Glacier Peak boys basketball stunned in district semis

SNOHOMISH — All it took was four seconds and one small opening.

Trying to protect a 59-58 lead against Lake Washington in the District 1/2 4A semifinals at home on Thursday, Glacier Peak boys basketball needed to defend an inbound play in their own half in order to punch a ticket to their third District Championship game in a row, and remain undefeated this season.

With 4.1 seconds left on the clock, after each side had called a timeout to script up the play they hoped would win them the game, Lake Washington junior Jayden Hunt inbounded the ball to senior Hunter Phipps behind the 3-point arc near the right elbow. Two Glacier Peak defenders immediately swarmed Phipps as Hunt cut out behind him, but with the rest of Lake Washington’s players out by the perimeter to pull their defenders away from the play, the paint was left wide open.

In one swift motion, Phipps slipped past both defenders towards the rim. With no one else in front of him, the 6-foot-1 guard elevated towards the rim and kissed an underhand layup off the glass and in. Glacier Peak senior Reed Nagel quickly grabbed the ball as the final fractions of a second ticked off the clock, and junior Edison Kan desperately motioned to call a timeout.

It was a timeout Glacier Peak did not have left. The clock hit zero, and the Lake Washington bench as well as the visiting student section swarmed Phipps under the basket as Glacier Peak slowly walked back to its side.

“Didn’t think they were going to do that (on the final possession),” said Glacier Peak assistant coach Todd Tibke, speaking on behalf of head coach Brian Hunter, who had to attend to a personal matter. “(Our guys) played it, came up there on top of the screen. Did exactly what we planned there in the timeout, and (Lake Washington) ran a great play. Great fake, turn around. Good team, man. Well-coached. That happens.”

In an instant, the No. 2 seed Grizzlies (21-1) were knocked out of the district tournament in a 60-59 loss to the No. 3 seed Kangaroos (22-3). Glacier Peak already earned a state tournament berth by reaching the district semifinals, but that did not take away much of the sting.

Kan led Glacier Peak with a game-high 18 points and four rebounds, and senior Paulos Mulugeta had 15 points off five 3-pointers. Four different players reached double-figures for Lake Washington, led by Phipps and Hunt with 16 apiece.

The Grizzlies knew they would be in for a tough matchup against one of the top KingCo teams, but they fully expected to be playing for the district title on Saturday. Instead, it’s back to the drawing board as they await their fate for state tournament seeding.

“They’re overall good players,” Mulugeta said about Lake Washington. “I mean, we went into the game with all we got. I’m sure they went with all they got. And obviously the outcome isn’t what we wanted, but we’re going to take this game, just throw it away and just move on forward like it never happened. Just keep going.”

While the game felt tight from start to finish — three of the four quarters ended with the Kangaroos leading by one point — Glacier Peak built up separate nine-point leads in both the third and fourth quarter.

After he was held scoreless in the first half, junior Zachary Albright (eight points, seven rebounds) started to assert himself in the post. The 6-foot-5 wing scored twice through contact against taller defenders in the first 2:30 of the third quarter to put the Grizzlies ahead 35-32.

Kan pulled down a defensive rebound on the following possession and hit Mulugeta for a 3. Lake Washington responded with a score in transition, but Mulugeta knocked down another 3-pointer from the left side with just over three minutes left in the third, and Nagel fed Kan off a steal for a shot underneath to extend the lead to 43-34.

“It’s an energy boost. Every time he hits a 3, I get excited,” Kan said about Mulugeta’s shooting. “It’s just the chemistry of the team. I mean, we’re happier to see each other succeed. It creates openings for us. It’s a really hard game plan for them.”

The Kangaroos managed to whittle the deficit down to 45-41 entering the fourth quarter, but Glacier Peak surged ahead again. Nagel tipped a Lake Washington pass that fell into the hands of senior teammate Justin Vinson before the Grizzlies eventually found Nagel for a 3-pointer. The 6-foot-1 guard created separation for the shot with enough force to cause his defender to fall backwards, which drew an animated celebration from Nagel towards his own bench.

Albright continued that trend of bully-ball, scoring down low following a defensive rebound from Nagel to push it to 50-41 with 6:50 left before drawing a foul on his next layup 49 seconds later to make it 52-43. Glacier Peak had six minutes to stay ahead and push through to the title game, but the Kangaroos would not go away.

A layup from senior Julien Deblieck and a three-point play from Hunt on a layup in transition quickly cut the score to 52-48 with 4:27 remaining. After two misses from Glacier Peak on the same possession, including one from behind the arc, senior Mateo Cummings rattled in a 3 at the other end. In a six-point swing, what could have been a 55-48 Grizzlies lead became a 52-51 contest.

Kan added some breathing room with a fadeaway jumper followed by a 3-pointer from the top of the key to make it 57-51 with 2:45 left, but a putback layup from Phipps and a pull-up transition 3 from Hunt made it a one-point game once again entering the final two minutes. Kan pushed it to 59-56 on a layup through contact, but Lake Washington had an answer once again as junior Omer Ziklik drove in with the shot clock winding down and spun around for a fadeaway jumper that swished with 1:10 to go.

“They made tough shots, man,” Kan said. “They made tough shots. Fade by (Ziklik), 3’s, the transition. Those were tough shots. Coach said 10 out of 10 times we’ll take that fade, but congrats to him, he made a really good shot.”

Protecting their slim lead, the Grizzlies trickled the clock down while holding possession, aided in large part by an offensive rebound from Albright on an attempt that reset the shot clock. With 15.6 seconds left, Hunter called timeout, and drew up a play to set up what would be a back-breaking 3-pointer. Glacier Peak got the shot off on a fadeaway, but it hit the back of the rim, then the front, before bouncing out into Ziklik’s arms.

Lake Washington pushed ahead in transition after the rebound, but the pass up the court was deflected out of bounds by the Grizzlies. With 4.1 seconds left, the Kangaroos managed to execute the winning play.

“It was close. We got a good shot off,” Tibke said. “Sometimes that happens. We’ve had a close game with Lake Stevens (a 62-52 win on Jan. 23), but these guys were something else. … The game that we’ve had where we were pushed at was West Valley (a 69-64 win on Dec. 29), and that was back in December. So hopefully these guys take this (and) get a little better.”

As much as Glacier Peak would like to forget the pain of losing their perfect record on a buzzer-beater in the district semifinals, Lake Washington managed to put a pretty big chip on a seemingly untouchable shoulder.

“It will motivate us,” Kan said. “We’re not going to take things lightly anymore.”