By Michael Anderson, Correspondent
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YAKIMA -- Davian Sobotta picked the right 16 minutes to be perfect Thursday afternoon.
The Clarkston senior hit all four of his first half field goal attempts -- two of them 3-pointers -- as the second-ranked Bantams
dashed out to a 33-18 halftime lead over Fife in their State 2A basketball tournament opener in the Yakima SunDome.
Clarkston then withstood a third-period Fife surge and won, 56-44. The Bantams (24-1) will play Squalicum in the semifinals today at 5:30 pm. with a chance to improve on 2014's fourth place finish.
Those teams met in the first round in 2010 -- the first year of the eight team format. Squalicum won easily en route to a second place finish. Clarkston was sixth.
Sobotta had 10 points -- eight coming in 2:24 stretch in the second period -- and Trevor Sperry chipped in eight in the opening half. A 20-9 Clarkston second period surge opened up a close game to put the Bantams in position to advance.
The stifling defensive pressure that held Sammamish to five points in the third period of the Bantams regional win was evident as well. The Trojans had a single field goal in the first three minutes of the second period and Clarkston extended it's 13-9 first period lead to 22-11.
Clarkston coach Justin Jones singled Sobotta and Sperry out for their defensive work -- Sobotta for containing guard Austin Woods and Sperry for handling the thankless task of slowing Fife big man Jephthah Appiah-Donkor.
Sperry fronted the Trojan post man relentlessly, holding him to six first half points and 14 on the game.
"I thought defensively we did a good job identifying what they wanted to do and handling it," Jones said.
Fife's balance cut the lead down in the third period. Five different players split 15 points and the Trojans went on a 9-0 opening run and held Clarkston scoreless for four minutes, cutting the deficit to 42-33.
After a back and forth final period, Clarkston hit four consecutive free throws in the final 38 seconds to seal the win.
Trevon Allen led Clarkston with 16 points and five assists. Davian Sobotta added 15.