Crusaders corral first district title

SHORELINE — It took three tries, but the Shoreline Christian School boys basketball team finally downed Darrington in a championship game.

In a rematch of last year’s Class B Tri-district and state title games, the Crusaders upset the Loggers 42-37 in the finals of this year’s Tri-district tournament Feb. 28 at King’s High School.

Both teams had already clinched return trips to this week’s state tournament in Spokane.

The victory awarded Shoreline Christian (17-6 overall) its first district championship and snapped a four-game losing skid against the Loggers, who had won 15 straight dating back to mid-December.

“It’s big, especially against Darrington. It’s the matchup we were expecting,” said senior swingman Garth Brandal, who paced the Crusaders with 19 points.

“Our defense improved tremendously since the beginning of the year. It was good to finally pull it together and pull out a win. We have stuff to improve on before state, but this is a big win for us.”

Brandal supplied Shoreline Christian’s first 13 points of the second half, including eight unanswered in the first 2:28 to give the Crusaders a 23-11 advantage.

After Darrington responded with a 6-0 spurt, Brandal slashed through the lane for a layup and drained his third 3-pointer of the quarter.

“He knows to take what the defense gives him,” Crusaders coach Adam Haulter said. “If he’s shooting like that, he’s almost impossible to guard.”

With Darrington’s defense clamping down on Brandal, senior point guard Tim Gunderson took over, scoring Shoreline Christian’s final six points of the third quarter.

The two went a combined 7-for-7 from the field in the period and Gunderson added a pair of free throws to put the Crusaders in front 34-25 at the start of the fourth quarter.

“Garth came out and hit some amazing 3-pointers and Tim penetrated and got into (Darrington) so well,” Haulter said. “If not for those guys we wouldn’t have scored any points.”

That was the case for the first five minutes of the fourth quarter, as the Crusaders went cold and Darrington used a 7-0 run to shrink its deficit to 34-32 with 3:53 to go.

Brandal and Gunderson boosted the gap to six with back-to-back baskets, but the Loggers weren’t quite done. Evan Smith’s 3-pointer made it 40-37 with 5.8 seconds left and Darrington immediately fouled Brett De Yager.

Moments earlier, the sophomore guard had entered the game for the first time. But he calmly hit both free throws with 4.3 seconds remaining to ice the win.

The Crusaders became just the second team to hold Darrington to under 40 points and the fourth to limit the Loggers to less than 50.

“Our defense had a different mind-set,” Haulter said. “Our guys have seen that we’ve been playing extremely well on the defensive end. It just manifested tonight. We came in against a team that also plays great defense and tonight our’s won.”

Those stringent defenses were on display early on, as Shoreline Christian outscored the Loggers 4-2 in a flat first quarter.

“That wasn’t a whole lotta fun to be honest, but a lead is a lead I guess,” Gunderson said. “The defensive intensity was great. We just made some adjustments from the previous times we played them and I think that made all the difference.”

With 2:02 remaining in the first half Gunderson swished a 3-pointer to cap a 6-0 Shoreline Christian rally that gave the Crusaders the lead for good.

Gunderson finished with 16 points and five rebounds and sophomore Grant Brandal grabbed five boards to go with his three points.

“It’s exciting to be able to do something the school’s never done,” Gunderson said. “We did great here last year, but we took a third seed to state. We felt like we could get some momentum going if we were able to come out and beat Darrington.”

The win was the fifth straight for the Crusaders and their 11th in 14 games. Two of their losses during that stretch were by less than five points.

“We’ve had some up and down points in the season, but we’ve peaked at the right time,” Haulter said. “I don’t think there’s any question.”

The Crusaders landed in the top half of the state bracket, where they could meet up with the likes of Southwest District champion Wahkiakum and North Central District champ Waterville.

Last year, Shoreline Christian squeaked by its first three opponents at state by six, three and two points respectively before falling to Darrington in the finals.

“We’re looking to win all of our games,” Brandal said. “I think we’ve got the ability to do it. It’s just a matter of pulling it together over there for four games.”

While Haulter acknowledged the Crusaders may have benefited from being an unknown last season, they won’t have that luxury this time around.

Not after last year’s second-place showing in Spokane and last week’s Tri-district triumph.

“We’re not going to sneak up on anybody,” Haulter said. “What we saw here we’ve got to replicate over at state. These guys won’t be phased. They’ve been there before. They know what it takes to go a long way.”