Soliday Tries, But Can’t Rescue Reardan

1A boys basketball

The final play was supposed to go to Rhett Soliday. After all, he’d already scored 16 points in the second half. Two more didn’t seem too unreasonable.

The Reardan senior was alone down the wing, but the ball was headed the other way. Down by a point with just 3.1 seconds left, the Indians needed to go the length of the court Wednesday for a chance to beat Life Christian Academy in the opening round of the State 1A boys basketball tournament in the Tacoma Dome.

The pass came to Pete Eastman just over midcourt as planned. Before Eastman could turn, however, Life Christian’s Jordan Lee stole the ball and the game away from the Indians.

“As soon as he got it, he had three guys swarming him,” said Soliday, who led Reardan’s comeback effort with a game-high 18 points. “I was open, but he didn’t have a chance.”

Lee dribbled down court as the final 3 seconds ticked off on Life Christian’s 40-39 victory.

“Originally, our goal was just to get here,” said a dejected Soliday, who helped the Indians to a second-place finish in Class B last season. “Once we made it, we decided we wanted to stir things up. We didn’t come out to play in the first half and it cost us.”

Life Christan’s Eagles jumped out to a 7-2 lead midway through the first half. A 3-pointer by Justin Murray and a put-back by Brett Overfield upped the lead to 17-9 early in the second quarter.

Reardan made consecutive baskets only once in the first half. Soliday missed all five of his 3-point attempts and Reardan made just 7 of 23 shots in the first half.

Soliday took over in the third quarter. Reece Jenkin opened the second half with a 3-pointer. Soliday made all three of his 3-pointers and added a pair of free throws as the Indians closed to within 33-30.

“Rhett carried us offensively,” said Reardan coach Dan Smith. “Once he got in a good rhythm, the rest were going down.”

Eastman cut the lead to 35-34 with a put-back with 4 minutes, 13 seconds left in the game.

Lee followed with the biggest shot of the game - a 3-pointer with 2:30 remaining. Lee then picked Soliday clean, and the Eagles converted the steal into a basket by Josh Davis for a 40-34 advantage.

John Brown brought the Indians to within 40-36. With just 5 seconds left, Soliday hit a trey from deep in the left corner for the final margin.

“All my shots in the first half felt good, but they were all rimming off,” Soliday said. “I guess it was just a little too late.”

Davis topped the Eagles with 11 points and 12 rebounds.

Reardan (16-8) falls into the losers bracket to face Toledo at 10:30 a.m. today. Life Christian (21-4) advances to the quarterfinals against Chelan at 6:30 p.m.

Life Christian 40, Reardan 39

Life Christian 12 11 10 7 - 40

Reardan 9 6 15 9 - 39

LIFE CHRISTIAN - Murray 8, Overfield 6, Ecklund 5, Lee 6, Davis 11, Larew, Wilkerson 2, McCleary 0, Lee 0, Callaway 2.

REARDAN - Soliday 18, Jenkin 8, Nollmeyer 3, Brown 4, Flaa 0, Eastman 6, Hopper 0.

Lynden Christian 59, Zillah 45

Greg Dykstra scored 22 points and his brother, Grant, added 15 to lead the Lyncs (16-8) over the Leopards (19-6).

Zillah 15 10 12 8 - 45

L. Christian 16 11 19 13 - 59

ZILLAH - Buechler 12, Johnson 4, Walker 9, Bass 9, Johnson 3, Colton 0, McRayde 0, Buechler 0, Rowe 0, Breum 2, Irion 6, Flood 0.

LYNDEN CHRISTIAN - Dykstra 15, Dykstra 22, Dystra 8, Scholten 6, Mellema 6, Coston 2, Burgers, Parsons, Giessen, Terpstra, Zoerink.

Chelan 57, Toledo 47

Phil Cullen had 22 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Goats (21-2) over the Indians (17-7).

Chelan 13 16 14 14 - 57

Toledo 12 7 11 17 - 47

CHELAN - Dobbs 11, Waller 13, Johnson 4, Cullen 22, Mitchell 4, Jespersen, Rogge 2, Barnhart, Miller 1.

TOLEDO - Beal 6, Wallace 7, Jorgusen 6, Wallace 9, Netteland 11, Wallace 0, Droz 0, Nicely 2, Siewert 2, Winters 0, McDaniel 0, Strutzenburg 4.

Cle Elum 53, Onalaska 52

Ted Craven had 23 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Warriors (21-3) over the Loggers (17-8). Jarrod Braack made a 3-point shot with 49 seconds remaining that proved to be the game-winner.

Onalaska 15 17 11 9 - 52

Cle Elum 11 14 16 12 - 53

ONALASKA - Iverson 0, Smaciarz 14, Meade 10, Oien 8, Morkcom 9, Brady 5, Lyons 6, Hadaller 0.

CLE ELUM - Mills 2, Craven 0, Litzenberger 11, Craven 23, Craven 2, Graham 0, Randleman 0, Braack 15, McLean 0, Hein 0.

Highland 45, Bellevue Christian 32

Clint Higginbotham scored 16 points to lead the Scotties (20-4) to a 45-32 victory over the Vikings (9-16).

Leading by two after three periods, Rob Weaver scored nine of his 11 points in the fourth period to propel Highland on a 23-12 run.

B. Christian 7 5 8 12 - 32

Highland 6 4 12 23 - 45

BELLEVUE CHRISTIAN - Douma 9, Branstetter 8, Rech 3, Aeschliman 10, Tomlin 2, King 0, Kevin Rech 0, Brewer 0, Swanson 0.

HIGHLAND - Gilliam 1, Higginbotham 16, Gavin 0, Keller 3, Weaver 11, Perez 8, Borland 6, Sodeman 0, Matzke 0.

LaCenter 56, Liberty Bell 54

Dustin VanWeerdhuizen scored 15 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to help the Wildcats (20-4) to a win over the Mountain Lions (17-7).

LaCenter, the defending state champion, trailed 54-52 when Jon Newman’s layup with 40 seconds left tied the score.

Marques Blalock-Howard put the Wildcats ahead 56-54 on a layup.

L. Bell 15 10 19 10 - 54

LaCenter 17 15 13 11 - 56

LIBERTY BELL - Prewitt 10, Notaro 3, Burkhart 12, Smith 11, Northcott 15, Joe Smith 3

LACENTER - Newman 6, Rinaker 2, VanWeerdhuizen 15, Gore 14, Vis 10, Blalock-Howard 7, Phillips 2.

Seattle Christian 75, Granger 44

Matt Alvis scored 26 points and Jake Fletcher had 25 for the Warriors (18-8) in a victory over the Spartans (14-11).

, DataTimes