YAKIMA — Civil Warfare half 4 had all of the beats of a basic rivalry sport between R.A. Lengthy and Mark Morris.
Excessive-pressure shot-making. Gritty protection and rebounding. Diving to the ground for free balls.
And for the fourth time in 4 tries this season, R.A. Lengthy got here away with a win. Mark Morris’ 3-point try fell off the mark as time expired and R.A. Lengthy escaped with a 50-48 win, sending the Lumberjacks to their second Class 2A boys basketball state semifinal look in 4 years at Yakima SunDome.
“We told them how hard it’s going to be,” R.A. Lengthy coach Jeray Key stated. “It’s hard to beat a team three times, it’s hard to beat a team four times. And it is. But I say if you’re the better team, the better team can win four times in a row. Nothing against them, but I feel like we’re the better team. I think we’ve proved it four games in a row. They’re really freaking good, but we’re really good too.”
No. 2 seed R.A. Lengthy will face No. 3 Bremerton on Friday at 5:30 p.m., with a spot in Saturday’s championship sport on the road.
“We’ve got one goal and we’re trying to complete the mission,” Key stated. “We feel good about it, but we’ve got to move on before tomorrow.”
Jadyn Brooks hit a 3-pointer on the opposite finish, and Stephens rebounded a free ball with 20 seconds left after getting a defensive cease.
The Monarchs rallied again into the sport after falling behind 13-2 after one quarter. Dalton Stevens led the Monarchs with 12 factors and Brooks added 11.
“We got out to a good lead. But the thing with them is they never go away,” Key stated. ” … They’re only a composure group. You’ve bought to struggle till the very finish. Coming all the way down to the final shot like that, I used to be slightly shocked. However I knew it was going to be a battle like that.”
No. 8 Mark Morris will face No. 12 Franklin Pierce within the fourth-place semifinals on Friday at 10:30 a.m.
R.A. LONG 50, MARK MORRIS 48
MARK MORRIS (21-6) — Dalton Stevens 12, Drew Ibarreta 7, Zane Armstrong 0, Nathan Stephens 8, Mark Hendrickson 0, Jadyn Brooks 11, Carson Bogner 4, Mac West 6. Totals 16 (6) 10-14 48.
MM 2 13 14 19—58
RAL 13 10 16 11—60