YAKIMA — It took just three minutes for the Sequim boys basketball team’s dreams of a Cinderella run through the Class 2A state tournament to go up in smoke.
Clarkston’s Treyton Sobotta (aka Trey) lived up to his nickname, torching the Wolves with four 3-pointers and 16 points in a 67-47 Bantams victory in Wednesday night’s first round game at the Yakima Valley SunDome.
The loss drops the Wolves into the consolation bracket, with their tournament lives on the line when they face Tumwater (12-11) today at 2 p.m.
“The goal was to get here, but we wanted to get a win too,” said Sequim coach Greg Glasser, whose Wolves still haven’t won a state game since 2001.
“Hopefully, the kids will stay focused enough to come out ready to play [today].”
Wednesday, the Clarkston sophomore guard turned the tables on Sequim (10-15 overall) in a hurry, burying three straight shots from long range to fuel a 14-0 run during a three-minute span early in the third quarter that the Wolves would never recover from.
Clarkston (16-9) knocked down 7-of-10 shots from beyond the arc, with Dustin McConnell draining two of his own, as the Bantams took advantage of Sequim’s aggressive double teams in the post.
“They had a great inside-out game, and we just had no answer for it tonight,” Glasser said.
“Our game plan going in was not to let [Sobotta] or [McConnell] have an open look. We did a decent job of that in the first half.
“They were patient enough to let the game come to them, and it came to them in the second half when we started leaving them for some reason.”
Clarkston’s long-range assault spoiled a sterling performance from junior John Textor, who scored a game-high 17 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the field.
Ary Webb struggles
Leading scorer Ary Webb, however, struggled to find his shot, hitting only 6-of-16 shots for 12 points.
“They hit about five 3s in a row it seemed like, and we couldn’t do anything on offense to make up for it,” Textor said.
“Our shots weren’t falling. We were getting open looks, but sometimes they just don’t fall.”
Sequim started the game in a 6-0 hole three minutes in, before going on an 11-4 run highlighted by three Textor baskets for its first and only lead of the game at 11-10.
The advantage was short lived as Clarkston scored the last two baskets in the frame.
The Bantams went ahead by as many as nine after Dustin McConnell drained a 3-pointer with 1:52 left in the half for a 26-17 edge, but Sequim responded with a 6-2 surge to go into the break down 28-23.
Webb and Jeremie Oliver opened the third with back-to-back baskets to get the Wolves within a point at 28-27.
That’s when Sobotta and company caught fire, going on their decisive 14-0 run for a 42-27 lead that Sequim would never challenge.
“We just didn’t execute the way we wanted to do tonight,” Glasser said.
“It was one little lapse, but I don’t know . . . I think that when we don’t execute what we’re supposed to do, that’s more than just a lapse.”
Sequim hit 40 percent of its shots from the field (20-of-50), while Clarkston hit 20-of-42 field goal attempts.
Of course, it was the 70-percent shooting from 3-point range that made the difference.
Clarkston 67, Sequim 47
Sequim 11 12 10 14 — 47
Clarkston 15 13 20 19 — 67
Individual Scoring
Sequim (47)
Textor 17, Ary Webb 12, Hill 1, Dunning 3, C. Webb 2, Catelli 3, Oliver 5, Alcafaras 2, Thorson 2.
Clarkston (67)
McConnell 12, Amone 5, Brownwell 7, Jones 6, Carey 2, Sobotta 16, James 6, Poe 1, Leighton 4, Brown 8.
