SPOKANE — A stellar night from beyond the 3-point line and solid defense propelled Neah Bay (20-3) to a Class 1B boys basketball state championship game matchup with archrival Lummi (26-0) after a 67-44 semifinal win over Shorewood Christian on Friday at Spokane Arena.
Neah Bay faces Lummi for the title at 5 p.m. today.
Jongi Claplanhoo opened the game with a 3 and didn’t stop there, hitting his first five attempts from outside to lead the Red Devils offensively with 17 points.
“I really wasn’t it feeling it during warmups,” Claplanhoo said. “But I hit one toward the end and I don’t know, sometimes I’m on and sometimes I’m off, and today was just a good day.”
His son and his team firing on all cylinders was quite the birthday gift for Neah Bay coach Stan Claplanhoo, who turned 46 Friday.
“I’ve been telling Jongi, if you are open, take the shot,” Stan Claplanhoo said. “Shooters have to shoot the ball. Same with Ryan [Moss] and Kenrick [Doherty Jr.], they can all shoot the ball.”
Jongi Claplanhoo agreed that he has heard that refrain from his dad . . . and from his teammates.
“My dad always tells me and my teammates always tell me to pull the trigger, not to hesitate,” Jongi Claplanhoo said.
“I usually do hesitate and not pull the shots, but today I was just trigger-happy and they kind of fell for me.”
Moss hit two first-quarter treys to help push the Red Devils to a 16-9 lead. He finished with 10 points and eight rebounds.
Doherty cashed a 3 with 20 seconds to go before halftime to extend the Neah Bay lead to 36-23 at the break.
He scored eight of his nine points in the period, including two buckets during a 7-0 run after the Lions cut the Neah Bay lead to 22-17.
The Lions stuck to a 2-3 zone defense for the entire game, and the Red Devils patiently worked the ball in and out of the high post, to the baseline and back out to find open shooters.
And Neah Bay cashed in, hitting 7 of 15 in the first half from beyond the arc, and 9 of 24 for the game.
“We tore them up in that zone,” Jongi Claplanhoo said.
“I don’t know why they didn’t switch it up and do something different, but I’m not complaining.”
Meanwhile, Shorewood Christian missed 3 after 3, finally hitting one in the final minute of the game and going 1 for 17 from beyond the arc on the night, and 17 of 59 (28 percent) overall from the field.
The Red Devils also forced 16 turnovers.
“It was effort,” Stan Claplanhoo said. “Defensively, the kids knew, and we talked about it, that defense is going to win the tournament. And really being smart, understanding that if we have a break, take it, otherwise look to run the offense and make a play.”
Shorewood Christian could come no closer than 14 points the rest of the way.
Abraham Venske put exclamation points on the victory with two emphatic shot blocks in the same corner of the court late in the third and again in the fourth.
If there were seats in that area of the arena, the ball would have ended a few rows up each time.
Next up in Neah Bay’s third trip to the state final in the past five years? Unbeaten Lummi, a team that topped the Red Devils 75-49 in January and 58-56 in the Tri-District title game two weeks ago.
The two schools also played three times during the football season, with Neah Bay taking all three contests, including the state semifinal in December.
“It should be a classic,” Stan Claplanhoo said.
“Both teams know each other, respect each other, and are pretty even.”
Neah Bay 67, Shorewood Christian 44
Neah Bay 16 20 16 15 —67
Shorewood Christian 9 14 9 12 —44
Individual Scoring
Neah Bay (67)
Claplanhoo 17, Venske 13, Reamer 12, Doherty Jr. 9, Munyagi 2, Nedderoff 2, McGimpsey 2, Buzzell, Johnson, Buttram.
Shorewood Christian (44)
Young 20, Domingo 8, Sollesvik 6, Howell 4, Yemane 3, Fevaleaki 3.
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Sports reporter Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-452-2345, ext. 5250 or at mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.
Previous version
SPOKANE — The Neah Bay boys basketball team advanced to the Class 1B state championship game for the third time in five season by thrashing Shorewood Christian 67-44 in the semifinals Friday at Spokane Arena.
The Red Devils will play rival Lummi on Saturday at 5 p.m. for the state championship.
