Adna cruises past Reardan, into first state championship game

SPOKANE — For the better part of a year, Adna has envisioned a potential matchup with the best team in the state.

“We have talked about it, almost in a joking manner,” Adna coach Luke Salme said. “Let’s try to play Colfax for a state title.”

Who’s joking now?

The ninth-seeded Pirates continued their improbable state tournament run on Friday night, knocking off No. 6 Reardan 63-53 in a 2B State Semifinal.

The win puts the Pirates (25-4) in the boys state championship game for the first time in school history, where they will play top-seeded Colfax, which will enter the game a perfect 26-0.

For the third night in a row, Salme was nothing but smiles.

“It’s unbelievable,” Salme said. “It’s hard to believe. Even though I know this is a group that, despite what they might look like to the outsider, is tougher than nails and is a bunch of winners. They are winners, and they do things the right way. I’m fired up for them.”

Unlike Adna’s quarterfinal win, a back-and-forth classic against Northwest Christian, the Pirates were in complete control from the jump on Friday against Reardan.

Grayson Humphrey opened the scoring with a bucket on the Pirates’ first possession, and two minutes later, Trevin Salme kickstarted an 11-0 Adna run, one that put them up 15-4 and forced a Reardan timeout.

“We knew that if we keep being the aggressors the whole game, we’ll put up points,” Landen Cline said. “We can’t take the back seat and just let them come at us, especially being one of the smaller teams in this tournament.”

After a Reardan three ended the run, Humphrey hit a three of his own, and Kannen Kephart scored on Adna’s first possession of the second quarter to put the Pirates up 20-7.

“The belief is there,” Salme said of the early run. “Not that it wasn’t before, but now they know. As long as we are aggressive, yet play within ourselves, we’re gonna be fine.”

For the second night in a row, Trevin Salme hit a buzzer-beating three, this time before the halftime buzzer to put the Pirates up 35-18 at the break.

In the second half, Adna never truly pulled away for good, but the Pirates were able to shut down the Screaming Eagles on the defensive end to maintain their lead.

In the first three quarters, Reardan scored just 26 points, and they shot just 29.2% (7 for 29) from the floor in the first half.

Luke Salme said that the gameplan was to stick to man-to-man defense while rotating specific matchups to keep his guys fresh.

“Boy, they rose for the challenge,” Luke Salme said. “We can defend like crazy. We may not look the part, but those are some tough kids that defend the right way and follow a scouting report. They’re just relentless, and I love them.”

Offensively, the Pirates were doing their part to keep a comfortable lead. They finished the night shooting 44.2% (19 for 43) from the field, and they scored 22 of their points inside the paint.

“Our game plan was to cut backdoor, create double gaps, and I feel like we did that well … And our guys hit big shots,” Grayson Humphrey said. “Everyone on the court was putting in their work. We practiced this from Day 1, and we were ready to roll.”

Trevin Salme finished with 23 points, 11 rebounds, and four assists, Humphrey finished with 18 points and five rebounds, and Cline added 11 points, three rebounds, and three assists.

Kaden Richardson scored seven points and added four rebounds, and Kannen Kephart finished with four points and three rebounds.

As the No. 9 seed, the Pirates are the highest-seeded team to make the 2B Boys State Championship Game since Liberty (Spangle) made it as the No. 12 seed in 2017.

Adna is also the first Central 2B League team to make the 2B Boys State Title Game since Mossyrock made it in 2016 (Mossyrock also made the 1B championship in 2024).

Both Cline and Humphrey said that the severity of what they had accomplished hadn’t sunk in yet.

“It’s kind of unreal,” Cline said. “I don’t know how to feel right now with this team. I’m grateful it’s with them. I love these guys. We’re one, we’re closer than we’ve ever been, and we’re just one big family.”

If the Pirates are able to win, it would be the first team from the C2BL (and District 4) to win it all since Morton-White Pass won the second of its back-to-back titles in 2015.

Their biggest test awaits, though.

Colfax is a perfect 26-0 after its semifinal win over No. 3 Okanogan on Friday, and the Bulldogs will have every bit of a size advantage. Colfax has six players listed at 6-foot-5 or above, while the Pirates have just one in Jackson Knittle.

The Bulldogs are led by Adrik Jenkin, a three-time Northeast 2B South League Player of the Year who recently passed the 2,000-point mark.

The Bulldogs are also playing for more than just a state title. Last week, longtime Colfax coach Reece Jenkin, Adrik’s father, passed away after a battle with pancreatic cancer.

That night, in its Regional Round matchup against Liberty Bell, the Bulldogs honored Coach Jenkin by placing a shirt, a pair of shoes, and his photo on the coaches chair at the front end of their bench. They’ve done the same in every game in Spokane.

When the Pirates and Bulldogs take the floor for warmups on Saturday, they’ll both do so in shirts that honor Reece Jenkin. 

“It's an honor and a privilege to get to play those guys,” Luke Salme said. “They’re such an incredible story, and I’m so happy for those guys. For us to just get the chance to battle with them, it’s pretty incredible.”

Another challenge for Adna will be the turnaround. On Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, the Pirates played at 9 p.m. As the Pirates celebrated just after 11 p.m. on the concourse, they were just around 16 hours away from the start of the state title game.

Tip between Adna and Colfax is scheduled for 3 p.m. on Saturday in Spokane.

“We’re gonna enjoy the heck out of this tonight,” Luke Salme said. “Our coaching staff’s gonna work our butts off in the morning to try to come up with some plan. I know I have 11 kids that will bust their absolute tails off trying to do what we’re gonna ask them to do, and we’ll see what happens.”