Top seeds fall in OT

It stood to reason that Gonzaga Prep and Ferris – the Greater Spokane League’s first and second seeds, losers of a combined two games in GSL play – would play their District 8 4A basketball semifinals Thursday at University High School and then square off tonight.

Just not in the third-place game.

Mt. Spokane and Central Valley each pulled off captivating overtime upsets, the Wildcats taking down the top-seeded Bullpups 58-56, and the Bears beating second-seeded Ferris 58-55.

The two schools will meet tonight at 7:45 at U-Hi to determine the district’s top two seeds to regionals. Prep and Ferris will play the early game at 5:45 to determine third and fourth place.

Mt. Spokane (13-9), behind the red-hot shooting of Matt Dorr, snapped the Bullpups’ 12-game winning streak.

The GSL’s co-scoring leader hit his first seven shots – not missing until 4:33 remained in the second quarter – en route to a season-high 33 points in the upset of Prep (17-4).

Dorr hit a tying 3-pointer from the left corner with 50 seconds remaining in overtime, and it was his pass out of a triple-team to point guard Tim Roffler that set up Roffler’s game-winning base-line jumper with 5.1 seconds left.

“Our team played great and I just shot the ball really well; I was in the zone tonight,” said Dorr, who averaged 18.8 points per game in the regular season. “I’ve been struggling with my shot lately and it felt good to get my stroke back. It was a team victory and we played well tonight.”

With Mt. Spokane’s smothering defense taking Prep out of its offensive rhythm, the Wildcats led by 11 after Kyle Redmon’s turnaround jumper gave them a 42-31 with 2:20 left in the third.

“We talked about playing solid defense,” Mt. Spokane interim head coach Dan Smith said. “We talked about defense and rebounding, that’s what we focused on.”

But Prep chipped away, pulling to within 42-37 after three quarters. And, after a timeout with 12.3 seconds left in the fourth, Ian Parry grabbed a missed Houston Stockton 3-pointer, sent the ball out to Michael Johnson, who had the biggest of his team-high 13 points, tying the game with a 3 at the buzzer.

CV 58, Ferris 55 (OT)

Once again, the Bears (17-5) found a way to stifle Ferris’ offense. This time they were able to score, too.

Held to a season-low 29 points and just 24 percent shooting from the floor in a 43-29 loss the first time they met, Central Valley had 28 points at halftime.

Led by the 13 points of Nick Ambrose and consistent play of point guard Kevin Cameron, the Bears – which held the Saxons to 20 points less than their season average in the first meeting – shot 53 percent from the floor and held Ferris’ leading scorer Jon Clift to just six points.

“They get so many points in transition,” CV head coach Rick Sloan said. “When they get the few in the row, they get confidence and become a runaway train, so we did the best we could to slow that down.”

The only time the Saxons (20-2) were able to get out and run, they went on a 13-2 run over the third and fourth quarters, and led 43-30 with 6:08 left.

But the Bears held strong, allowing just three field goals the rest of the game, and when Jace Mattinson’s 3-pointer at the end of overtime missed, the Bears had earned a spot in the district title game.

“They just had more energy than we did,” Ferris coach Don Van Lierop said. “They played well in all phases of the game.”