Boys Basketball

Nine 1A and 2A boys and girls teams from the Northwest Conference took a trip to the SunDome in Yakima for their respective state tournaments. While it was difficult losing three on Wednesday’s elimination day, the other six were still playing on Saturday. Half of those six won championships. The other three finished second, second, and third.

This is still the Northwest Conference of Champions.

But before we talk about state, we need to review the Northwest Conference’s regular season.

This was the best, and most exciting boys basketball season in the history of the NWC, which dates back to the 2006-07 season.

The three-headed monster in 2A between Anacortes, Sehome and Lynden was epic. Lynden beat Anacortes; Anacortes beat Sehome; and Sehome beat Lynden. When you add Lynden Christian to the mix, well that’s like a foursome of Nicklaus, Watson, Miller, and Palmer. (Or, for you youngsters, Woods, Spieth, Thomas, and McIlroy).

Their games were physical, emotional, and intense. My only worry was that they might spend too much energy on each other, and not have enough for the rest of the state.

Starting with the 2A classification, no 2A tournament has ever been deeper. I thought there were seven teams in the top eight in the RPI list that could win the championship. If there was one that I didn’t give that chance to, it was #4 Renton. Going into regionals, I didn’t think they had what it took to be in the final mix. Great record. Only one loss, but a low strength of schedule, and a league that did not prepare them for what was next.

Anacortes, Sehome and Lynden were a given. Each had the talent, bench, and brains to win the big one. Mark Morris is a constant top 10 program. No titles since 1987, but they are always a factor. RA Long, right across the I-5 from the Monarchs campus, beat them for their district title, so they were in the mix as well.

Pullman came in undefeated, but they are hard to get a vibe on because they play a lot of teams from Idaho. But they have been a strong state level program for over a decade and were in last year’s championship game. Prosser was the champion of the CWAC and split two games with Lynden and Sehome in December.

I would even give you #13 North Kitsap and #11 Tumwater as “sleepers.” The Vikings have a fantastic junior guard tandem, and Tumwater is physically as tough as they come.

The fact that Sehome lost to Mark Morris, and Anacortes lost to Prosser in the regional round, proves what I said about the depth of the 2A field.

To take it further, around the state, there were 12 state tournaments. There were nine #1 seeds that won championships in 2023. The other champions were a #2, a #4, and a #6.

In the 2A title game, #6 Lynden beat #4 Mark Morris. #1 Pullman took third by beating #7 Prosser. And #11 Tumwater beat #13 North Kitsap for 4^th. In the 2A boys tournament, the number in front of your name was worth less than a bag of spilled popcorn on the SunDome floor.

Unfortunately, those regional losses sent the Mariners and the Seahawks to Wednesday games in the SunDome, where there is no room for error. The Seahawks were beaten by #10 Enumclaw, and the Mariners were nipped by North Kitsap. On the girls side, Lynden was eliminated by Othello, while Burlington-Edison finished second for the second straight year, losing in both title games to a very powerful Ellensburg team.

As I said at the top, six of the nine teams from the NWC were still playing on Saturday. Last year was a great year for the league trophy case as the NWC brought home three titles and two second place finishes. This year, there were three more championships, two seconds and a third place. No teams were eliminated after Wednesday’s games.

Lynden’s run to the title was amazing. After losing to Sehome in the district semifinals, the Lions had to win two loser out games to get to regionals. Then they beat Archbishop Murphy by 40 points, and Lakewood by 17 to qualify. Their matchup with #4 Renton in the regional round was probably the best matchup they could get versus anyone in the top eight.

Eighteen became a very popular number for the Lions as they rolled to their 12^th state championship. They beat Renton by 18, then shocked North Kitsap by 34, a team they beat at the buzzer in January.

The Lions won their last two games by 18 points as well, defeating Prosser in the state semis, and Mark Morris in the final. In their last six post-season games, the Lions surrendered only 41.2 points per game, and margin of victory of 24.2.

The Lions have won an unprecedented four of the last five 2A championships, giving them six 2A titles in all. They have combined with their own football program to win back-to-back championships in each of the last two school years, and for the sixth time in their history.

They have also won state championships four times in the same season as Lynden Christian.

Speaking of the Lyncs, they also had a one-sided statistical finish to their 26-2 season, and their second straight title.

In the post-season, the Lyncs went 7-0, with the closest game being the 10-point win over Kings in the championship game. They gave up an average of 44.4 points per game in their last seven, and a margin of victory of 24.4. This was the Lyncs third title in the last five years.

Even though Zillah was upset by Blaine in the regional round, the 1A state tournament was still centered around their own three-headed monster. With the Lyncs 2023 championship included, over the last nine years, LC, Zillah and Kings have evenly split those nine titles. They also have combined for five second place finishes in that span.

Blaine’s win did put them in great position. They avoided the Wednesday elimination game and handled Overlake in the quarterfinals. They did run in to Kings in the semis, but the way they responded the next day against Toppenish was amazing.

The Borderites game with Kings was a 9pm tip. It’s always tough to read a team after they lose a semifinal game, on how hard they will come back the next day. Not only that, but their 3^rd place game started at 1pm. That’s a quick turnaround, but the Borderites handled it like champions, beating Toppenish 70-60.

In the last five tournaments, including regional games, the Lions have a record on 19-1. The Lyncs are 18-2 over that same time.

In 25 seasons of the 2A classification, teams from the NWC have won the gold ball 12 times and finished second nine times. The last to win a championship other than Lynden was Squalicum’s back-to-back titles in 2009 and 2010.

In the 2022-23 NWC season, six teams reached 18 wins or more, with three winning 20 or more. That betters the 2009-10 season in which five teams won 18-plus, with three reaching 20 or more.

It was another Northwest Conference get-together in Saturday’s finals. In fact, three of the four championship games were rematches of 2022.

The Nooksack Valley and Lynden Christian girls met for the 1A championship, this time it was the Pioneers taking the win in the final minute. The Tiger girls took second to Ellensburg in 2A.

On the boys side, Lynden Christian met Kings in the championship game for the third straight year. In 2022, Lynden played Pullman for the title, this time it was Mark Morris, who beat Pullman by three points the day before.

To the real important stuff, the SunDome could do better with concessions. Huge crowds each day and two concession stands. Problem was, one would open late and close early. There also used to be some fantastic ice cream, walking tacos, and a pizza stand, but no more.

The flavored lemonade stand did save the day for the second straight year.

A couple more numbers: last year, I set a personal record in witnessing 74 games. I blew that away this year, as the Lynden-Mark Morris game was #89. Probably more impressive was the 47 that my wife saw!

How will they top 2023? Wait and see, next year.

~ Ted House