LYNDEN – Lynden Christian boys basketball narrowly survived a fiery Lynden comeback on the road Saturday night, preventing the Lions from clinching the league championship with a 55-52 win at Jake Maberry Gymnasium.
After leading nearly the entire game, LC surrendered a 51-50 advantage to Lynden with under 2:30 left to play via eight-straight points from Lions junior guard Anthony Canales.
LC senior guard Tyler Sipma drained the would-be game-winning 3-pointer as the shot clock neared expiration with 1:19 left to play, giving the Lyncs the lead for good.
“That one on the end of the shot clock — that’s Tyler. That’s when he’s his best,” LC coach Tim Zylstra said.
Sipma, who finished with 12 points, struggled offensively to that point in the game. He scored the Lyncs’ final five points to seal a game that was as good as advertised.
Lynden Christian’s Tyler Sipma leaps past Lynden’s Coston Parcher for a basket.
(Andy Bronson/Cascadia Daily News)
“At the end of the game I think my competitive nature kind of just took over and I was doing anything I could to get a bucket when we needed one,” Sipma said. “My mind let me do that, and I came through, and I’m happy my teammates trusted me after I had a little bit of a rough shooting night.”
The Lyncs were led by 16 points from junior guard Dawson Bouma and 12 from Sipma.
Canales led Lynden with 20 points — 10 of which came in the fourth quarter — while senior forward Kobe Baar tallied 13.
Lynden relinquished the Northwest Conference title to Anacortes with the loss, as the regular season concluded.
“We created a tougher path for ourselves in the postseason, but it’s the path we will take and we’ll embrace it,” Lynden coach Brian Roper said.
Bouma stole the show for LC in the first six minutes of the game, scoring 11 points on three 3-pointers and igniting a 19-0 run that put the Lyncs up 20-4. His emergence was just a matter of time, by all accounts.
“Growing up with [Bouma], me and him, in the summers, we’d be bored and we’d always just go to the rack and play one-on-one,” Sipma said. “It’s cool to see him come out here and shine like that, like he did. I can’t even put into words how happy I am for him.”
Lynden Christian’s Jeremiah Wright blocks a shot by Lynden’s Kobe Baar.
(Andy Bronson/Cascadia Daily News)
Six LC players scored at least two points in the first half, indicative of the Lyncs’ emphasis on sharing the ball. They executed their offense unimpeded, for a time.
Anthony Canales stopped the bleeding late in the first quarter with a 3-pointer of his own, and the Lions entered the second period trailing by 12.
Lynden got the injection of energy it needed when Canales followed a teammate’s miss, leaping off the court and finishing a put-back dunk between two LC defenders.
What was once a 17-point second-quarter lead for the Lyncs shrank to nine, 32-23, at halftime. The Lions pulled within two points midway through the third quarter, but LC entered the final period leading 42-38.
LC responded to most of Lynden’s successful shot attempts, never letting the Lions gain an edge — until they did.
Late in the third quarter, Lynden Christian’s Lane Dykstra takes a charge committed by Lynden’s Anthony Canales while going to the net. It was his third foul of the game.
(Andy Bronson/Cascadia Daily News)
Senior guard Griffin Dykstra put LC up 50-43 with 3:24 remaining in the game, preceding a string of plays by Canales that nearly lit “The Jake” on fire.
One converted and-one by the 6-foot-4 guard made it a four-point game and a second on the very next Lynden possession cut LC’s lead to just one.
Canales was fouled for a third-consecutive possession, making good on both free throws, giving the Lions their first lead since the beginning of the first quarter.
Sipma answered with the shot-clock-beating 3-pointer, followed by an acrobatic lay-in, and LC fended off the nearly-completed comeback attempt by Lynden.
“This was a great game to build off of. This is a state-type environment, obviously, if not louder,” Sipma said. “We’re just going to keep on working up and getting better from here and hopefully end up with that gold ball.”
Making a layup, Lynden’s Coston Parcher cuts Lynden Christian’s lead to two points in the fourth quarter.
(Andy Bronson/Cascadia Daily News)
LC junior forward Jeremiah Wright finished with 10 points while Dykstra tallied nine, rounding out the Lyncs’ notable scorers.
For Lynden, senior guard Coston “Bubba” Parcher totaled 11 points while senior forward Treyson Smiley added four.
“I just felt we were a little tentative early, and it allowed them to get momentum. In a game like that, momentum is everything,” Roper said. “We flipped the momentum, won the last three quarters, but it just wasn’t enough.”
LC wrapped up its regular season 19-2 overall (13-2 NWC) and retains its No. 1 seed in the 1A District 1 tournament. The Lyncs will host Nooksack Valley or Mount Baker in the first round at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 8.
Lynden finished its regular season 17-3 overall (13-2 NWC). The Lions’ seed, first-round opponent and game time for Saturday, Feb. 11 are yet to be determined.
