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

Freeman falls shy of upset

Mike Anderson The Spokesman-Review

YAKIMA – On a day when upsets seemed to be the rule, the Freeman Scotties had a huge one within their grasp.

But alas, 1A powerhouse Bellevue Christian (22-2) survived a wild finish in regulation and held on for a 63-56 overtime win in the first round of the State 1A boys basketball tournament at the SunDome.

The Scotties (17-11) will play King’s in today’s 12:30 p.m. loser-out game. A win is needed to get back on the trophy track the school was on from 2000-2004 when it took home hardware five straight years.

BCS, the 2005 and 2006 champion and a quarterfinalist in 2007, will play Connell (21-3) at 7:30 tonight.

There were already three upsets before Freeman took the floor, as White Swan beat Lakeside (Nine Mile Falls), Brewster clobbered Castle Rock and Connell dropped King’s.

The Scotties’ bid to advance to the quarterfinals for the fourth consecutive time came up short.

After taking and losing an 11-point lead in the third period and falling behind midway through the final period, Freeman had a chance to win in the final 2 seconds.

Both teams had two chances in the final 23 seconds to get a winner. BCS turned the ball over and in the ensuing scramble, Freeman ended up with the ball underneath its basket.

But Marcus Soelberg’s short jumper off a lob inbounds play hit the front rim and BCS had too much juice in overtime, outscoring Freeman 13-6.

The Vikings took a quick lead in the extra session and the Scotties answered to tie. But David Downs’ three-point play with 1:55 left gave BCS a five-point lead.

Soelberg, a senior forward, had 15 points to lead four Freeman players in double figures. He had seven points in a 9-2 Scotties run that opened up an 11-point lead with 2:42 remaining in the third period.

“Marcus had a great game tonight,” Freeman coach Greg Hannan said.

It was Hannan’s first state tournament game as Scotties head coach after making several trips while an assistant during Freeman’s run of eight straight from 1999-2006.

Taylor Vold had 13 points and seven rebounds for Freeman and Jake Heinen and Chris Miller had 10 each.

“We got a little tired in the third quarter and they had a couple runs” Hannan said. “That’s a good team and they battled back.”

White Swan 59, Lakeside 45: The Cougars (20-5) dashed to a 14-0 lead in the initial 5:12 of the first quarter and knocked the Eagles (15-11) into the consolation bracket.

Lakeside will play Toledo (13-12) at 9 a.m. today.

The loss stops a five-game postseason win streak for Lakeside, which won district and regional titles before state. White Swan was the third entry from the Yakima Valley District.

White Swan’s Aaron Castilleja hit 7 of 9 field goals and scored 14 points. For Lakeside, Leif Parcell scored 13 points and Brady Blankevoort had 12 points and 11 rebounds.

The Eagles shot 22 percent in the first half, missing all 11 of their 3-point attempts. For the day, they hit 1 of 17 from beyond the arc.

Granger 64, Lake Roosevelt 52: Mychal Lopez scored 15 of his 23 points in the second half as the Spartans (15-10) defeated the Raiders (21-6).

For Lake Roosevelt, Edward Wolfe scored 15 points and Matt Pleasants had 12 points and 14 rebounds.