Boys 2B: Brandon Holling’s clutch hoop sends Liberty to semifinals

It wasn’t the play Mike Thacker drew up, but the Liberty boys basketball coach wasn’t going to request a do-over.

When two players collapsed on Justin Jeske, he skipped a pass to wide open Brandon Holling, who hit a 6-foot baseline jumper with 4 seconds left to lift the sixth-seeded Lancers to a 51-50 win over the No. 5 Morton-White Pass Timberwolves in a State 2B quarterfinal Thursday at the Arena.

Liberty (22-3) takes on No. 2 St. George’s (25-0) late Friday to send a team to Saturday’s championship game.

Tristan Story made a basket to put the Timberwolves up 50-45 with 2:30 remaining.

The Lancers fought back.

It began with a pair of free throws from Isaak Ottmar, then he hit a driving basket with 20 seconds to go, slicing the lead to 50-49.

After a missed M-WP free throw, Liberty had the ball for a final shot.

“It was supposed to go to our big guys down low,” Holling explained. “Isaak Ottmar was supposed to pop out but (Matthew) Poquette had him locked down. So we gave it to Justin (Jeske). I was kind of backing out a little bit to give Justin a lane. All of a sudden Justin had two guys on him and dished it off. I knew I had to get the shot off.”

Holling’s shot seemed to float in slow motion before going through the net.

“It went through and I was like ‘Holy crap, we’re up by one’,” Holling said. “I was nervous for a second because I hadn’t been shooting well tonight. When it went up I closed my eyes for a second and opened them back up and the ball was going through the net.”

Thacker laughed when told that Holling closed his eyes.

“He’s a really good short-range shooter,” Thacker said.

The T-Wolves called timeout and had 3.9 seconds to get a shot off. They pushed the ball up court to Poquette, who attempted a contested shot from 30 feet that bounced harmlessly off the glass and to the floor.

It was an ironman-like effort by the Lancers, whose starters played all 32 minutes for the first time all season.

Thacker usually plays as many as seven kids, but he had a feeling the bench would be shorter against talented M-WP (21-7).

“I’ve always heard dance with the partner that brung you so that’s what I did,” Thacker said.

The T-Wolves opened a 24-12 lead in a first half that saw Poquette score 20 of his game-high 31 points.

Liberty cut the lead to 30-23 by halftime.

Thacker told his team at intermission if they could hold Poquette to 11 points the final two quarters they’d have a chance to win.

“This is really special,” Holling said. “We knew we had to keep Poquette in check but he went off in the first half.”

Said Thacker: “That Poquette kid is a stud, I’ve got to hand it to him.”

The Lancers tightened things up the final two quarters, setting up the dramatic finish.

Thacker couldn’t praise his team enough. The Lancers had to travel to over Snoqualmie Pass for a state regional game.

“They’ve been going hard all year,” Thacker said. “We got a late start, football had a wonderful season. It just tells you how much heart these kids have. These kids have fought through adversity all year.”

Thomas Redder led Liberty with 14 points, seven rebounds and three steals and Jawuan Nave had 13 points.