SPOKANE — Going back-and-forth with No. 9 Lind-Ritzville/Sprague/Washtucna in a loser-out Round of 12 game at the 2B state tournament at Spokane Arena, the No. 8 Adna boys basketball team couldn’t make a bucket when it needed it, and fell out of the tournament in a 61-46 loss Wednesday afternoon.
The Pirates shot a dismal 2-for-14 from the 3-point line, and were on the wrong end of a 9-2 run to end the third quarter that they couldn’t overcome.
“You get here and everyone is good,” Adna coach Luke Salme said. “To try to counter they’re size, we ran more 2-3 (zone) than we usually do and they hit some open 3s to get a cushion, and we couldn't piece together baskets. We struggled to generate offense, we got some good looks, but you gotta make them.”
Leading by one point midway through the third after some decent offense to start the second half, the Pirates’ offense scored just 11 points over the game’s final 12 minutes to the Broncos’ 27 points.
Braeden Salme led the Pirates with a team-high 23 points, accounting for half of the Pirates’ points and taking 18 of Adna’s 40 total shot attempts.
No other Pirate scored in double figures.
The Broncos were led by a game-high 24 points from Jayce Kelly, with Chase Galbreath (14 points) and Hunter Dinkins (11 points) also in double figures.
“It takes A-games to win right now, and we didn’t play an A-game,” Luke Salme said.
Though the Pirates came into the season with a fair deal of expectations, there was once doubt they would even make it this far.
A devastating end of the season, that included a 30-point blowout loss to Napavine on Senior Night, tumbled the Pirates from league title contention to the Central 2B’s No. 5 seed. Adna then went on a district run that included wins over league champ and rival Napavine and Wahkiakum, before falling in the district title to Morton-White Pass.
“It was definitely a rollercoaster of a year,” Salme said. “There’s so much to take away from being a high school athlete, there are lessons to learn and regrets, but we ended by talking about the highs, and there are lots of them. This is a group of great kids that get along, are nice and are going to be successful in the future.”
However, Wednesday night’s loss marked the second straight year the Pirates have earned a top-8 seed to the state tournament, only to fall out of the bracket without a win.
“We got real about that postgame,” Salme said. “We have to turn a corner and get to where just getting here isn’t good enough. It’s awesome to play here, but there needs to be commitments to take us further. These kids do what I ask, we play a ton in the summer, they show up for everything … but I need guys to play more confidently hopefully next year.”
The Pirates graduate four seniors this season: Seth Meister, Asher Guerrero, Clayton Loose, and Jacob Stajduhar. Salme praised his four leaders for stepping up and helping the Pirates turn their season around after a tough finish to the regular season.
