Mead, GP meet again
KENNEWICK – To hear Glenn Williams tell it, his Mead boys basketball team has been pounding rocks all season.
His Panthers broke through Friday as they edged the Kamiakin Braves 49-48 in a 4A regional semifinal at the Toyota Center.
It will be an all-Greater Spokane League regional final when Mead (19-5) squares off against Gonzaga Prep (22-2) for the fourth time. Tipoff is at 5 p.m.
G-Prep, which fell to Mead in the District 8 championship game, downed Richland 56-45 in the other semifinal.
Mead 49, Kamiakin 48: The Panthers earned their first berth to state since 2003 – when Mead, behind Adam Morrison, took second.
The Panthers had to hold off a Kamiakin team oozing with talent and no seniors.
Point guard Brendon Myers penetrated and slipped a nice pass underneath to a wide open Taylor Farnsworth for what would prove to be the winning basket with 46 seconds remaining.
Then Mead broke the Braves down with defense. Kamiakin’s Case Rada missed a 17-foot jumper that went in and out with 14 seconds to go, but the Braves got the rebound.
After a timeout with 3.4 seconds remaining, Mead fouled the Braves twice because it had two to give before the bonus. Bo Tully delivered both fouls and just as he fouled Rada the second time, Rada managed to get off a shot that went in from 18 feet. But the referee who blew the whistle waved off the shot, saying the foul was committed before the shot.
Still, Kamiakin had possession. Tully fronted Rada, but he caught a lob pass and spun around for a leaning 7-footer that glanced off the glass and rolled off the rim. Rada had two tip follows that didn’t fall as the horn sounded.
“We got a little lucky there at the end and we’ll take it,” Williams said. “It’s what everybody talks about in coaching when you get the highest of highs.”
Then Williams went on to talk about rock cutting.
“We’ve used the analogy of the rock cutter (this season),” he said. “I can’t remember the author of it, but he talks about to keep hammering and keep hammering and you never know when that thing’s going to break. It could be the 101st time after you’ve hammered it 100 times. That’s what the kids kept doing – they just kept hammering and hammering and we finally broke it open.”
Mead senior post Aaron Dunn led an efficient start for the Panthers. He made all five of his shots in the first half, going into intermission with 15 points.
It was an odd second quarter. After Kamiakin hit a 3-pointer 22 seconds into the period, Mead’s zone defense clamped down.
The Braves didn’t score the rest of the half, allowing Mead to take a 29-20 lead into intermission.
Farnsworth hit a basket to open the third quarter, giving Mead its biggest lead at 31-20. But Kamiakin chipped away, finally finding some cracks in Mead’s zone.
Kamiakin used an 8-4 spurt to open the fourth period to tie the score at 43-43 with 4:34 to go.
The teams traded baskets before Farnsworth’s game winner.
Gonzaga Prep 56, Richland 45: The Bullpups used defense to stifle the usually hot-shooting top seed of the Columbia Basin Big Nine.
G-Prep opened a 16-7 lead after the first period and led comfortably 28-18 at halftime.
The Bullpups extended their lead to 42-26 going into the fourth quarter.
With G-Prep ahead 54-38, things got a little sloppy the final 2:14.
“We have some things to clean up against the press,” Bullpups coach Matty McIntyre said. “At times we handled it fairly well and at other times we didn’t execute as well as we could have. Richland did a great job and applied a lot of pressure. Luckily they missed some free throws.”
Parker Kelly led G-Prep with 19 points and Ryan Nicholas had a double double – 15 points and 15 rebounds.
Davis 59, University 52: The Pirates (19-7) opened a 33-24 lead by halftime and controlled thereafter.
Kyle Bailey led U-Hi (11-14) with 15 points.