YAKIMA — The Neah Bay boys basketball team lost a heartbreaker to get eliminated from the Class 1B state tournament while the girls squad stayed alive with a blowout in the consolation bracket.
The Red Devil boys (18-7) lost 51-48 to Pateros in the loser-out consolation quarterfinals to fall just short of moving on at the SunDome on Thursday afternoon.
Neah Bay had the ball with 5 seconds left, running down the court and letting a 3-pointer fly to try to tie it at the buzzer but the shot fell short.
Pateros had led by two late in the game and Neah Bay fouled to get the ball back. Pateros made one of two foul shots to lead by three.
“It was a heartbreaker,” Neah Bay coach Michael Lawrence said. “We have had a good season but I wish we could have done more.”
The Red Devils had heavy hearts because they wanted to keep playing, Lawrence said.
“We have a good group of kids,” he said. “We have seven who have been playing varsity since they were freshmen. This was their final game.”
The Red Devils played much better than they did in the first round against Almira/Coulee-Hartline on Wednesday night.
Almira won that game 69-40 to put Neah Bay in a quick hole in the double-elimination tournament.
“We played much better against Pateros but we just came up short,” Lawrence said.
The Red Devils had the late game Wednesday with a 9 p.m. start that immediately put them at a disadvantage.
“We had to wait a long time for the game, but the other team had to do that, too,” Lawrence said.
“We came out flat while the other kids shot well. We couldn’t get anything going.”
Pateros now will play Lopez, a 62-50 winner over Oakville, in the loser-out consolation semifinals today. That winner moves on to the consolation final in the fifth-eighth place medal game Saturday.
The Neah Bay girls, meanwhile, bounced back after being blown out in the first round Wednesday to rip Taholah 71-29 in the consolation quarterfinals Thursday.
Details of the quarterfinal game was not available.
That moves the Red Devils (22-1) to the loser-out consolation semifinals today against King’s Way Christian, which beat Lummi 33-31 on Thursday.
That winner advances to the medal game Saturday for fifth-eighth place against the St. John-Endicott-Cusick winner.
Last year, the Red Devils captured eighth place in state.
In the first round Wednesday, the undefeated Red Devils were surprised by a 57-26 loss to Columbia (Hunters).
Columbia, which beat Neah Bay by two points last year in the first round, pounded Wilson Creek 72-32 in the championship quarterfinals Thursday.
