St. George’s boys rally past Seattle Lutheran in State 2B opener
Cade Peplinski, the son of a coach, had no problem analyzing that improbable St. George’s rally Wednesday morning.
“We just knew we had that fourth-quarter wind,” Peplinski said without blinking an eye.
Actually, the Dragons needed only five furious minutes to wipe out a nine-point Seattle Lutheran lead and beat the Saints 45-43 in a first-round 2B tournament game at the Arena.
“We knew, this was our time to take them down,” Peplinski said after the Dragons (18-8) advanced to play Northeast B rival and defending state champion Northwest Christian in Thursday’s quarterfinals.
Until then, St. George’s trailed the taller Saints for most of the game, sometimes by double digits.
“We had a tough time shooting it early,” said coach Ryan Peplinski, noting that his team missed eight of its first 10 shots from long range.
“But down the stretch, you saw our demeanor change,” Peplinski said.
It didn’t happen a moment too soon. Seattle Lutheran (20-5) led 42-33 and had the ball with five minutes to play, but momentum turned on a dime following a Saints turnover and a 3-point shot from the Dragons’ Zach Steele.
Soon the wind forecast by Cade Peplinski was blowing at gale force to lift the Dragons.
A missed 3-pointer on the other end was followed by Peplinski’s rebound and a layin by Xander Workman. Seconds later, Peplinski set up Erik Farias – the Dragons’ leading scorer with 14 – for another 3-pointer that sliced the lead to 42-41.
“We played some great defense in the fourth quarter,” Ryan Peplinski said.
With 2:58 left, Farias gave the Dragons their first lead, 44-42 since the first quarter on a layin and foul shot.
Seattle Lutheran got one back 12 seconds later on a free throw by Roberto Duenaz, but the Saints missed their last five shots.
With 8 seconds left and Seattle Lutheran down by two, the Saints’ Isaia Dow-Albrecht missed a 3-pointer that was partially blocked by the Dragons’ Zach Steele.
Farias collected the rebound and the celebration began.
Mitchell Ward had 12 points and three steals for St. George’s, and Workman had a game-high nine rebounds.
Seattle Lutheran had three players in double figures, including Dow-Albrecht with 12, Josh Meyer with 11 and Duenaz with 10.
St. George’s trailed 26-23 at halftime. Seattle Lutheran took its biggest lead, 38-27, with 1:11 left in the third quarter.
Adna 76, Tonasket 50: The Pirates jumped out to a 10-point first-quarter lead and never looked back to take a comfortable win over the Tigers.
Starters Cody Young, Conner Weed and Blake Davis combined to shoot 16 for 23 from the field for Adna, which shot 67 percent from the field in the first half. Davis led all scorers with 18.
Adna (20-6) faces top-seeded Kittitas in Thursday’s quarterfinals.
Tonasket (16-12) got 14 points from Jack Montowski.
Liberty 65, Brewster 62: The Lancers owned the boards and hit 25 foul shots to upset the Bears in a game that went down to the wire.
Liberty led 37-27 at halftime but trailed 46-45 after a difficult third quarter. Brewster, led by a game-high 29 points from Edgar Najera, took a 51-47 lead on Joe Taylor’s 3-pointer with 5:18 left.
However, Liberty (19-6) made most of the big plays in the fourth quarter to advance to Thursday’s quarterfinal against Napavine. Isaac Ottmar’s 3-point play tied the game with 3 minutes left and Justin Jeske hit a layup and three foul shots to hold off the Bears (21-4).
Tyler Haas had 22 points and Chase Burnham added 11 points and 10 rebounds to pace the Lancers.
Toledo 82, Chief Leschi 58: Toledo trailed 18-16 late in a high-scoring first quarter, but took control in the second to advance to reach a quarterfinal matchup with Life Christian Academy.
Toledo (20-6) got a game-high 21 points from Reece Wallace, while Junior Arroyo had 12 points and 14 rebounds, including nine on the offensive glass.
The Indians outrebounded Chief Leschi 50-28.
Chief Leschi (21-7) had three players in double figures, led by Donnelle Irvin’s 19.