Republic Pulls One Out Baldwin’s Buzzer-Beater Sparks Boys Tournament

Jason Baldwin had the ball and every boy’s dream in his hands Wednesday.

With the Republic High School Tigers and Tacoma Baptist Crusaders tied late in their opening-round game of the boys State B basketball tournament, Baldwin took an inbounds pass, dribbled through defensive pressure and launched a 14-foot jump shot from the left wing.

When it went down with 2 seconds left, Republic had an unlikely 58-56 victory over the tall, talented and - classy to the end - Crusaders.

Republic will meet Manson, a 57-51 winner over Willapa Valley, in today’s 5 o’clock quarterfinal game in this 55th State B tourney at the Arena.

The Darrington Loggers, who knocked off Toutle Lake 68-57, take on the Almira-Coulee-Hartline Warriors in the 6:30 p.m. quarters.

ACH lived up to pretournament expectations with a 73-52 romp over the Clallam Bay Bruins.

But the talk of the tournament’s first session was Republic’s wild win over Tacoma Baptist, which finished eighth here a year ago and came in with a 22-2 record.

With 6-foot-8 A.D. Russell, 6-5 Aaron Meyers and 6-2 guard Caleb Shamp, the Crusaders took the lead early in the third period and - other than two ties - held it until Baldwin delivered the game-winner.

“The score was tied, I just thought, ‘Take it to the hoop and see what happens,”’ said Baldwin, a 5-11 senior guard. “Winning a game with a last shot has happened to everyone on our team except me. I guess it was my turn.”

Baldwin got his turn thanks to teammate Mark Rickard, who scored eight of the Tigers’ last 12 points, including a putback in traffic with 3:56 left, a 3-pointer at 2:00 and another trey with a minute to go that evened the game at 56.

The Crusaders then burned 48 seconds looking for the right shot, until Trigue Fletus at the point was whistled for traveling as he tried to call time out.

The mistake, Tacoma Baptist coach Matt Thacker said, was tough, but no more crucial than any of a dozen mistakes down the stretch.

“We defended well,” said Thacker, whose Crusaders can place as high as fifth by winning their next three games. “We worked hard. It wasn’t really the bad things we did as much as the good things they did. We’re a pretty good basketball team. They are, too.”

Thacker accepted without complaint the crucial traveling call.

“The violation was tough,” he said, “but I told the kids in the locker room it’s no more important than a defensive lapse we had in the third quarter.”

Shamp connected on 9 of 20 shots, including 5 of 15 from beyond the 3-point arc, for a game-high 23 points. Russell had nine rebounds to go with 17 points.

Rickard - who’ll be valedictorian when Republic’s seniors graduate this spring - scored 21 points. The 6-2 swingman, a star in football and baseball, knocked down 4 of 6 3-point shots.

He and 6-4 Kris Kuchenmeister collared 17 of Republic’s 30 rebounds to keep the Tigers even on the glass. The 31-30 Tacoma Baptist rebounding edge was negligible.

“We feel that (Tacoma Baptist) was the toughest team in the tournament,” said Baldwin, who finished with 15 points. “They have a lot of talent. We played really well.”

Nobody was happier with Republic’s 2-3 zone - or the final shot selection - than Tigers coach Rory Rickard, Mark’s father.

“He (Baldwin) had the option to shoot from the corner or dish back to Mark coming around,” the coach said. “It went just the way it was planned.”

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