Lynden Christian falls to King’s, finishes fifth
The experience of the King’s Knights, winners of the last two Class 1A boys basketball titles, showed up Saturday when they raced past a younger Lynden Christian team 55-43 at the Yakima Valley SunDome.
The win gave King’s third place at the 1A Hardwood Classic. Lynden Christian finished fifth – its 25th trophy in school history.
“You’ve got to tip your hat to them,” Lyncs coach Roger DeBoer said. “They have seven or eight seniors and it really showed today. ... As they mounted a lead and hit some big shots, you could see it kind of knocked the will out of us a little bit.”
The Lyncs, who finished 21-7, led by one at halftime. But the Knights shot better than 50 percent from the floor and hit 46 percent from 3-point range in the second half to pull away.
King’s made its tournament run without 6-foot-7 Corey Kispert, a Gonzaga commit who broke a bone in his foot last month.
Luke Wicks led the Knights’ second-half surge and finished with 18 points and eight rebounds. Dawson Porcello had 14 points, Josh Frohardt scored 11, and Chewy Zevenbergen had seven points and 11 rebounds for King’s (22-6).
“We still have some young bodies and Day Three can be really, really tough,” DeBoer said. “We missed so many layins early, and you can’t do that against a team like King’s.”
Grant Rubbert had 11 points, six rebounds, four steals and three assists, and George DeJong had eight points and eight rebounds for Lynden Christian.
“I tried to show these younger kids how it’s done,” said Rubbert, one of two seniors on the team. “I know they’ll be back. They’re good kids.”
DeBoer seconded that sentiment.
“We can only be excited about the future,” he said. “We are very, very blessed.”
Zillah shoots down Lyncs in semifinal
Zillah’s Nate Whitaker made three consecutive 3-pointers in the middle of the second quarter, then hit back-to-back jumpers in the fourth quarter after Lynden Christian clawed back into contention, vaulting the Leopards to a 72-57 victory in a Class 1A semifinal Friday night.
Trey Delp led Zillah with 26 points.
Whitaker finished with 17 points, 11 in the first half. But his five-shot outburst – in less than two minutes – helped break open the contest and gave Zillah its second win over Lynden Christian in as many years. The teams met in the regional round last season at nearby Eisenhower High School.
Colson Bajema had 19 points and Rubbert 15, and both had six rebounds for the Lyncs. Cristian Colwell had 14 points.
King’s 55, Lynden Christian 43
King’s | 9 | 10 | 12 | 24 | 55 |
Lynden Christian | 11 | 11 | 7 | 14 | 43 |
KING’S – Dawson Porcello 3-12 5-6 14, Lopez 0-3 0-0 0, Josh Frohardt 3-5 3-4 11, Luke Wicks 7-10 2-2 18, Zevenbergen 2-5 2-4 7, Reeves 0-0 0-0 0, Durbin 0-1 0-0 0, Bundrant 0-0 0-0 0, Kleppe 1-5 0-0 3, Bobin 0-0 0-0 0, Schoenfeld 1-2 0-0 2, Hibbard 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-43 12-16 55.
LYNDEN CHRISTIAN – Riddle 0-3 0-0 0, Bajema 1-12 2-3 5, Grant Rubbert 5-9 0-0 11, DeJong 4-10 0-1 8, Westra 1-5 0-0 2, DeVries 2-7 0-0 5, Lancaster 0-0 0-0 0, Bouwman 0-2 0-0 0, Bos 3-5 0-0 9, Jansen 1-1 0-0 3, Colwell 0-4 0-0 0, Tevelde 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 17-59 2-4 43.
3-point goals – King’s 9-26 (Porcello 3-10, Frohardt 2-4, Wicks 2-4, Zevenbergen 1-1, Kleppe 1-5), Lynden Christian 7-25 (Bajema 1-5, Rubbert 1-2, DeVries 1-6, Bos 3-5, Jansen 1-1). Rebounds – King’s 37 (Zevenbergen 11, Wicks 8), Lynden Christian DeJong 8, Rubbert 6). Assists – King’s 14 (Frohardt 5, Porcello 4), Lynden Christian 8 (Rubbert 3, DeVries 2, Bouwman). Turnovers – King’s 12, Lynden Christian 7. Total fouls – King’s 12, Lynden Christian 15. Fouled out – None.
This story was originally published March 4, 2017 at 4:51 PM with the headline "Lynden Christian falls to King’s, finishes fifth."