In a 3A Boys State Basketball tournament elimination game on Friday, the Gig Harbor Tides took advantage of a downtrodden Mountlake Terrace Hawks squad and, for much of the matchup, looked to be heading for a high-scoring lopsided victory. But in the end it was the Hawks that would fly high, shaking off a discouraging loss less that 24 hours before, clamping down on the sharp-shooting Tides and snatching a dramatic come-from-behind win.

Terrace outscored the Tides 10-4 in the final five minutes of the contest and earned a 73-71 victory at the Tacoma Dome.

The Hawks took just their second lead of the game (and first since the first minute) with 2:17 to go, 69-68, on a Jeffrey Anyimah inside bucket. Anyimah then converted two free throw attempts with 43.3 seconds left to bump Terrace’s lead up to 71-68. But Gig Harbor’s Luke Browne sunk a 3-pointer from the left corner with 29 seconds to go to tie the game at 71.

On Terrace’s subsequent possession, Zaveon Jones was double-teamed on the low post but found a cutting Vito Mkrtychyan alone on the opposite side of the lane and passed the ball to the senior, who quickly made a lay-in with 13.5 seconds left, giving the Hawks a 73-71 lead.

The Tides got a chance to tie the contest in the waning seconds, but a 3-point shot attempt from the right corner by Asher Raquiza was no good. Terrace got the ball with a second to go and, after a long inbounds pass from under the Gig Harbor hoop, ran the clock out and secured the victory.

Terrace Coach Nalin Sood, happy with the win, was pleased that Mkrtychyan was able to be the hero with the final bucket.

“Vito just finds a way to get it done. It’s a testimony to his temperament —  he’s right here,” Sood said while making a hand motion just above his chest. “He’s not too high, he’s not too low; he’s just very even, very consistent. And that’s why he was able to stay in the game. There’s some things, I know, he felt could have been better during the game, but he stayed in it and made the play when he really needed to.”

The Hawks’ win seemed improbable early in the contest. The Tides’ biggest lead of the game — 16 points — came late in the first quarter at 28-12 due primarily due to a blistering pace of 3-point shooting. Gig Harbor made five 3-pointers in the first eight minutes and seven of 11 attempts in the first half (63.6%), including a Browne 3-point bomb just as the first half ended.

“We knew a couple guys could (make 3-pointers) and were capable,” Sood said of the No. 6-seeded Tides. “We just have to guard hard; you have to find it from within to go guard them. But smarter coaches than me and good teams that have had trouble guarding those guys. So the kids just had to go find it from within and they did. And that’s a testimony to the kids.”

In the halftime locker room, the Terrace coaching staff pushed their players to improve theie defensive effort against the Tides.

“That’s a good team, great players; they’ve got shooters, they can make shots,” said Anyimah. “Coaches were pretty upset but we knew it’s a full 32 (minutes) once again. We knew we got to tighten up on defense and I feel like we did that.”

After giving up 46 points to Gig Harbor in the first half, the Hawks yielded just 25 after halftime. The Tides shot just 38.1% (8-of-21) from the field in the second half and just 18.2% (2-of-11) from beyond the 3-point arc.

Sood acknowledged that he and his coaches addressed the team’s less-than-acceptable first-half defensive effort. “We just knew it could be better,” he said. “The kids, we wanted to remind them that they’ve got to really dig, dig, dig. And (sometimes) it takes us helping them with a couple shovels to dig it out.”

Meanwhile, the Hawks’ offense did just enough to catch up and eventually wash over the Tide in the second half. The offensive spurt started with an Anyimah three-pointer just as time expired in the third quarter, closing the scoring gap to 61-55 going into the fourth.

Anyimah had been sitting on the bench when Terrace had a chance to inbound the ball with a second to go. Sood gave long-time Terrace Assistant Coach Johnny Phillips credit for getting Anyimah back into the game for the quarter-ending inbounds’ play.

“That’s 100% Coach Philly,” Sood explained. “Coach Philly said, ‘Jeffrey in;’ and I said ‘no, we’re going to stay with what we got.’ Sometimes it takes me a second; and it registered — why not. That’s all Coach Philly and I told him that. I tapped him on the leg — I might have hit him on the leg — (saying) ‘that’s all you, that’s all you.’”

Anyimah was pleased to have been given the chance to make the buzzer-beater at the end of the third quarter. “I have confidence in myself,” he said. “I’ve been working for so long on just my craft and my game (and) confidence – I had confidence in the moment to step up and make that shot.”

The Anyimah 3 was the first points in a 14-3 run by the Hawks, giving the team a chance for the last-minute heroics that won the game.

The exciting victory came after a demoralizing 70-45 tournament loss to the Mt. Spokane Wildcats the day before.

“Last night left a bad taste in our mouth,” Anyimah admitted. “I think we really didn’t show who we really were last night. We didn’t play as well. Credit to that good Mt. Spokane team but I thought we could have competed a lot better and today we did that.”

Anyimah led the No.9-seeded Hawks in scoring on Friday with 26 points, shooting 6-of-9 from the field, 3-of-5 from the 3-point arc and 11-of-13 from the free throw line. Jones scored 15 points, Chris Meegan added 11 points and Jaxon Dubiel, coming off the bench, contributed 10 points.

Anyimah was especially pleased with Dubiel’s sixth-man performance against Gig Harbor.

“He did a helluva job,” Anyimah said. “He hit some big shots for us down the stretch. He got a good charge there I think in the third quarter — that was a great charge. Last night I talked to him (telling him) ‘just come off the bench, be ready’ because it’s a very important part of the game, getting that second group in. And he did that today and I’m very proud of him.”

The Tides (23-4) were paced in scoring by Browne with 26 points; Will Landram had 17 points while Raquiza scored 10 points.

Terrace (20-3) played as the home team on Friday, but started the game in their black “road” jerseys. The team switched over to their home whites at halftime. 

“We messed up on the detail on that,” admitted Sood.

With Friday’s victory, Terrace will play on the final day of the 3A state tourney in the 4th/6th place contest that begins the day’s slate of trophy-awarding games. Tipoff against the No.1-seeded Garfield Bulldogs — whose only loss this year was earlier in this state tournament to No.2-seeded Auburn in overtime — is slated for 8 a.m.

Anyimah is thrilled to be taking on the top-seeded Bulldogs. “I’m excited. They have a lot of great players. I want to compete with those guys and see where I’m at. I’m going to go play hard tomorrow. I’m excited for that matchup.”

To view the entire WIAA 3A Boys State Basketball Tournament bracket, click www.wpanetwork.com/wiaa/brackets/tournament.php?act=view&tournament_id=3466. 

Prep Boys Basketball: Mountlake Terrace vs. Gig Harbor, March 4 (WIAA 3A Boys State Basketball Tournament elimination game)

Gig Harbor 28 18 15 10 — 71

Terrace 14 21 20 18 — 73

Mountlake Terrace individual scoring: Jeffery Anyimah 26, Zaveon Jones 15, Chris Meegan 11, Jaxon Dubiel 10, Vito Mkrtychyan 6, Adison Mattix 3, Don Brown 2

Gig Harbor individual scoring: Luke Browne 26, Will Landram 17, Asher Raquiza 10, Chrisitan Parrish 8, Parker Born 4, Ryan Pickles 3, Cole Brown 3, Britt Born

Records: Mountlake Terrace 20-3; Gig Harbor 23-4

Mountlake Terrace next game: versus Garfield; Saturday, March 5; 8 a.m. at the Tacoma Dome (WIAA 3A Boys State Tournament 4th/6th place game)

— Story and photos by Doug Petrowski