SPOKANE — No. 2 Lummi boys defeated No. 5 Neah Bay, 49-45, in a back-and-forth semifinal bout on Friday, March 7, and the Blackhawks advanced to the 1B state tournament championship match at the Spokane Arena.
With the win, the Blackhawks will move on to a marquee title matchup with No. 1 Almira/Coulee-Hartline at 5 p.m. Saturday, March 8. Lummi last won the 1B state title in 2015.
Friday’s game moved quickly from the opening tip-off. Neah Bay jumped ahead with a fast 9-0 start and held the Blackhawks to just three points in the first quarter, heading into the second up 10-3. Lummi Nation strung a few together in the second quarter and from there, it was anybody’s game.
“When we play Neah Bay, it’s like playing our mirror image,” Lummi head coach Jerome Toby said. “That’s a gutsy team. They battled, we battled and it came down to free throws and getting a defensive stop.”
Gallery: Lummi heads to state championship
The 3-point sharpshooting from sophomore guard Dyson Edwards in the second half was a bright spot in an otherwise streaky offensive attack. Edwards finished the night leading the game with 17 points, shooting 5-for-10 from beyond the arc.
“I didn’t want to let my team down so I had to show up,” Edwards said. “We’re going to go get that gold ball.”
In a tense final quarter, the ball kept moving from end to end with defensive stops aplenty and points few and far between.
Finally, it was a pair of free throws from sophomore forward Deandre James, who shot 6-for-6 from the stripe, to seal the game with seconds left.
Finn Wendt is a CDN visual journalist; reach him at finnwendt@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 122.
