Adna's Lyle Metzenberg draws a foul against Liberty on Saturday during the State 2B tournament in Spokane.
Adna's Cody Young shoots against Liberty on Saturday during the State 2B tournament in Spokane.
SPOKANE — The Pirates didn’t have much trouble rebounding from Friday’s loss.
Especially not with the chance to make history still on the table.
Adna shut down Liberty over the final three quarters here Saturday night to run away with a 57-41 win and take third in the State 2B boys basketball tournament, tying the 1995 squad for the highest finish in program history.
“That’s the first thing we talked about last night, was that there’s still so much to play for,” Pirate coach Luke Salme said. “That’s a team with a lot of seniors that, without a doubt, they realize this is the last time we get to play basketball, and get to play together, and it’s a special, successful group of seniors.”
Cody Young, the Pirates’ sparkplug point guard and leading scorer, led the way in his final prep game, scoring 20 points and crossing the 1,000-point mark early in the game. Finding the motivation one last time wasn’t an issue, he said.
“It’s our last game,” he explained. “All of us wanted to work really hard, and it got us going pretty good on both sides of the floor.”
Adna trailed 17-9 after a quarter and 23-22 at halftime, but took the lead on a bucket from Conner Weed to open the second half. Blake Davis hit a 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter to push the lead to a safe 13 points at 47-34.
Liberty went cold after the break, scoring 18 second-half points and shooting 4 of 19 from the field.
“That’s a very physically tough challenge for us, to beat that team,” Salme said of the Lancers, a sizable, grind-it-out squad. “We mostly played man to man against big, strong, physical kids that want to pound it inside, and I think there was a pretty strong will to win and finish this way together.”
That started with the seniors: Young, Weed, Blake Davis, Trevor Thornburg, Adam Mower and Bo Moon.
“It’s sad. It’s a little bittersweet; I’m pumped and I’m so happy for them, but those are special kids,” Salme said. “It’s a little cliche, but they have kind of put a stamp on this program, and I’m indebted to them.”
Junior forward Lyle Metzenberg added 18 points and eight rebounds for Adna, with Davis chipping in 6 points. The Pirates went 19 of 49 from the field, but were outrebounded 38-32.
Justin Jeske led the Lancers with 11 points and 10 rebounds, and Thomas Redder added 10 points.
Adna finished the season with a 24-3 record, after taking second in the Central 2B League and winning the District 4 championship in Salme’s third season.
