SPOKANE — Luke Salme burned multiple timeouts in the third quarter. And they weren’t the quick 30-second ones where it’s used as a quick reset.
The Adna High School boys basketball coach called two full timeouts to figure out how to break the full-court pressure, and traps, of Liberty Bell.
“By the time you get here, you are who you are,” Salme admitted. “They’re better athletes than us and that makes it pretty difficult.”
None of the ingredients worked and the Pirates couldn’t cook up a comeback.
Thirty points of turnovers spurred the 10th-seeded Mountain Lions to a statement 61-41 triumph over seventh-seeded Adna in a Class 2B Round of 12 state tournament contest on Wednesday morning inside Spokane Arena.
Despite finishing the runner-ups in the C2BL, Adna (19-7) ended the season on a three-game losing streak and the two state tournament games were not competitive.
Yet Gavan Muller, one of two seniors on the Pirates, took a glass half-full look at the end of the season.
“We were bummed out, but at the start of the year, we didn’t know how far we’d make it,” senior Gavan Muller said. “I’m super proud of my team. I am just happy to be here. Everyone of my teammates is going to go hard.”
Watching the Liberty Bell press on film was one thing. Experiencing it live turned into another battle.
On several occasions, the Pirates wouldn’t get through the first line of pressure before a turnover. And when they did break it, there’d be roughly 20-to-21 seconds left on the shot clock.
The motion offense Adna prefers to run never got into rhythm.
It ended the morning with 24 turnovers. Three players for the Mountain Lions notched at least five steals.
“It is a frustrating, disappointing one,” Salme said. “When you’re here, you are going to play nothing but great teams. We’ve known for five days, against that team, that if you can minimize turnovers, they're beatable and if you can’t, they'll do what they just did to us.”
No one in District 4 plays that style of basketball. Muller compared it to Toledo’s man-to-man defense, but that was strictly in the half-court.
To go through 32 minutes of full court traps and in-your-face defense, the Pirates were a step behind the eight-ball.
“They’re quick (and) we didn't do the best job of getting to spots,” Muller stated. “At the end, we kind of figured it out. We didn’t stick to our game plan very well and that shot us in the foot. It was a different feeling.”
Still, Adna had chances to make it close.
Towards the end of the second quarter, the contest turned into a 3-point shootout. Grayson Humphrey would deliver an answer to a Liberty Bell triple, but the Mountain Lions always had a response on the other end.
“If it was a half-court game, I liked our chances,” Salme said.
At one point, the Pirates led the elimination game 5-0. It didn’t allow a field goal for three-plus minutes. They grabbed the lead back on a Trevin Salme 3-pointer, but that was the last time they were out in front.
Liberty Bell, who will take on top-seeded Columbia Burbank in the quarterfinals, used a 9-0 spree to lead the remainder of the day. Bodie Thomson led a balanced scoring effort with 14 points while Greyden Paz (13), Mac Surface (13) and Remington Paz (12) all were in double figures.
The closest Adna came in the second half was nine twice, then the Mountain Lions built the margin back up to double digits and reached the 20-point margin late in the fourth. Trevin Salme paced the scoring with 13 points while Humphrey and Jackson Knittle each notched 10 points.
“They can learn from (this),” Muller said.
Just Muller and Isaac Garman depart the Pirates locker room. Muller stated he had the most fun times of his prep career playing basketball. He said he’ll try and double up on track and baseball this spring.
“All the summer trips we’ve had, coming to state, it is going to be hard to adjust to it,” he said. “That’s life.”
Four starters are expected back next season and Coach Salme is hopeful the end lights a fire in his group.
“I don’t know how it doesn’t if you’re a competitive kid and I think we have competitive kids,” Coach Salme said.
