Attempts at a buzzer-beating win fall short, ending Steilacoom’s season in a regionals loss against Liberty of Issaquah

With their first Class 2A state tournament appearance since 2010 on the line, the Steilacoom High School Sentinels got two final chances to advance Friday night in Tacoma.

Both shots came up agonizingly short, and Steilacoom saw its season end in the state regionals to Liberty of Issaquah, 49-48, at Mount Tahoma High School — a game shy and a point short of that magical trip to Yakima.

With 10 seconds left, the Sentinels in-bounded the ball to senior wing Torrey Cady, who dribbled into the key, slung up a leaning, scooping, underhand layup attempt through two defenders that rolled back out, and over the front of the iron.

J.J. Lemming, a Central Washington fooball signee, rose up and got off the tip-in attempt, but it grazed the rim just short as the buzzer sounded, and the Liberty bench stormed the court.

“We had several options to look for, to see how they were playing it,” Steilacoom coach Gary Wusterbarth said. “Obviously we’d like to have the ball in Torrey’s hands, which we did, and we got to the hoop, got the shot and were right there for the putback — but it didn’t go in.”

Cady and senior forward Chris Hines had been instrumental early in filling in for senior guard Nehemiah Shird, who first left the game early in the first quarter with a bloody nose, and promptly picked up three quick fouls after returning. Just 24 seconds into the third quarter, Shird picked up his fourth foul and headed back to the bench.

“We have two different types of teams we can put on the floor. We can go with Chris Hines … and put a bigger team on the floor, or we can go with Josiah Hampton and go smaller kids,” Wusterbarth said. “We were playing both options … try to make them make adjustments too. We’ve been able to do that all year to cover for the guys in foul trouble.”

Cady finished with 11 points, while Devin Asaeli tallied a team-leading 14.

Shird, who led the Sentinels (20-8) past Foss last week with 17 points — helping them earn one of the final seeds out of the 2A West Central District — was held scoreless.

But, that didn’t stop Steilacoom from hanging with the Patriots until the end. Utah State football signee Jaymason Willingham brought the crowd to its feet after stealing the ball, driving the length of the court and finishing a layup though a hard foul before converting the enusing free throw to give the Sentinels a lead with less than two minutes remaining.

“Our defensive work has been pretty good all year and keeping us battling,” Wusterbarth said. “We didn’t give up any big runs and really worked hard on giving them one shot at the basket every time. And just keeping them within reach — that was our plan.”

Liberty standout Jake Elfstrom scored a game-high 20 points to lead the Patriots, including six in the fourth quarter and the go-ahead free throws with 16.7 seconds remaining.

“He’s a nice luxury, I’ll say that,” Liberty coach Omar Parker said. “Jake can put the ball in the basket as well as anyone in the state and his teammates are aware of that. We all work to try to get him open looks and end-of-game shots. Fortunately he came through big-time again tonight.”

Second-half adjustments proved key for Liberty, which brought full-court pressure out of the locker room and rapidly built a six-point third-quarter lead with punishing, physical defense — at one point forcing turnovers on three consecutive Sentinels possessions.

“I think that our ability to trap and really rotate and use our speed a little bit took them a little bit out of their offensive flow,” Parker said.

The Patriots (16-9) advance to meet Clarkston, which fell to WCD champion North Kitsap on Friday, on Wednesday’s 2A state tournament opening day in the Yakima Valley SunDome.

“You have to give Steilacoom and Coach Wusterbarth — a legend — so much credit,” Parker said. “Those guys are as tough as they come and they proved it. They beat us badly on the glass and that’s just a tough, tough team. Fortunately we were tough enough.”

INDIVIDUAL SCORING

L – Josh Chung 2 points, Jake Elfstrom 20, Beau Pedersen 4, Gianni Almeda 12, Jarod Roberson 9, Peysen Sweeney 2.

S – Devin Asaeli 14 points, Torrey Cady 11, Jaymason Willingham 9, J.J. Lemming 8, Chris Hines 6.