When you’ve only lost once in two years, it’s hard to imagine any kind of defeat. But nobody, including the Lynden Christian boys basketball team, could have imagined the defeat the Lyncs suffered Thursday night.
Dominated inside and outside, the top-ranked and unbeaten Lyncs were beaten by King’s, 73-50, in the Class 1A state quarterfinals at the Yakima SunDome.
The loss drops the Lyncs (24-1) into the consolation bracket, where they will play Seattle Academy for the second time in two weeks on Friday at 12:15 p.m. The winner will play for a top-six trophy on Saturday.
For updated stories and pictures from the 1A and 2A state tournaments, keep checking www.whatcomhoops.com.
And the Lyncs will be happy to put Thursday’s game behind them.
“It really hurts,” said sophomore guard Jaden DeBoer, who came off the bench to lead the Lyncs with 15 points. “But now our goal is to trophy.”
Coming into the game, the Lyncs’ goal was to repeat as state champions. But the 10th-seeded Knights (21-5), who lost to LC by seven in the District 1 championship game, were ready this time.
After watching Cole Bajema light them up for 32 points at district, the Knights (21-5) decided to go all-in on stopping him. Hounded in the backcourt, double-teamed as soon as he was with 30 feet of the basket, and triple-teamed if he somehow got in the key, Bajema only made 1 of 7 shots and finished with four points.
That was bad enough for the Lyncs, but the Knights’ man defense on Andrew DeVries, left the sharp-shooting guard without any open shots and without any points. Senior center Cristian Colwell could only add six points, which means LC’s top three scorers combined for only 10 points, more than 30 below their average.
DeBoer tried to pick up the slack with five 3-pointers, but LC only hit 7 of 32 from long distance. Luke Bos added 11 points and Cole Langstraat had nine, but the 50 points was Lynden Christian’s lowest total of the season.
Against any other team, the Lyncs might still have had a chance, but King’s was not to be denied.
In addition to getting 19 points from their 6-foot-6 freshman sensation, Tyler Linhardt, and a dozen from 6-7 senior Eyon Zevenbergen, the Knights got five 3-pointers from freshman substitute Jordan Hansen, who didn’t even score in the district title game.
For the game, King’s hit 10 of 23 from long range and made 51 percent of their shots from the field.
“They concentrated on Cole and Andrew,” said DeBoer. “We had a lot of shots, but we didn’t hit. And they hit their shots.”
King’s 73, Lynden Christian 50
King’s 23 14 21 15 — 73
Lynden Christian 11 11 10 18 — 50
King’s: Shane McGaughey-Fick 15, Hunter Reeves 3, Nate Kleppe 2, Eyon Zevenbergen 12, Tyler Linhardt 19, Davis Campbell, Jordan Hansen 15, Will Pohland, Matt Amano, Tyler Durbin, Jaron Hansen 5, Luke Bobin 2
Lynden Christian: Bryce Bouwman 2, Tanner Feenstra, Brevin Zylstra 1, Jaden DeBoer 15, Zach Sipma 2, Cole Langstraat 9, Andrew DeVries, Cole Bajema 4, Jake Libolt, Luke Bos 11, Cristian Colwell 6.
Shooting: FG—Kin 28-55 50.9, LC 19-52 36.5; FT— Kin 7-11 63.6, LC 5-18 27.8; 3 PT—Kin 10-23 43.5 (McGaughey-Fick 3, Reeves 1, Linhardt 1, Jo. Hansen 5), LC 7-32 21.9 (Langstraat 1, DeBoer 5, Bos 1). Rebounds: Kin 35 (Zevenbergen 9), LC 31 (Bajema 9). Fouls: Kin 16, LC 12. Assists: Kin 15 (Reeves 4), LC 10 (Langstraat 3, Bos 3).
Turnovers: Kin 7, LC 7. Blocks: Kin 1 (Kleppe 1), LC 4 (Bajema 2). Steals: Kin 4 (McGaughey-Fick 2), LC 1 (Langstraat 1).
CLASS 1A BOYS STATE TOURNAMENT
(With RPI rankings)
Regionals (Friday)
#9 Royal 57, #15 Cascade Christian 45 (loser out)
Regionals (Saturday)
#2 La Center 63, #7 Deer Park 46
#12 Bellevue Christian 58, #13 Seton Catholic 48 (loser out)
#1 Lynden Christian 79, #8 Connell 53
#11 King’s Way Christian 71, #14 Overlake 52 (loser out)
#3 Zillah 84, #6 Cashmere 56
#5 Seattle Academy 65, #4 Okanogan 62
#10 King’s 65, vs. #16 Naches Valley 55 (loser out)
At Yakima SunDome
State play-in games (Wednesday)
King’s Way Christian 67, Cashmere 52 (loser out)
King’s 77, Deer Park 40 (loser out)
Bellevue Christian 61, Okanogan 52 (loser out)
Connell 43, Royal 40 (loser out)
Quarterfinals (Thursday)
Seattle Academy (19-3) vs. King’s Way Christian (16-8), 3:45 p.m.
Lynden Christian (24-0) vs. King’s (20-5), 5:30 p.m.
Zillah (23-1) vs. Bellevue Christian (17-7), 7:15 p.m.
LaCenter (22-2) vs. Connell (20-5), 9 p.m.
Consolation semifinals (Friday)
12:15 p.m. (loser out)
2 p.m. (loser out)
Semifinals (Friday)
7:15 p.m.
9 p.m.
Fourth-sixth place game (Saturday)
9:30 a.m. (winner fourth, loser sixth)
Consolation final (Saturday)
1 p.m. (winner third, loser fifth)
Championship game (Saturday)
5 p.m. (winner first, loser second)
(Full schedule and bracket at nwcathletics.com)
Jim Carberry is a former Bellingham Herald sports editor and author of several books on Whatcom County prep basketball. Follow him on Twitter @whatcomhoops and visit the Whatcom Hoops Facebook page.
