SPOKANE — Neah Bay players and fans are so accustomed to playing in state championship games, they’ve given championship a dimunitive — they call it “going to the ship.”
But the ship sailed on the Red Devils, the defending Class 1B boys state basketball in a 58-48 loss to Sunnyside Christian on Thursday night in the state quarterfinals at Spokane Arena.
The Knights broke open a tight halfcourt affair by executing offensively in the final quarter, while Neah Bay looked out of sorts offensively, suffering numerous scoring lapses in the last eight minutes.
“We just didn’t come out firing like we normally do, like we had in games against Forks or against Taholah,” Red Devils senior Anthony Bitegeko said.
“It was a different vibe. We were focusing on our defense and we held them to a low-scoring game, but in our offense we weren’t running the system and it could have helped us if we did.”
Neah Bay head coach Ben Maxson agreed.
“In the fourth quarter against their 1-2-2 [zone defense] I thought we got complacent and didn’t run our system,” he said.
“And there was a two or three minute stretch there where it was a tough grind-it-out battle. The truth is we didn’t run our system. We had some stretches, not defensively, offensively where we didn’t produce and run our system. Let alone, in those sessions, the ball wasn’t falling. We got tight, we felt the pressure of the big lights on the big stage.”
The lead see-sawed between the two teams for much of the first three quarters.
Neah Bay endured a slow start, falling behind 7-0 midway through the first quarter before ending the period on a 9-2 run keyed by a deep 3 by Kenrick Doherty Jr., a long two-point jumper by Doherty and a pair of scores inside by Rweha Munyagi.
With the nerves out of the way the teams traded runs in the second period. Chance Marsh scored the first five points of the period, but was answered by a Cole Svec score down low and a deep Doherty 3.
The Knights and Red Devils exchanged 5-0 mini-runs later in the quarter, before Sunnyside Christian’s Cade Bosma gave the Knights a 26-24 lead at halftime with a late score.
Neah Bay held a 33-31 lead midway through the third quarter when Sunnyside Christian went on a 9-0 run keyed by buckets by Bosma and Luke and Chance Marsh to go up 40-33.
But Bitegeko knocked down a cluch 3, part of his eight third-quarter points, and Cole Svec added another big trey to pull the Red Devils within one, 40-39, heading to the fourth quarter.
Sunnyside Christian post Luke Wagenaar scored the first two baskets of the fourth to put the Knights up 44-39 with six minutes to play.
Neah Bay got within two, 45-43, on score by Rweha Munyagi, but the Marsh twins, assisted by younger brother Kyler Marsh, picked up the scoring slack for Sunnyside Christian as the Knights went on a game-clinching 11-2 run from 4:45 of the fourth to lead 56-45 with 45 seconds to play.
“I wouldn’t say we were tired [defensively], but we were focused on getting the lead back and its hard to try and focus on two things at the same time,” Bitegeko said. Bitegeko finished with 10 points.
With 35.5 seconds left in the game, Neah Bay senior Kenrick Doherty Jr. eclipsed the 1,000-point scoring mark for his career.
Doherty led the Red Devils with 18 points, including 3 of 8 shooting from 3-point land.
“It’s just disbelief,” Bitegeko said of the feeling in the Neah Bay locker room after the game.
“We cant believe it. But we still have a game tomorrow, we will try and get fourth, the best we can do and have fun playing against Yakama. We’ve played against those guys in tournaments and we will try and finish strong.”
“I’m proud of how the guys fought,” Maxson said.
“The last 90 seconds we fought like how I wanted to see them fight all game, so I know that it’s in them. I know they aren’t done, I’m not done as a coach. Our staff isn’t done. But that’s the fight we have to come out with tomorrow. We are going after fourth. And against Yakama, it will be a fast-paced game and the team that controls the turnover battle will come out on top.”
Sunnyside Christian 58, Neah Bay 58
Neah Bay 9 15 15 9 — 48
Sunnyside Chr. 9 17 14 18 — 58
Neah Bay (48) — Doherty 18, A. Bitegeko 10, Svec 9, Munyagi 8, Moore 3, Greene, S. Bitegeko.
Sunnyside Christian (58) — C. Marsh 18, Wagenaar 17, Bosma 10, L. Marsh 5, K. Marsh 3, R. Faber 3, J. Faber 2.
Neah Bay’s Anthony Bitegeko shoots over the outstretched arm of Sunnyside Christian’s Kyler Marsh during the Red Devils’ 58-48 loss to the Knights at Spokane Arena. (Al Camp/Omak Chronicle)
