State 1B boys: Lummi Nation boys knock off ACH, will face Sunnyside Christian for title

Graham Grindy had talked with his players about a game like Friday night’s boys Class 1B semifinal.

“I tell the guys that you always want to get in that first punch,” he said. “You want to hit your opponent hard. But if you don’t get in the first punch, if they hit you first, you’ve got to hit back. You can’t spend the rest of the game backing up.”

It’s not about fisticuffs. It’s about making an early statement: a big shot, a big defensive stop – something that establishes the team’s territory.

And that didn’t happen for Almira/Coulee-Hartline against Lummi Nation. The Blackhawks had enough offense to earn a 47-41 victory and a spot in tonight’s championship game against Kittitas.

“It was definitely a defensive game,” Grindy said. “Any time you can keep a game in the 40s, it’s a pretty defensive game. (Lummi) is a pretty senior-laden group and they killed us on the boards.”

It was pretty much just one guy: Lummi senior Trazil Lane, who grabbed 21 rebounds to go with 25 points. That’s gaudy enough. But what really stung was the fact that eight of those caroms came off the offensive glass and the high-flying Lane turned them into points.

ACH junior Peyton Nielsen pulled down 15 rebounds for a second outstanding performance – grabbing 36 rebounds in two state tournament games. But only three of his 15 were off the offensive glass.

Lane got in a few punches of his own. The aerialist had a pair of crowd-pleasing dunks in the first half that went unanswered. And he added a couple more fast-break baskets by soaring and finishing at the rim.

Sharpshooting Charles Hunt, who had 12 points in the first half of the Warriors’ quarterfinal win over Othello-Harrington, finished with just eight points against Lummi, going 1-for-9 from 3-point range and 2 of 11 overall from the field.

Neilsen, too, struggled offensively, shooting just 5 of 16 from the field and 5 of 11 from the free throw line. Tenacity, as much as anything else, accounted for his 14 points.

“Free throws were frustrating,” the coach admitted. “You make a tough play to get to the line and then you don’t make the free throws. We talk about that, too. You don’t have to be perfect, but you can’t just leave those opportunities out there.”

Still, the game was there for ACH if the Warriors could get some shots to fall.

The Warriors went more than four minutes without scoring to start the game and still trailed by just a point after one quarter and by just seven at intermission.

The offense appeared to thaw toward the end of the third quarter, when Hunt hit his first field goal and Nielsen followed with a contested layup on back-to-back plays to cut the ACH deficit to 31-24. But an open three at the buzzer rimmed off and Lummi held a nine-point lead heading into the fourth quarter.

The Warriors got within three points late in the game when Hunt hit from deep and Nielsen had a jumper and a free throw that made it 41-38.

But that was all the ACH offense could muster save for a late 3-pointer by Kameron Goetz in the closing seconds.

“We’ll regroup,” Grindy said. “It’s tough, but we’ll regroup.”