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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Zwar Rescues No. 1 Pateros With Late Throws

Chris Derrick Staff Writer

Garrett Zwar was certain he had blown Pateros’ chance for a state title several times during Thursday’s frantic finish against Almira/Coulee-Hartline.

Instead, Zwar calmly sank two free throws with 12.9 seconds left as the Billygoats (27-1) escaped with a 53-52 late-night win over upset-minded ACH (21-5).

Pateros advanced to tonight’s 8 p.m. semifinal at the Arena against Garfield-Palouse, which edged Morton 35-32 in the night’s other quarterfinal.

If the semis can match the PaterosACH game, the fans at the 54th boys State B high school basketball tournament are in for a great show.

The players? Zwar, for one, looked ready to hyperventilate after the wild closing seconds.

Zwar, a 6-foot-4 senior post and main offensive threat, picked up his fourth foul with time running out in the third quarter. He sat on the bench through the first 2 minutes, 47 seconds of the fourth quarter, then had to play tentatively in the middle.

“I was playing on my heels a little bit,” said Zwar, who had to watch as Kevin Evers (6-2) scored baskets at 5:32 and 3:14 to give ACH a 50-49 edge.

Points became precious thereafter. John Neuneker’s only two points of the game, free throws with 2:14 left, put Pateros back ahead 51-50. The next time the Billygoats snared the ball, they worked the clock until Jason Pierce of ACH came up with a steal.

Junior guard Cameron Carstensen, who had drawn the fourth foul on Zwar with a driving layup, scored over three defenders for a 52-51 edge. Much would happen after that, but not in the form of ACH scoring.

Zwar’s first chance to win the game, with 22 seconds left, fell flat when he missed a layup.

Pateros, looking for a last chance, fouled Evers with 14.4 seconds left. The 6-2 junior missed the free throw and the rebound came to Zwar, who was fouled.

Zwar canned the first free throw for a tie, then ACH called timeout to try and freeze the red-headed senior. Zwar swished the second shot.

Aaron Murray had two final shots to save ACH, the second after a strong offensive rebound, but came up empty.

Garfield-Palouse survived a horrid shooting night to beat Morton.

Logan Coles, your offensive rebounds and blocked shot have just clinched a semifinal berth. How do you feel?

“It kind of feels like a loss, really,” said the sophomore wing, who hit just 3 of 16 shots from the field.

Few could blame Coles for his ambivalent feelings. Gar-Pal (22-5) missed four free throws in the final 26 seconds that could have sealed Morton’s fate. The Vikings shot just 29 percent from the floor and missed 12 of 22 free throws.

“I guess sometimes you’re just meant to win, and we were meant to win tonight,” said Tim Coles, the Gar-Pal coach and Logan’s father. “That was about as ugly a game as we’ve played all year.”

Ugly or not, the Vikings won their eighth straight and advanced to their fifth semifinal.

Morton failed to score for the final 6:55. Jack Hope’s 3-pointer at that mark gave the Huskies a 32-29 lead, but even Gar-Pal was torrid compared to Morton after that.

“Those two teams were so tight you couldn’t have squeezed air out of anybody,” coach Coles said.

, DataTimes