YAKIMA – The comeback was nearly complete. Tenino High School’s boys basketball team had the ball with 15.6 seconds left in regulation on Wednesday afternoon, in prime position for a statement victory.
Then it all went awry.
King’s senior Nick Linhardt swiped the ball, went coast-to-coast for the go-ahead layup and a desperation half court heave from Preston Snider clanked off the backboard and the Knights prevailed in a 45-43 classic over the Beavers in the final Class 1A Round of 12 contest inside the Yakima Valley SunDome.
“It is the toughest way to lose in the world in the state tournament,” Tenino head coach Ryan Robertson said. “Focus on the positives, just the comeback we made in the second half, how hard we played, that’s what we focus on.”
For the third straight season, it will be King’s versus Lynden Christian at the state tournament. The last two times have been for a state title, this latest version will be in the quarterfinals.
And the Beavers season, in Yakima for the first time in 17 years, comes to a screeching halt.
“That was the worst feeling,” forward Jack Burkhardt said.
Tenino had multiple chances to break the 43-43 tie, but didn’t get the rolls to go its way. Still, it came up with a couple stops and gave itself a chance.
Robertson called his final timeout to draw a play for Noah Schow. It had several variations encompassed in it, leading to a bevy of options.
“We were going to run Noah on a high-ball screen,” Robertson said. “We were right where we wanted to be.”
Schow was waiting for a Burkhardt screen when his dribble was so close to the floor, Linhardt cleanly stole it and took it the distance for the two-point lead.
“I was thinking about fouling him, but I didn’t get there in time,” Schow said. “That’s all I’ve been thinking about. I don’t think I’ll be able to get any sleep.”
The Beavers struggled to cleanly get the ball inbounds, but Snider pulled up from half court just before the buzzer and it sailed too high. King’s erupted in joy to keep its season alive and all Tenino could do was leave in heartbreak.
There were still moments of sadness in the locker room afterwards.
“We were looking forward to having the ball in Noah’s hands,” Burkhardt said. “It is going to sit with us for a while.”
It was the third quarter where the Beavers began to chip away at a 13-point halftime deficit.
They scored the first seven of the frame, matched the Knights bucket-for-bucket to trail by two with eight minutes remaining in outscoring them by 11. Burkhardt gave Tenino its first lead since the first quarter with a layup to make it 43-41 with under four minutes left in regulation.
“Honestly, just be us,” Robertson said of the halftime adjustments. “We hadn’t been who we are from the district championship to the state tournament. The effort was great.”
Burkhardt, despite having three first-half fouls, finished with 14 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. Schow also registered 14 points and Snider chipped in eight. Tenino shot 60 percent from the field in the final 16 minutes.
Which was a night-and-day difference from the opening half.
The Beavers made just six field goals and were 1-of-12 from deep. Coupled with Burkhardt’s fouls, they were a jump shooting team against King’s triangle-and-two defense to limit the touches of Schow and Austin Gonia.
“We didn’t have an answer for that,” Schow said.
King’s grabbed control with an 11-0 spree in the second quarter to lead by double figures entering the locker room.
Now, the Beavers will have an offseason of motivation to get back to the SunDome. All five starters are expected to return next winter.
“We’ll be ready,” Burkhardt said.
