LYNDEN — The Lynden Lions had the lead in a 63-60 win against Lynden Christian for less than 60 seconds.
It was all they needed Friday night to hand the Lyncs their first loss of the season.
In control for most of the game, the Lynden Christian offense sputtered in the final eight minutes, scoring only six points while surrendering 13.
Lynden junior Coston Parcher hit from deep to tie the game at 60 with 2:30 left on the clock. Both defenses tightened up for the next two minutes until senior Dawson Adams sunk a corner three-pointer to give the Lions a 63-60 lead with 14.7 seconds left.
Lyncs senior Andrew Hommes couldn’t connect on the other end to tie the game, but the ball rolled out of bounds off Lynden, giving Lynden Christian one more chance to tie the game with two seconds left.
Lynden senior Jordan Medcalf was in foul trouble for much of the game, but tipped the final inbound pass and ran down the court alongside the Lynden student section as the final seconds ticked off the clock while half of the crowd of 2,200 people roared.
“We were behind and tired throughout the game, but our guys just kept battling,” Lynden coach Brian Roper said. “I would’ve been proud of them if we lost, but I’m super happy for them because they won.”
The Lyncs kept their lead around seven points for most of the game, but couldn’t knock down shots late.
On the other end, the Lions caught fire late. Especially the combination of Parcher and Adams.
With Medcalf on the bench with four fouls, Adams and Parcher picked up the offense.
Parcher finished the game with a team-high 17 points, shooting 7-8 from the field.
Adams added 16 of his own and was 4-9 from beyond the arc, including the game-winner.
“I just happened to be open and hit the shot, but it feels pretty good,” Adams said.
Trailing 38-31 at halftime, the Lions outscored the Lyncs 32-22 in the second half.
Adams said they didn’t shoot very well in the first half, but got it done on defense to keep the game within reach.
“We played defense well enough to where we could kind of stick around,” Adams said. “Once our shots started falling is when we started to make our comeback, but in order to stick around we had to hustle and keep attacking.”
The Lions were outshot by the Lyncs 45% to 47%, but continually were able to hit the clutch shots down the stretch.
Lynden Christian coach Tim Zylstra said this game will only help his team.
“Getting that goose egg out of the loss column in the long run will probably be better for us,” he said. “Does it make it any easier for us? No, but in the long run it’ll probably help us playing in a tight game like that and being tested until the end.”
The Lyncs being held to only six points in the final quarter of the game is indicative of what Lynden’s defense can do to any team on any night.
Zylstra called Lynden a good defensive team. Despite that, he said the Lyncs still found their spots, they just didn’t make the shots.
“They made plays defensively,” Zylstra said. “If you take the third quarter and we add three or four more points it may not come down to the last 12 seconds.”
There’s nothing like playing in a near-sell out gym and there might not be a better high school basketball environment than what the Lyncs and Lions get to play in every year, Roper said.
The constant volume of the crowd, the importance of every possession, and small things making a huge difference mimics the state tournament as closely as possible during the regular season.
It’s good practice for both teams as they look ahead to the state tournament, but they must get through district tournaments first.
“We’ve got some good 2A teams who are good enough to beat us, but you take a game like this and you can be comfortable and happy or you can use it as a stepping stone to a better performance,” Roper said.
Lynden’s next game is Monday at home against Sedro-Woolley. The Lions will then finish up the regular season with games against Lakewood and Burlington-Edison.
The District 1 2A tournament will be Feb. 9–18, primarily at Mount Vernon High School.
Lynden Christian’s next game is Monday at home with Mount Baker coming to town. The Lyncs’ regular season finale will be Thursday at Meridian.
The District 1 1A tournament is scheduled for Feb. 8–15 at the higher seed schools. Seeding will be determined following the conclusion of the regular season.
