christian was then tied up for a jump ball on its ensuing offensive possession with about two seconds remaining. The Cougars’ final shot from Corbin Nohr was a desperation heave from the top of the key that missed as time expired.

And Williams said he was sticking to this being the final of his 19-year run as Cascade Christian’s coach, ending his tenure with 299 wins.

“The hard part about this was our guys worked their tails off,” Williams said. “They were on the floor everywhere. It wasn’t for lack of effort.

“And Cooley — that young man came to play. He deserved to keep playing. I feel bad for our whole team, but for Dylan especially.”

Columbia River 58, Fife 51

After entering halftime down 33-13, the Trojans came out firing in the second half against the Chieftains. Unfortunately, they would still end up falling short.

“We just couldn’t get going in the second quarter, it killed us. We couldn’t score and we couldn’t stop them,” said Fife coach Mark Schelbert. “I love the way they responded at the half, it was what I was looking for. We needed more movement on offense and to make quicker decisions.”

The Trojans did respond as they outscored the Cheiftains 21-13 in the third quarter. Malachi Afwork was at the forefront of the comeback, finishing the game with 16 points, and Gannon Ginnis added 11. Bryson Williams was also locking down on defense as he matched up well with the Chieftains.

“The great thing about our guys is that they play both ends of the floor. They can defend and rebound which is nice,” Schelbert said. “It’s been a huge part of our success all year.”

Williams finished with nine points. The Cheiftains were led by Jacob Hjort’s 16.

No. 9 Brewster 58, No. 8 Life Christian Academy 55

Entering the fourth quarter, the Eagles were down by six to the Bears. With six minutes left in the game, the Eagles took a one point lead after Omari Maulana made the layup.

However, Joe Taylor would come back with 3:46 left in the game with a jumper to take the lead back permanently. Taylor would be the game’s high scorer with 26 points.

Noah Robinson of the Eagles would attempt a last minute comeback knocking down a three-pointer with less than 90 seconds in the game, but the Eagles couldn’t get past the lead.

Robinson would be the Eagles high scorer as well, netting 22 points. Maulana was the second highest scorer with 12 points.

Tacoma Baptist 50, Naselle 47

The Crusaders are headed to the 1B state quarterfinals for the second consecutive season.

PJ Talen had 24 points and 11 rebounds and Bradley Swillie added 15 points and the Crusaders outpaced Naselle thanks to a fourth-quarter rally and pulled away in the final minute. They advance to a 10:30 a.m. game against No. 1-ranked Sunnyside Christian on Thursday at Spokane Arena.

Swillie drilled a 3-pointer from the top of the key to break the tie. The Crusaders then forced a turnover and Talen converted a three-point play to put Tacoma Baptist up 49-43 with 32 seconds remaining.

Pomeroy 59, Mount Rainier Lutheran 38

There was no stopping the Pirates’ Jacob Tewalt as he scored the game-high 25 points.

The Hawks’ Jack Shannon was their leading scorer with 13 points and Deven Johnson scooped up six points and five rebounds, but there was not much else going for them as Adam Bailey was constantly being double teamed and limited.

“They did a good job double teaming Bailey. Daniel Perry also had limited minutes,” said Mount Rainier Lutheran coach Alex Carter. “They made the offense struggle. It was a great defense, they have experience from last year. We kept trying to get to the second or third option on offense.”

But as the Hawks went into the fourth quarter down by nine, Tewalt helped the Pirates pull away with two 3-pointers that were banked off the glass.

“It was a hard fought game. We have some inexperienced players and underclassmen this year,” Carter said. “Hopefully we’ll be in a position like Pomeroy next year.”

No. 8 Life Christian 55, La Conner 30

Four days after winning their first ever state game, the Eagles added one more.

Jaelyn Turner, a freshman for the Eagles, led all scores with 16 points as the initial nerves of the unfamiliar territory eventually went away to send Life Christian to the 2B state quarterfinals to face Davenport, which starts at 2 p.m. Thursday at Spokane Arena.

“We came out playing great, Landyn [Lovelady] had eight in the first quarter and we started to wear on them,” said Life Christian coach Mark Lovelady. “It felt like our defensive pressure picked up. We did a couple of varieties of the half court trap and forced 15 turnovers.”

The defense also cranked up the rebounding too as Alea Yun had 14 rebounds. She would finish with a double-double with 12 points. Landyn would also chip in 10 points, five steals and nine rebounds.

The Eagles limited the Braves to just three offensive rebounds.

This story was originally published February 28, 2018 at 9:10 PM with the headline "Dylan Cooley goes off, but Cascade Christian’s season ends in Yakima heartbreak; Tacoma Baptist boys, Life Christian girls advance in Spokane."