TACOMA — Jericho Julmist took over the game in the fourth quarter and the Sequim Wolves saved their season by holding back the stubborn Lindbergh Eagles’ upset attempt 44-36 in a Class 2A Boys Basketball State Regional Round loser-out contest Friday at the University of Puget Sound Fieldhouse.
Julmist scored 15 of his game-high 19 points in the second half, including knocking down two fourth-quarter 3-pointers, the latter finally giving Sequim some breathing room with a four-point lead inside the final two minutes of the game.
No. 9-seeded Sequim (20-4) advances to the state tournament at the Yakima Valley SunDome for the first time since 2013.
The Wolves will face the loser of Saturday’s game between No. 1 Lynden (24-1) and No. 8 Mark Morris (20-4) on Wednesday at 2 p.m. in another loser-out in Yakima.
Friday night, Sequim had a difficult time finding room to work inside against Lindbergh’s zone defense and the Wolves settled for low percentage long jump shots through much of the game.
Eagles’ senior point guard John Choul was a pest all game long for Lindbergh on both ends of the floor, finishing with 13 points.
The Eagles’ Trinidad Valentino English drained three triples and had 11 points to keep Lindbergh in the lead through three quarters.
Sequim benefited from Lindbergh’s foul trouble in the fourth quarter as 6-foot-6 Eagle James Huff fouled out with five minutes to play and senior Tyler Hicks played with four personals.
Playing on the full-size college court with both college and a taped high-school 3-point line, both teams set up their offenses at the deeper college line — and attempted a number of 3-pointers from the longer distance.
The added oomph needed for the longer shots contributed to fourth quarter layups by Ethan Melnick and Zeke Schmadeke as they rebounded errant attempts for putbacks inside.
Melnick had nine points on the night.
Sequim 44, Lindbergh 36
Lindbergh 9 12 11 5 — 36
Sequim 12 7 11 14 — 44
Lindbergh (36): Choul 13, Valentino 11, Hasan 6, Huff 6.
Sequim (44): Julmist 19, Melnick 9, Sheppard 7, Rapelje 4, Schmadeke 2, Gray 2.
