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Brant Heppner hyping up Anthony Canales following a big dunk. The Lions dominated North Kitsap to advance to the state semifinals on Thursday, March 2. (Nathan Schumock/Lynden Tribune)
Lynden senior Coston Parcher laying in the ball. Parcher had 14 points in the Lions blow out victory over North Kitsap on March 2. (Nathan Schumock/Lynden Tribune)
Lynden senior Kobe Baar working a defender to get inside position. Baar was the fourth-leading scorer on the Lions with 11 points. (Nathan Schumock/Lynden Tribune)
Brant Heppner hyping up Anthony Canales following a big dunk. The Lions dominated North Kitsap to advance to the state semifinals on Thursday, March 2. (Nathan Schumock/Lynden Tribune)
YAKIMA — Lynden's boys basketball team blew out North Kitsap, 68-34, on Thursday, March 2 to advance to the 2A state semifinals.
The Lions move on to face Prosser in their semifinal matchup. Lynden faced Prosser earlier in the season and won by a slim five points. Should the Lions win in the semifinals they will see No. 1 Pullman or No. 4 Mark Morris in the championship game.
Lynden dominated every aspect of the quarterfinal game. They outplayed North Kitsap on offense and defense and won the turnover margin. They also out-rebounded and had more assists than the Vikings.
Lynden senior Coston Parcher laying in the ball. Parcher had 14 points in the Lions blow out victory over North Kitsap on March 2. (Nathan Schumock/Lynden Tribune)
Lynden head coach Brian Roper said they were defensively dialed in and he was impressed by their efforts against a strong North Kitsap offense.
“We want to be able to wear teams down with our athletes and our style of play,” Roper said.
Anthony Canales was the leading scorer in the game with 19 points. He added six rebounds, three assists, one steal and two rim-rocking dunks. Canales also suffered an ankle injury in the game and produced most of those stats while playing through the pain.
As a team, Lynden had four scorers in double digits. Senior Coston Parcher was second in points with 14, sophomore Brant Heppner had 12 and senior Kobe Baar had 11.
Lynden forced 17 turnovers and scored 22 of their points off those turnovers. They also had 14 offensive rebounds and 16 second-chance points.
The Lions opened the game on a 10-0 run featuring two three-pointers by Canales and buckets by Barr and Parcher. They never looked back after the hot start. They outscored the Vikings 39-20 in the first half.
Lynden senior Kobe Baar working a defender to get inside position. Baar was the fourth-leading scorer on the Lions with 11 points. (Nathan Schumock/Lynden Tribune)
By the second half, North Kitsap looked depleted. They only scored four points in the fourth quarter and Lynden subbed in their reserves to finish off the game.
Roper said there are a lot of good teams left and anyone could win at a given time.
If Lynden and Pullman both advance in their semifinal games, it would be a rematch of the 2022 state championship game.
