Tigers fall short in state title bid

YAKIMA — Despite what may have been one of the best individual shows ever put on by a 2A basketball player, the Ephrata Tigers’ bid for a second state title in three years fell short on Friday night.

A 27-0 Squalicum run in the first half was enough to offset the 48-point performance by Ephrata’s Patrick Simon as the Tigers fell 77-62 to the defending state champions.

Squalicum won their second consecutive championship 24 hours later and Simon’s performance would remain the best single-game performance in the 12-year history of the tournament.

“I don’t think I have ever seen something like that it was pretty amazing watching him,” Ephrata coach Brandon Evenson said. “He knew we needed scoring and he started shooting like the way we knew he could. It was one of the more amazing individual efforts I’ve seen from a high school kid. He didn’t score those 48 points against a shabby team. Squalicum is an excellent defensive team that had two or three guys on him, but he was a different kid that what we’ve seen all year. He was calling for the ball and kids were getting it to him.”

Ephrata (23-3) jumped out to a 6-2 lead but were then blind sided by the 27-point run which ultimately ended the game by halftime.

Despite Simon’s play, Ephrata could not get within 13 points for the rest of the game.

“Well Squalicum’s definitely are a great team, one of the best I’ve seen,” Evenson said. “Anyone who can go on a 27-0 run is tough.  But when Patrick scores 48 of 62 points we needed someone to step up. If we could have stopped that run earlier we really feel we could have made a move on them. We tried everything to slow them down but they shot very well no matter what we did.”

Squalicum hit eight three-pointers in the first half — 12 total — en route to a 42-22 lead at the intermission.

Simon had all seven of Ephrata’s three-point makes and also collected 11 rebounds against the Storm (27-1).

The Tigers bounced back to finish their season with a win, defeating Lynden 58-50 the next day to claim third-place at the Sundome.

A tired Tigers team shot 31 percent but made the crucial plays down the stretch to hold on for the win after leading 51-50 with only two minutes left to play.

Simon scored 25 points and pulled down 11 rebounds and finished the tournament with 114 points in four games, four points shy of the all-time single-tournament record.

Ephrata also got contributions from Ross Buchert (11 points) and Randall Tupling (10 points).

The Tigers were one of four teams to finish their season with a win, giving 12 seniors a welcome farewell gift.

“I think there are 65 other teams that would take the third-place trophy in 2A,” Evenson said. “This year there was a lot of great talent and great teams and for us to battle I was proud of those boys.”