YAKIMA —The Sequim Wolves’ season concluded with a sixth-place finish in the 2A state tournament at the Yakima Valley SunDome.
Sequim beat Burlington-Edison 52-47 on Friday before falling to Clover Park 73-47 on Saturday to finish.
The Wolves (22-6) opened the state tournament with a 59-56 loss to Renton on a 42-foot shot at the overtime buzzer on Thursday.
The sixth-place finish is Sequim’s highest at state since the 1988 team took second, and the first placing since the 2001 team finished eighth.
Sequim 52, Burlington-Edison 49
In Friday’s game, the Wolves held off a late charge by the Tigers courtesy of clutch free-throw shooting by a number of players.
Sequim also overcame a record-setting rebounding performance by Burlington-Edison center Austin Von Herbulis.
The 6-foot-7 Von Herbulis grabbed 27 rebounds to break the 2A state tournament record previously held by Brandon Klump of Cascade (Leavenworth), who had 24 rebounds in 1998.
Sequim’s Jayson Brocklesby drew two fouls on Von Herbulis within 40 seconds of each other and made all four free throws to give the Wolves a 46-38 lead with 1:46 to play in the game.
Brocklesby was 10 for 15 at the free-throw line and scored a game-high 20 points, including 15 in the second half. He also had 10 rebounds.
The Tigers managed to decrease the deficit to two points at 49-47, but Anthony Pinza pushed Sequim’s lead back up to four with a pair of free throws with 25 seconds left.
“Pinza’s been shooting clutch free throws for us all year,” Sequim coach Greg Glasser said after the game.
“[Against Renton] we were in the game because he makes two big free throws, and then [this game] his shots were big again.”
With 13 seconds to play, a foul shot by Alex Barry made it 52-49, and Burlington-Edison’s missed 3-pointer by Isaak Davies in the final second clinched the win for Sequim.
The Wolves went 11 for 14 at the free-throw line in the second half after making 6 of 11 in the first two quarters.
“That’s all coaching, right?” Glasser joked about his team’s late-game free-throw shooting.
“They’ve got great-looking shots, and you know they’re going to go down eventually.”
Of Von Herbulis’ 27 rebounds, 15 came off the offensive glass.
However, only two of those offensive rebounds came after halftime as the Wolves’ rebounders managed to tip the ball away from Von Herbulis.
“He was tough because every time he got in a spot low to the basket, he was able to get a hand on the ball and tip it either to himself or a teammate,” Glasser said.
Von Herbulis’ rebounding numbers were padded a bit by grabbing his own misses right at the hoop.
The Wolves weren’t able to grab the rebounds, but they did distract Von Herbulis’ shots.
He scored 13 points, but made just 6 of 18 from the field.
Sophomore Alex Barry scored eight points for Sequim and had five rebounds and two blocks, while Rory
Kallappa scored six and grabbed eight rebounds.
Senior Gabe Carter scored just one point, but pulled down 12 rebounds and had four assists.
“It’s a great feeling to win at state because all the teams here are such high-quality teams,” Glasser said.
“Burlington is a very good team — they’re big, they’ve got some good guards, too.”
Davies led the Tigers with 15 points.
Clover Park 73, Sequim 47
The Warriors took home the fourth-place trophy by beating the Wolves for the second time in less than two weeks.
Clover Park also beat Sequim 60-45 in the West Central District championship game at the ShoWare Center in Kent on Feb. 18.
“I want to play Clover Park 10 times next year,” Greg Glasser said.
“I think it’s what our kids need, to see that type of defense, and that type of intensity, that type of quickness.
“If you do see that type of team, you’re going to get better from it.”
The Warriors’ full-court press overwhelmed Sequim early on, and Clover Park jumped out to a 11-2 lead in the first three minutes of the game.
Early in the second quarter, the Wolves got within 21-17 on a Jayson Brocklesby 3-pointer.
But a minute later, Brocklesby, Sequim’s leading scorer, picked up his third foul and went to the bench for the remainder of the half.
The score was 25-17 when Brocklesby sat. By halftime, Clover Park’s lead was up to 40-22.
The Warriors cruised from there, building up a lead as big as 31 points.
“There’s no shame in the loss,” Glasser said. “We could have done a few things better, obviously.
“Even though the score wasn’t [as close] as when we played them at the ShoWare Center, I actually thought we played a little bit better.
“We just didn’t shoot the ball as well as we did there. We just missed too many shots.”
Playing Clover Park (22-7) again next year could prove even more daunting than it was for the Wolves this season.
The Warriors return most of their team, including David Crisp and Phillip Winston, who averaged 23.9 and 22.3 points per game, respectively.
Winston scored 23 points on Saturday, and Crisp added 16.
Xavier Means, one of the team’s three seniors, had 13 points and grabbed 10 rebounds.
“They’re a really, really talented squad,” Sequim senior Gabe Carter said of the Warriors.
“I was surprised they lost to Anacortes, but anybody can beat anybody at the state tournament.
“I’m glad that we were one of the teams that got a trophy, though.”
Carter finished with seven points and seven rebounds in the last game of his high school career.
Brocklesby led the Wolves with 15 points, 10 in the second half.
Sophomore Alex Barry had another strong showing, finishing with eight points, while junior Rory Kallappa had five points and six rebounds.
