JOYCE — Neah Bay’s boys basketball team used a 27-13 third quarter to get control of its 1B Tri-District tournament first-round game against Tulalip Heritage on Tuesday night at Crescent High School.
The Red Devils pulled away after a close first half to defeat Tulalip 72-59 and secure a spot in the championship semifinals Friday at Mountlake Terrace High School against Mount Rainier Lutheran, which nipped Crescent 34-32 in the first round Tuesday.
The semifinal contest starts at 5 p.m. The winner advances to the Tri-District championship game set for Saturday at Mountlake Terrace.
In Tuesday’s game, Leyton Doherty led a balanced attack with 14 points for Neah Bay as Zeke Greene added 13 and Michael Dulik had 12.
Josiah Greene led on the boards with 10 rebounds while Zeke Greene and Johnny Smith grabbed seven each.
The Red Devils earned 18 steals as Doherty led with five while Zeke Greene had four.
Smith and Josiah Greene had four assists each.
Tisen Fryberg had a game-high 17 points for Tualalip.
Neah Bay 72, Tulalip 59
Tulalip 10 12 13 24— 59
Neah Bay 9 16 27 20— 72
Individual scoring
Tulalip Heritage (59)
D. Jones 5, Kidd 3, T. Fryberg 17, B. Jones 3, hamilton 1, Tovar 8, K. Jones 13, J. Fryberg 7, Jimicum 2.
Neah Bay (72)
Doherty 14, Halttunen 5, Venske, Z. Greene 13, Dulik 12, J. Greene 4, Pascua 8, Smith 2, Hawkins 3, McCaulley 4, Reamer 1.
Castle Rock 44,
Forks 41
OLYMPIA — Boy, talk about heartbreakers. Valentine’s week has not been kind to the Spartans.
First, Forks took Kalama into double overtime Friday night before losing 60-50 in the first round of the Southwest Washington District tournament.
Kalama turned around and upset Toledo, which went undefeated in league, in the championship quarterfinals Tuesday night.
The Spartans, meanwhile, lost 44-41 to Castle Rock after leading by one with 22 seconds left, in the loser-out consolation bracket at Black Hills High School on Tuesday night.
“We just couldn’t find a way to win the close games down the stretch,” Forks coach Scott Justus said.
“This loss will be a tough one for me to swallow for a long, long time.
“I know it’s easy to say, but there’s no doubt in my mind that we are the better team, but we just didn’t show it.”
Justus says he feels bad for his players, especially for his six seniors, who he also coached in middle school when he took a little time off from high school coaching a few years back.
The seniors who played their final game for Forks are Brady Castellano, Cameron Leons, Jonah and Tyler Penn, Shaquille Cress and Michael Dean.
“The seniors are all quality kids,” Justus said. “It’s been my pleasure to coach these young men.”
The good news about Tuesday’s final game is that junior standout guard Braden Decker had his normal stellar defensive game against Castle Rock.
The MVP of the SWL-Evergreen Division held Castle Rock’s top scorer, Will Dolan, to five points.
Dolan averages 17 points per game and scoring 30-plus points is not unusual for him.
The bad news, though, is Decker — normally a third of Forks’ scoring output per game — had the worst offensive game of his career.
“Braden had used so much energy on defense that he just didn’t have any for offense,” Justus said.
Decker, who was coming off an illness, shot just 14 percent on the night.
“He had an off, off night,” Justus said.
Tyler Penn, though, ended his prep career on a high note with a career-best 20 points, five rebounds, three steals and three assists.
“Tyler had a great game,” Justus said.
Leons pulled down a team-high seven rebounds for the Spartans.
Tyler Penn was selected to the all-league second team while Castellano was an honorable mention.
Justus, meanwhile, was named coach of the year for the sixth time.
The Spartans finished the season 14-8 and captured second place in the tough SWL-Evergreen Division with a standout 10-4 record.
Castle Rock 44, Forks 41
Forks 8 14 4 15— 41
Castle Rock 7 11 10 16— 44
Individual scoring
Forks (41)
J. Penn 4, T. Penn 20, Castellano 2, Harris 2, Decker 7, Leons 6.
Castle Rock (44)
K. Johnson 14, Williams 7, Dolan 5, Moore 10, Gehring 7, Johnson 1.
Seattle Christ. 57, Chimacum 38
SEATAC — The No. 9-seed Cowboys played even with the No. 1 Warriors in the first half on their home court but ran out of gas in the second half in the first round of the 1A Tri-District tournament Tuesday night.
Chimacum is 0-3 against the Warriors this year but played the No. 10-ranked team close the other two times.
The Cowboys lost by eight at their place and only three at Seattle Christian and in Tuesday’s playoff game was up by two at the end of the first quarter and down by two at the half.
“I don’t know what happened in the second half,” Chimacum coach Jim Eldridge said.
“We were sluggish and did not shoot well.”
The Cowboys (13-9) fall into the consolation quarterfinals tonight against Seattle Academy, which lost 67-48 to state No. 5-ranked Lynden Christian in the first round Tuesday.
The game, originally listed at 7 p.m. on the original bracket, has been rescheduled for 7:45 p.m. on a request by host Seattle Academy.
Meanwhile, in Tuesday’s game, Seattle Christian (17-3) outscored Chimacum 32-15 in the second half.
Coby Miller scorched the nets for 27 points for the Warriors.
All of the Cowboys were held to single digits.
Seattle Christ. 57, Chimacum 38
Chimacum 17 6 10 5— 38
Seattle Christ. 15 10 17 15— 57
Individual scoring
Chimacum (38)
Cray 7, Eldridge 6, Pagasian 7, Dukek 4, Naylor 3, Ajax 7, Downs 4.
Seattle Christian (57)
Garchek 3, Jensen 11, Miller 27, K. Pierotti 2, Abe 3, DeVries 11.
Foster 58,
Port Angeles 41
TACOMA — The Roughriders lost in the first round of the West Central District 2A tournament Tuesday night at Foss High School.
The Roughriders rallied in the third quarter, trailing just 35-34 after three but fell behind.
“We tied the game late in the third quarter and then had four turnovers in a row,” Port Angeles coach Wes Armstrong said.
Foster took over as the Riders struggled on the offensive and defensive ends of the court.
“We couldn’t handle their quickness,” Armstrong said. “We didn’t execute.”
The Riders move to the loser-out consolation bracket Saturday against the quarterfinal loser tonight between No. 2 seed Evergreen and No. 7 seed Lindbergh, which beat Fife 56-52 in the first round Tuesday.
Saturday’s game is set for 4:30 p.m. at Foss in Tacoma.
“Hopefully, we can pull it together and save our best basketball for Saturday,” Armstrong said.
Hayden McCartney led the Riders against Foster with 12 points.
Foster 58, Port Angeles 41
Foster 18 8 9 23— 58
Port Angeles 6 12 16 7— 41
Individual scoring
Foster (58)
Cooper 7, White 5, Husanovic 4, Brown 2, Horton 15, Guiterrez 14, Leigh 12.
Port Angeles (41)
McCartney 12, Norberg 8, Elliott 2, Braithwaite 9, Walker 4, Burke 6.
Mount Rainier 34, Crescent 32
TACOMA — Mount Rainier Lutheran held off Crescent in a heartbreaker in the first round of the 1B Tri-District championships Tuesday night at Mount Rainier.
The Loggers slip into the loser-out consolation semifinals tonight against Tulalip Heritage, that lost to Neah Bay on Tuesday.
The two teams play at Chief Leschi High School starting at 7:45 p.m.
No other details were available about Tuesday’s game.