1A Boys State: LC Defeats Rival King’s On Way To Semis

When the Lynden Christian and King’s boys basketball teams play, there’s almost always something important at stake. On Thursday evening, it was a spot in the Class A state semifinals, and for the fourth time in a row, it was the Lyncs who earned the prize.

Third-seeded Lynden Christian jumped out to a big lead and made it stand up in downing the fifth-seeded Knights, 69-44, in their quarterfinal contest in the Yakima SunDome.

With the victory, the Lyncs improved to 23-2 on the season and, more importantly, will play second seed Royal (25-1) on Friday at 9 p.m. in the late semifinal. The winner will play for the state title on Saturday against the winner of the Annie Wright-Zillah semifinal.

But on Thursday, the focus was all on King’s. Lynden Christian had played the Seattle school in the last five state tournaments, losing to the Knights in the quarterfinals in 2019, and finals in 2020, but winning the finals in 2022 and 2023, and in the quarterfinals last year.

This year figured to be another close one, but it wasn’t, in part because Lynden Christian went up by 16 before the Knights had a chance to get settled.

“It was nice to see us come out in a hot start,” said Lynden Christian coach Tim Zylstra. “Once we started out 18-2, then it’s more just staying the course.”

LC’s pressure defense forced King’s into 34 percent shooting for the game and a chilly 19 percent from the 3-point line. After scoring only five points in the first quarter, the Knights never cut the deficit to single digits.

“I was proud of our defensive effort,” said Zylstra. “Then our shots started to fall.”

When they didn’t fall in the first half, sophomore Kaden Veldman would grab the rebound and score on a putback. He finished with 13 points, 11 coming in the first half, and 10 rebounds as the Lyncs dominated the boards to the tune of 43-29

Then in the second half, when the Knights would threaten to make a run, LC’s shots — and especially those of sophomore Gunnar Dykstra — would indeed fall. Dykstra made four of his six 3-pointers after halftime, some from NBA range, and would finish with a game-high 18 points.

“It was nice to see Gunnar get going,” said Zylstra. “He stopped some of their runs, and we were able to strike back.”

Six 3-pointers on seven attempts is impressive any time, but even more so with the 5-foot-9 guard playing in just his second game after sitting out three weeks with a hamstring injury. Not to mention it was his first time playing in the SunDome.

“This is my first time playing here … but I’ve been coming here since I’ve been about 3,” said Dykstra of watching his older brothers and other members of the Dykstra clan win state championships with the Lyncs. “It’s crazy and so cool.”

His next older brother, senior Gannon, is still playing and had 10 points on Thursday. Another sophomore, Dawson Hintz, who also watched an older brother and sister win state titles for LC, had 9 points and 10 rebounds. Senior Luke Van Kooten had 9 points on three 3s, and senior Carter Ahlers had a game-high 4 assists.

Lynden Christian 69, King’s 44

King’s 5 13 10 16—44

Lynden Christian 21 13 21 14—69

King’s: Zaphie Cooper 4, Blake Needham 11, Cole Myers, John Bjella, Drew Evans, Owen Lindblad, Jackson Pepsny, Andrew Gerwig 11, Connor Steen, Dozie Asinobi 4, Colton Adams 12, Max McGowan 2.

Lynden Christian: Dawson Hintz 9, Gunnar Dykstra 18, Gannon Dykstra 10, Carter Ahlers 2, Eli Maberry, Boyce Robertson 8, Wyatt Kamphouse, Luke Van Kooten 9, Kaden Veldman 13, Harvest Howell, Chris Kooiman.

CLASS 1A BOYS STATE TOURNAMENT

At Yakima SunDome

Wednesday, March 5

Seton Catholic 68, Cashmere 61 (loser out)

Meridian 65, Overlake 52 (loser out)

King’s 69, Bellevue Christian 67 (loser out)

Chelan 69, Bear Creek 51 (loser out)

Thursday, March 6

Zillah 61, Seton Catholic 59

Annie Wright 53, Meridian 22

Lynden Christian 69, King’s 4422-2), 7:15 p.m.

Royal 67, Chelan 46