TC Prep wins 1B boys title over MLC
By Ben Reynolds, Herald staff writer
YAKIMA -- Joe Perez made a habit of pumping his fist after every big play his team made at the state tournament.
The Tri-Cities Prep coach saved his most enthusiastic one for when the final horn sounded Saturday night.
Surprisingly, his Jaguars were the last ones standing, taking home the 1B state championship with a 48-41 upset of top-ranked Moses Lake Christian at the SunDome.
"It still has to sink in," Perez said. "It's been wild and fun."
It is the first state title for the Jaguars (21-6) and the first in any sport in the school's history since opening in 1998. The win also ended MLC's 20-game winning streak and atoned for a loss earlier in the season in Moses Lake.
After the game, the players, as customary, remained on the court to cut down the nets. But most of them were still shaking their heads in a little bit of disbelief.
"We are really surprised," said Ryan Mercado, who made 6 of 7 free throws in the final minute to seal the victory.
The Jaguars were supposed to just be happy to be at the state tournament after surviving the consolation bracket at last weekend's Southeast District tournament just to get to Yakima.
But that wasn't their mindset. Whether others believed in them or not, the players believed in themselves.
"We just didn't want to come here and be happy," said tournament MVP Sergio Lopez. "We wanted to come here and get a trophy."
It's a journey that started Wednesday with a tightly wound zone defense in a win over Clallam Bay.
Three days later, that zone defense, with a few variations along the way, was as tight as ever, and it was the reason TC Prep left on top.
On Friday night, the Jaguars stymied No. 2 Almira/Coulee-Hartline, allowing just 35 points.
But their best performance came Saturday night with a newly implemented full-court press against the explosive offense of the Lions (23-3).
MLC entered the game with two players -- Adrian Moffet and Riggs Yarbro -- averaging a combined 47.3 points. The two combined for just 33 on Saturday, and some of those came in the closing seconds.
Moffet, who scored a tournament record 34 points in the Lions' semifinal win over Cusick, struggled all night to find his rhythm. He finished with 13 points but was just 4-of-16 shooting and 2-of-11 from 3-point range. Both of his 3-pointers came the final 2 minutes of the game.
Yarbro, the 6-foot-7 senior, had his way early on, scoring 14 first-half points. He was held to just six in the second half.
As a team, MLC shot just 14-of-46 (30 percent) from the field.
"Our defense was definitely the key," said Lopez, who scored a team-high 13 points.
Andrew LeBrun added 12 points for Prep and Will Hoppes finished with nine.
Mercado, who missed the first two games of the tournament for academic reasons, finished with eight points and was a key insertion in the lineup in the final minutes for his free-throw shooting.
Prep, which never trailed by more than four points, opened the second half on a 9-2 run to erase a 23-22 halftime deficit. The Jaguars never trailed again.
Prep's lead reached as much as nine after a LeBrun basket with 6:54 left in the game. Moffet would get the Lions as close as two after his first 3 of the game at 40-38 with 2:17 left. But a key jumper by Hoppes and Mercado's free throws closed out the game.
"We are going to go enjoy it," Perez said.
