2A boys state tournament: Grandview the perfect champ
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YAKIMA — Jaime Fajardo sank two free throws with six seconds remaining, and a last-second three-point attempt by Chelan was blocked as top-ranked Grandview beat the unranked Goats 58-55 to win the Class 2A boys state basketball championship last night at the Yakima Valley SunDome.
Grandview completed a perfect season (27-0) and claimed the school's third state basketball championship. The Greyhounds won back-to-back titles as a Class 1A school in 1989 and 1990. The 1989 team went 26-1; the 1990 outfit went 28-0.
"It was the perfect season. Undefeated — that's amazing," said Grandview's Phillip Candanoza, who was voted tournament MVP after scoring 27 points, including 16 of his team's 19 third-quarter points. "This was tough and we knew it would be," Candanoza said. "It took everything we had."
Said Grandview Coach Scott Parrish: "These kids deserved this because of all their work and commitment. ... 27-0 ... it doesn't happen very often."
In his four seasons as Grandview's coach, Parrish has four 20-win seasons, four state trophies and now an unbeaten state-championship season.
"The pressure builds and builds, but these kids handled it so well, especially tonight," Parrish said. "We were the favorites and (Chelan) made their late run. It was time to come through and all these kids did."
Last night's game was a rematch of the Central Washington Athletic Conference district championship game from a week earlier when Grandview beat Chelan 73-44. Unlike that game, however, the outcome of this one was in doubt until the closing seconds.
Chelan cut Grandview's lead to a single point twice in the fourth quarter, the last time on a layup by Greg Meier with 14 seconds left.
The Goats quickly fouled Fajardo on the Greyhounds' next possession, and Fajardo calmly sank both shots.
Logan Schultz's three-point attempt at the buzzer was blocked by Grandview's Brent Bottineau.
The Greyhounds took the lead a minute and a half into the game. Though the Goats tied the game four times after that, they could never push past Grandview.
Grandview took its largest lead, 40-32, with 2:27 to play in the third quarter before Chelan ran off eight straight points to tie it less than two minutes later. But Candanoza sank two field goals in the final 20 seconds as Grandview retook the lead.
Fajardo scored 16 points for Grandview, and teammate Sean Campos pulled down a team-high 10 rebounds.
Jon Mitchell led Chelan with 16 points and 12 rebounds. Michael Griffiths added 10 points for the Goats.
Candanoza was joined on the first-team all-tournament team by Paul Hafford, Lynden Christian; Kendrick Holley, Steilacoom; Ryan Feist, Chewelah; Sheldon Weddle, Ephrata; Greg Smith, Lakeside (Nine Mile Falls). The second team: Ryan Pike, Blaine; Jaime Fajardo, Grandview; Logan Schultz, Chelan; Stephen Sanchez, Grandview; Jess Trampush, Chewelah; Jon Mitchell, Chelan.
Lynden Christian 57, Chewelah 47 (3rd-6th places) — Senior Paul Hafford scored 30 points and broke four tournament records while leading third-ranked Lynden Christian (21-5) past unranked Chewelah (19-8) for third place. Chewelah, unranked in the final Associated Press state poll, finished with the sixth-place trophy this time.
Hafford set the single-tournament scoring record with 118 points, breaking the 1999 mark of 116 set by former Blaine High School standout Luke Ridnour. His 42 field goals also were a record, as were his 104 field-goal attempts and 38 three-point field-goal attempts.
Hafford scored 18 points in the first half as the third-ranked Lyncs pulled out to a 26-15 halftime lead in the rematch of the 2001 state championship game won by the Cougars.
Hafford made 10 of 24 field-goal tries yesterday, including 3 of 10 three-point attempts. He also pulled down a team-high 12 rebounds. Teammate Mark Holleman added 10 points.
Ryan Feist, son of Coach Joe Feist, paced the Cougars with 10 points, and teammate Jess Trampush had nine and a game-high 21 rebounds, including 11 offensive rebounds. Trampush also had four assists and two blocked shots.
Lynden Christian lost 49-45 to Chelan in Friday's semifinals. Chewelah lost 69-62 to Grandview in the semifinals.
Ephrata 65, Port Townsend 51 (4th-7th places) — Sheldon Weddle scored 10 of his team-high 16 points to help Ephrata to a 19-point halftime lead as the Tigers (20-8) claimed fourth place. Andrew Borck added 11 points and Tyson Adams had 10 for the Tigers, who lost in the quarterfinals to Lynden Christian. Port Townsend (18-9) finished seventh.
Ephrata built its halftime advantage by making six three-pointers.
Port Townsend made 6 of 25 shots in the first half. For the game, the Redskins shot 38 percent (17 for 44), including 4 of 16 three-point attempts.
Port Townsend's Jared Robinson led all scorers with 21 points and had all four of his team's three-pointers. Fifteen of his points came in the second half. Teammate Nils Dobszinsky added nine points, eight rebounds and six blocked shots.
Borck had a game-high 12 rebounds. Weddle also added five assists and six steals.
Blaine 49, Steilacoom 33 (5th-8th places) — Jake Gilmore scored 13 points and Cory Crews added 10 as fifth-ranked Blaine (23-5) claimed the fifth-place trophy. Blaine, one of the pretournament favorites, lost its opener to Port Townsend. Second-ranked Steilacoom (23-4) also was one of the pretournament favorites but lost in the first round to Ephrata.
Kendrick Holley and Ryan Reynolds led the Sentinels with eight points apiece. Holley, who entered the tournament averaging 19.1 points, shot 4 for 15.