YAKIMA — If it’s truly about the journey and not the destination, then it doesn’t matter that the Tumwater boys basketball team was playing at 8 a.m. and not 9 p.m., on Saturday in Yakima. It doesn’t matter that the Thunderbirds walked past four Golden Balls — to be awarded to the 1A and 2A state champs later in the day — on their way from the locker room, instead of getting one themselves. It doesn’t matter that they had to leave the nets intact, leaving them for Overlake and Zillah to get going in the 1A game to follow.
The WIAA officials at the Yakima Valley Sundome ushered the Thunderbirds off the court as quick as they could after awarding them the fourth-place trophy following their 82-76 win in triple overtime over North Kitsap, moving Tumwater’s celebration to the bowels of the arena. They had a full day’s worth of games to get through, capped by four state title games.
But since it’s about the journey and not the destination, the T-Birds’ jubilation there, surrounded by concrete instead of stands, next to tables and a concession stand, was just as boisterous as any team’s will be in Yakima, Spokane, or Tacoma this season.
After all, they just found themselves in one of the best games to grace a State court in recent years — and came out on top after three overtimes, a game-extending buzzerbeater, three game-winning shot attempts that clanked off iron, and a whole lot of grit left out on the floor.
“That was one of the best game I've ever seen,” Tumwater coach Josh Wilson said. “That was fantastic. That was fun to be a part of.”
There were so many dramatic moments that each could have been the moment of the year, that the fact that Tumwater forced the game into overtime in the first place by overcoming a five-point deficit in the final 30 seconds is barely a footnote on the game. But that’s how it happened, with Luke Brewer drilling a 3-pointer from beyond the NBA line, the T-Birds getting a stop, and Brewer coming right back at the other end with a drive down the right side of the lane, banking in a floater to tie it up at 56-56 with 22 seconds left.
North Kitsap’s shot at a game-winner missed and bounced out with 1.5 seconds left, and while Brewer got a decent look from half-court, his heave drew backboard and rim and bounced out, sending the game to an extra period.
Well, the first of three extra periods, in retrospect. All of which had their different stories.
The first OT was a return to the beginning of the week for the Thunderbirds, who lost their flow, their shot, and their luck on offense entirely. But on the other end, Tumwater’s defense held just about every single time, sending the game oneward after both teams managed just two points.
In the second overtime, Brewer finally found his groove.
The 2A EvCo Player of the Year had shot 36.% from the field in his first three games in Yakima, and was on 19 points after 36 minutes Saturday. Getting eight extra minutes in his high school career, the senior took off, dropping 16 points in the final eight minutes. Twelve of those came in the second overtime, when he went 4 for 5 from the field, and hit two free throws with 11 seconds left to put Tumwater up 70-67.
“I was locked in,” Brewer said. “Every time down the court, I put it in my head that I was going to make every shot I took, and that’s what I stuck with. That was my mentality, and it worked out.”
The only issue was that for every blow Brewer dealt, NK’s Cade Orness answered, and after those free throws, the Vikings’ all-State junior came down the other way and hit a prayer, giving the game five minutes more.
That could have been the moment that sunk the Thunderbirds, a gut-punch to all but end a day that started with adversity, with senior starting guard Andrew Collins forced out with an injury suffered Friday.
“We’ve got ‘T-Bird Tough’ on the back of our shirts for a reason,” Wilson said. “Those toughness moments, just trying to be tougher there and outlast them. It came down to just that.”
In the third overtime, Tumwater finally did. A minute in, Orness’ co-star Harry Davies fouled out for the Vikings, giving the T-Birds a spark — and the lead, when Luke Reid hit his free throws to put them up 72-70.
Working with the lead, Wilson wanted his team to slow things down again and milk some clock. Instead, after a NK miss, Luke Reid corralled the rebound and hucked a full-court pass down the baseline to a streaking Brayden Oram.
Oram managed to come down with the ball and take it to the rack. His contested drive missed the mark, but Gunnar Harroun — Tumwater’s oft-overlooked senior center, who’s spent a season doing the dirty work down low — came trailing, and put it back in to give the T-Birds the lead that they’d finally hold onto for good.
“That was a little nerve-wracking, seeing that pass go way over, full-court,” Harroun said.” I just saw it and did my thing, just tried to get the rebound and the putback.”
From there it was a matter of free throws — two from Luke Brewer, two from Connor Hopkins — and Tumwater had its second fourth-place finish in a row, the first time in program history the T-Birds have placed in back-to-back years.
“It feels amazing,” Brewer said. “ I can’t really put it into words. It was our last game, and we left it all out on the floor. I played for the boys I’ve been playing with since I was in kindergarten.”
Brewer finished with 35 points in 43 minutes, hitting five 3-pointers and going 10 for 10 from the line, and racked up six boards, four steals, and three assists.
“I couldn’t say enough. He was clutch in every single possible way,” Wilson said. “He just killed it down the stretch. What a great way for a fantastic senior to finish his career.”
Hopkins finished his own career with his second straight huge performance, scoring 17 points. Harroun added an 11-point, 13-rebound double-double, leading the T-Birds on the glass.
In four days in Yakima, Tumwater, worked through three 9 a.m. games before wrapping up with an 8 a.m. tip. The Thunderbirds had to work through two horrible shooting outings, win two loser-out games, and played three overtimes in their seven seniors’ last time out on the court.
And after it was all over, with the T-Birds’ fight song echoing into a cacophony off of the concrete walls of the Sundome concourse with friends, family, and cheerleaders all celebrating with them, it really was all about the journey.
“It’s just been a grinder, and I’m so proud of the kids for sticking through it,” Wilson said. “We want mental toughness to be a part of a program. We had every 9 a.m. game, we were the first game all week, and then the 8 a.m. game, especially early this morning. I’m just so proud of them, those seven guys, to end on that note and carry it with them the rest of their lives.”
