No. 3 Life Christian boys get back to state tournament — barely

Luke Lovelady is a social-media fiend. His dunks are constantly posted on Facebook. And he closely monitors Twitter activity in his down time from Life Christian Academy basketball.

On Friday night, he saw the video of Union’s last-second, buzzer-beating 3-point to defeat Bellarmine Prep — and good friend Malachi Flynn.

“I saw his head in his jersey afterward,” Lovelady said. “I thought, ‘I don’t want that to happen to me.’ ”

Fast-forward 14 hours later, and the third-ranked Eagles were in the same situation at the end of their Class 2B regional showdown with Napavine on Saturday morning.

This time, Napavine standout Wyatt Stanley missed a 3-pointer in the final second, and Life Christian escaped with a 37-35 victory at Mount Tahoma High School.

The Eagles (23-2) are headed back to Spokane for the state quarterfinals Thursday in back-to-back seasons — and 11th trip overall under longtime coach Mark Lovelady.

“Today wasn’t our best game,” the coach said. “But I am proud of my guys.”

He likely would have had a bit more pep to his celebration had Life Christian not squandered a big lead.

The Eagles jumped out to a 10-0 lead in the first 95 seconds. And the Tigers (18-9) could not find any range, missing 18 of their first 19 field-goal attempts.

“Their length gave us problems,” Napavine coach Rex Stanley said. “Not only are they tall, but they are long. That zone (defense) gets pretty big, and there are not a lot of gaps in it.”

Life Christian built its biggest lead, 31-16, on C.J. Kovacs’ free throw with 2:14 remaining in the third quarter.

And about the time the Eagles thought they could breathe easy, they stopped playing together. And it nearly cost them their postseason lives.

Peyton Stanley hit a 3-pointer, then had a steal and lay-in in the final 35 seconds of the third quarter that sparked the Tigers, who trailed 31-23 heading into the fourth quarter.

And they whittled it down to 35-33 on a Wyatt Stanley free throw with 1:41 to go, With the shot clock winding down, the Eagles got the ball to Anthony Kunitsa, who charged down the left baseline and converted a nifty 8-foot floater with 26 seconds remaining, giving Life Christian a 37-33 lead.

Peyton Stanley made two free throws 13 seconds later to cut it to 37-35.

And after Wyatt Dunlap missed the front end of a one-and-one, the Tigers got the ball to Wyatt Stanley just left of the top of the arc.

Stanley, a 6-foot-5 junior, faded back, and his flat 3-point attempt rattled out at the buzzer.

“I’ve been in that situation before … but it is always a little nerve-racking,” Luke Lovelady said. “In the back of your head, you know, ‘We don’t get a second chance after this.’ If we lose, it is over.”

Luke Lovelady led Life Christian with 15 points, 15 rebounds and five blocked shots.

“We have not had games like this (in our league) to prepare ourselves,” Mark Lovelady said. “And Napavine plays Toledo, Morton-White Pass and Mossyrock, and they have great games all the time.”

This story was originally published February 27, 2016 at 8:36 PM with the headline "No. 3 Life Christian boys get back to state tournament — barely."