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Boys 1A: Freeman comes up short again as Lynden Christian takes title

Freeman’s Jackson Clark drives toward the basket while being defended by Cole Langstraat of Lynden Christian during Saturday’s State 1A title game in Yakima. (Jake Parrish / Yakima Herald-Republic)
Freeman’s Jackson Clark drives toward the basket while being defended by Cole Langstraat of Lynden Christian during Saturday’s State 1A title game in Yakima. (Jake Parrish / Yakima Herald-Republic)
By Michael Anderson For The Spokesman-Review

YAKIMA – If it were boxing, it would have been called the knockout punch.

Unfortunately for the Freeman Scotties, they were the recipient rather than the deliverer.

Lynden Christian stunned the Scotties and the boisterous SunDome crowd with five straight 3-pointers late in the first half Saturday night and captured the State 1A boys title with a 82-45 win.

It was a painful end to the final season for eight Scotties seniors and a third straight runner-up finish for Freeman (24-1).

The burst came after Freeman had clawed back from a 26-12 deficit and trailed 28-18. After a Cole Bajema layin, the Lyncs hit the five 3-pointers in a span of 1 minute, 43 seconds and the game was effectively over at 45-18.

Bajema, the MVP as selected by media covering the event, and Luke Bos each had two of the 3-ponters and Andrew DeVries had one.

“I don’t know what their shooting percentage was, but it was ridiculous,” Freeman coach Marty Jessett said.

The Lyncs (26-1) shot 73 percent from the floor in the second period. They also defended the Scotties as well as anyone Jessett has seen in a long time.

“Their length obviously bothered us,” Jessett said. “I thought we got some good shots and when those didn’t go down, that just compounded things.”

Bajema led all scorers with 21 points despite an all-out defensive effort by Freeman’s Dylan Oja. Michael Coumont – a first-team all-tournament selection – led Freeman with 14 points. Jackson Clark chipped in 10.

The Scotties battled gamely in the second half but could never put together a run that put any kind of a dent in the Lyncs’ lead.

“We needed to speed the game up in the second half and we couldn’t do that,” Jessett said. “We changed defenses and that didn’t make a difference either. We haven’t had too many games like this this year.”

Jessett said after the September 2017 school shooting that took the life of sophomore Sam Strahan – Strahan’s mother had a message delivered to the team in the postgame locker room – his squad’s view of perspective is different than most.

“This hurts now, but our guys know there are more important things than a basketball game,” Jessett said.