Gonzaga Prep boys fall to Kamiakin in State 4A loser out; Jayden Stevens reflects on career

Two weeks ago in the District 8 title game, Gonzaga Prep sneaked past Kamiakin with a buzzer-beating halfcourt shot. The results were drastically different in their rematch in the Dome.

Tyler Bilodeau scored 18 points with eight rebounds and the Braves (22-4) got up early and kept it that way, eliminating the Bullpups (15-9) 63-40 in a State 4A fourth-place bracket game at Tacoma Dome on Friday.

Bullpups senior Jayden Stevens scored 20 points – half of G-Prep’s output – with six rebounds.

Stevens and Bilodeau will be teammates next year at Oregon State. 

“It was a good matchup,” Bilodeau said. “(Stevens) is a great player and I’m excited to play with him in the future.” 

“There’s certainly a storyline there and those two guys will have some good stories to tell once they get on campus next fall,” Gonzaga Prep coach Matty McIntyre said. “All I know right now is Jayden is just loving his teammates and supporting them and enjoying his last moments of being a Bullpup.”

Gonzaga Prep, which played consecutive 9 p.m. games Wednesday and Thursday, shot 32% and went 2 of 20 from beyond the arc. Kamiakin held a 42-25 advantage on the boards.

“I feel like we were a little bit tired,” Stevens said. “But (Kamiakin) had to play a couple of games too so they had to be tired as well. They just got the best of us today.”

“We knew that we probably needed to make some shots,” McIntyre said. “I thought we did a good job of getting inside the paint going, inside-out. We had some open looks. But we just didn’t get enough shots to fall to be able to hang with a team with that much talent.”

Stevens was a freshman on the bench during G-Prep’s second consecutive state title with Anton Watson in 2019, spent his sophomore year injured then had his junior season shortened considerably with no state tourney due to the pandemic.

“It was an amazing ride,” Stevens said of his four years at Gonzaga Prep. “To actually be able to have a season this year and to be able to end it with my boys was special, regardless of what happened today.”

“He’s got to be on our Hall of Fame wall for sure. He’s had an incredible career,” McIntyre said of Stevens. “His true colors came out as a senior. He led this group from where we started to where we finished.

“I don’t know I’ve ever seen a team make as much improvement as this team has and it’s due to his leadership. He willed us to victory on most nights.”

Kamiakin raced out to a 9-2 lead, but Henry Sandberg picked up back-to-back buckets after stops for G-Prep. Sandberg had seven points in the frame but the Pups trailed 13-9 after one.

Gonzaga Prep got it to two midway through the second, but consecutive 3-pointers by Trey Arland and Peter Dress inside of a minute left put Kamiakin up 31-18 at the half.

Kamiakin used a 10-0 run spanning the end of the third and beginning of the fourth to push the lead to 24 points with 5 minutes to go.

Both coaches emptied their benches with 1:25 to go.