Snohomish boys squeak past Monroe in district semis

Published 2:50 am Wednesday, February 18, 2026

EDMONDS — Grady Rohrich was not where he was supposed to be.

While trying to protect Snohomish boys basketball’s three-point lead over Monroe with 19 seconds left in the District 1 3A semifinals at Edmonds-Woodway High School on Tuesday, the junior left his assigned mark open in the left corner. With time winding down, Monroe had a clear opportunity to knot things up.

As expected, the ball made its way into the corner. Perhaps unexpected, so did Rohrich.

The 6-foot-1 guard lunged to contest the shot, which hit his outstretched hand and fell well short of the rim into Snohomish senior Luke Davis’ hands with 8.3 seconds remaining.

“I kind of messed up,” Rohrich said. “I left a dude in the corner. I shouldn’t have been in that position, but I guess I made up for it, and my teammates were able to get the ball. That’s what mattered.”

The No. 3 seed Panthers (17-7) would have to make one more stop in the final seconds, but Rohrich’s block capped a 16-point effort to lead his squad to a 57-54 win against the No. 2 seed Bearcats (18-4), which entered the tournament as the defending champions.

Snohomish not only advanced to the District Championship, but also secured their first state tournament berth since 2012.

“It means everything,” Rohrich said of being part of the group to make program history. “This is what we wanted. And we’re not satisfied. We want to go further. This is not our stopping board of our season.”

Aside from Rohrich, junior Deyton Wheat had 14 points and four rebounds. Seniors Hudson Smith (nine points, four rebounds) and Davis (eight points, eight rebounds, two blocks) played key roles as well.

The Panthers have won 13 of their last 14 games, the lone loss in that span coming at the hands of Monroe (67-58 on Jan. 28) to ultimately decide the Wesco North 3A/2A title.

After that game, Snohomish coach Jeff Larson said he felt his squad needed a loss like that to understand what championship-level basketball looked like.

Lesson learned.

“Poise, and learning how to execute under pressure,” Larson said, labeling what improved between Jan. 28 and Tuesday. “And there’s room to get better. And I think that’s the best part, is we’re ecstatic and we’re thrilled, but we’re not satisfied. And we know that there’s things that we can do to get better, and that’s the name of the game. That’s why we do this, is to keep challenging ourselves to get better.”

Even after Rohrich’s block, Monroe earned another opportunity to tie things up after sending Snohomish to the line with 7.1 seconds left and regaining possession after a pair of missed free throws.

However, the Bearcats drove towards the basket rather than staying in 3-point land, and after trying to kick it back out, a traveling violation stopped the play short and effectively ended the game. Even if the shot went up smoothly, it would have been a long 2 and not enough to force overtime.

“We weren’t aware of the situation. I guess that’s my fault,” Monroe coach Justin Prohn said. “I thought we had communicated something in that situation. We didn’t know what we needed. We should have had a 3, and we had the right play called and communicated. We just didn’t execute it very well.”

Junior Isaiah Kiehl led the Bearcats with 14 points despite playing limited minutes while in foul trouble. Seniors Wyatt Prohn (three 3-pointers) and Caleb Campbell (seven rebounds) each scored 13 points in the loss.

Snohomish opened the game with the first two baskets, but Wyatt Prohn got Monroe on the board with a 3-pointer to cut it to 4-3 with 5:45 left in the first quarter. Between 4:20 and one second left in the frame, neither side made a field goal. Easy shots were hard to come by as both defenses strapped down, and the Bearcats had a couple close misses around the rim down the stretch of the first half.

“(Monroe) moved well, and I think what helped us stay in front of that is just talking,” Hudson Smith said. “Communication is the biggest thing on defense. Telling your guy to your left and your right where to go and where you’re at, and I think that just put it over the top.”

Shots from Campbell and Kiehl helped the Bearcats pull ahead 13-9 early in the second quarter, but junior Grant Smith and Rohrich knocked down 3s on back-to-back possessions, each one scored right before the shot clock expired.

Rohrich extended the lead on a putback layup following a Grant Smith steal, and knocked down a deep 3-pointer with 3:45 before halftime to make it a 20-14 lead.

“I think we were just continuing and being able to move the ball and get the perfect shot,” Rohrich said. “I know it was taken down to the final seconds of the shot clock, but those shots were wide open and those were beautiful shots. I think that was just our ability to stay patient and just find the shot we wanted to take.”

After entering the break with a 26-18 lead, Hudson Smith widened the gap by scoring on three consecutive Snohomish possessions. Consistently driving to the basket and using his off-hand to keep the ball away from defenders, Smith put the Panthers in the driver’s seat.

“I started to be patient and find my game,” Smith said. “I just do what I do: Be confident. A rough first half, but just tried to give our team a spark to start the second.”

The two sides traded shots down the stretch, including a couple big response shots from Wheat, but the Bearcats finally closed the gap in the final 70 seconds before the fourth quarter.

After a Campbell fadeaway cut it to 38-30, senior Caden Ganashamoorthy stole the ball and drove for a layup. Snohomish turned the ball over on the ensuing inbound, and Ganashamoorthy scored another layup to cut it to 38-34 with around 40 seconds left in the frame.

The Panthers pulled back ahead early in the fourth, as Grant Smith grabbed an offensive rebound and later scored on the restarted possession off a pass down low from Hudson Smith to make it 50-41 with about 3:15 to go.

However, the Bearcats’ perfect free-throw shooting in the fourth quarter (7-for-7) as well as a timely 3-pointer from Wyatt Prohn allowed them back into the game, as Snohomish shot just 6-for-16 (37.5%) from the charity stripe in the final frame.

Monroe senior Tate Hammerquist made it a one-possession game driving to the basket for an ‘And-1’ with 1:12 remaining, but the following free throw would be the final point scored for either side.

While the Bearcats get one more shot at a state bid in Saturday’s loser-out match against No. 5 seed Sedro-Woolley, the Panthers will face No. 4 seed Shorewood, which upset top-seeded Edmonds-Woodway, in the District 1 3A Championship at Jackson High School on Saturday.

While its state ticket is punched, Snohomish would like to improve its seeding as much as it can. Not to mention, add another trophy to the school’s display case.

“Staying humble, staying hungry,” Larson said. “We have a lot of room to get better. Those are two really good teams out there (in the other semifinal). These guys have done a really good job of understanding our biggest opponent is ourselves, and we have to start with that and do what we do well. … We get three days to prepare and go give our best shot in a District Championship game.”