Champion Jacks

WENATCHEE — The Jackrabbits held off a late Omak comeback bid in Saturday’s Caribou Trial League district championship game, defeating the Pioneers 72-71 in exciting fashion.

“Wild ending, wild game — everything you’d want in a high school basketball game,” Quincy head coach Scott Bierlink said. “It certainly wasn’t a clean game on our part, but our motto’s been ‘Survive and advance,’ so that’s what we did.”

Quincy led 59-48 entering the fourth quarter, but the double-digit lead began to evaporate as the Pioneers managed to cut the Jackrabbit lead to four points in the final minutes of the game. With a chance to take a six-point lead, the Jacks missed a lay-up attempt and later missed both free throws following a technical foul called on Omak. Trailing by one, the Pioneers missed a lay-up of their own with under 10 seconds remaining and an open Omak three-pointer missed the mark, giving Quincy the win.

“That’s probably the wildest 30, 45 seconds to finish a game that I’ve been a part of,” Bierlink said. “You get a (technical foul) there at the end, missed free throws, a lay-in to win it and they miss it. We were able to make just enough plays and come out on top.”

Last year’s CTL district title game saw the Pioneers defeat Quincy 71-52, which sent the Jacks to a loser-out game against Chelan for a chance to advance to the 1A District 6/7 Crossover. This year, both teams qualified for the crossover game by reaching the district championship.

“We were excited to play the game,” Bierlink said. “District title game, it was the rematch of last year where they ended up beating us by about 20 or so. A bit of a revenge game for us.”

With the same corps of players returning from last year’s team that fell to Omak, there was a sense of relief that came with Saturday’s win according to Bierlink.

“I think in the back of their head that was always there, and we pushed that narrative a little bit,” Bierlink said. “‘Hey, this is kind of payback a little bit.’ When that final buzzer went off, it was almost a relief; that game was so crazy.”

Quincy led Saturday’s game 28-11 in the second quarter but then started getting into foul trouble. Sophomore Pierce Bierlink, the CTL Player of the Year, picked up his third foul late in the second quarter 

“We got in foul trouble, and that’s kind of when the wheels fell off on us,” Bierlink said. “They were able to clob themselves back in the game and keep it close, and we were never able to get that lead back again.”

In the fourth quarter Pierce Bierlink, senior Aidan Bews and junior Angel Vazquez were all playing with four fouls against them.

“We got in foul trouble again, and (Omak) just sort of clawed back,” Bierlink said. “It was ‘Okay, hold on tight. It’s going to be down to the end.’”

Pierce Bierlink led the Jacks with 23 points, followed by senior Julian Ibarra with 16 points and Vazquez with 11 points. Bews and senior Dom Trevino both scored seven points.

Having already qualified for this weekend’s crossover game by reaching the district championship, the win allows the Jacks to host the No. 3 seed out of the Northeast 1A league on Saturday. Quincy is 10-0 at home this winter.

“Us having a home game is huge for us,” Bierlink said. “Our home crowd’s been dynamite.”

Quincy’s crossover opponent won’t be set until Wednesday’s NEA consolation game between Riverside and Medical Lake, with the winner traveling to play Quincy.

“Once we find out Wednesday, that’s when we’ll buckle down Thursday and Friday and really try to get the gameplan moving forward,” Bierlink said. “We’ve got a couple guys banged up, so I do like the fact that we have a week to try and get some guys healthy.”

The winner of Saturday’s game earns a berth in the 1A Boys State Basketball Tournament. Tip-off is at 6 p.m.

Ian Bivona may be reached at ibivona@columbiabasinherald.com.

Box score

QCY: 19-16-24-13 72
OMK: 11-17-20-23 71

    Quincy senior Dom Trevino, in white, keeps his eyes on a Cashmere defender during a Jan. 25 game.