MOUNT VERNON — Senior guard Anthony Canales scored 33 points and Lynden won its second district championship in three seasons with a 64-43 win over Cedarcrest on Wednesday, Feb. 14 at Mount Vernon High School.
The win secured a regional berth for top-seeded Lynden (20-4) out of a crowded 2A District 1 bracket that has four state tournament-quality teams, with No. 2 Cedarcrest (19-4) included.
Only two will make it out of districts, and the Lions are one of them. In previous years, three teams advanced from District 1.
“Our district is the toughest in the state and to be district champions, we appreciate that,” Lynden head coach Brian Roper said. “Sure, we have more games ahead of us, but we’re going to stop and appreciate this moment and be thankful for the opportunity.”
Canales and the team’s other seniors are already back-to-back state champions. Entering this year’s tournament, they knew it was going to be tougher to even reach the postseason’s final stage.
“[It was] just going into a dog fight,” Canales said. “Only two get to go, so it’s big for us — it’s really big.”
Cedarcrest, at least defensively, had the upper hand early. The Red Wolves didn’t surrender a single point to Lynden for almost four minutes to start the game — taking an early 4-0 lead.
Once the Lions figured out how to crack Cedarcrest’s zone defense and avoid its full-court press, they finally got into a rhythm.
Roper credited his team’s preparation and their point guard, senior Brady Elsner, who broke the program’s all-time assist record in the Lions’ semifinal win over Lakewood on Friday, Feb. 9. They knew they couldn’t turn the ball over, as Lakewood excels in transition.
“He’s our rudder, man,” Roper said of Elsner. “We go as he goes; he directs the ship. He makes everybody on our team better.”
Lynden scored the next six points, taking its first lead of the game at 6-4. The low-scoring first quarter concluded with a 13-8 advantage for the Lions.
Cedarcrest backed off of its full-court defense once more points started flowing.
Canales finally caught fire late in the opening period and into the second. At one point, the 6-foot-4 guard poured in nine straight points to help stretch Lynden’s lead significantly. After 16 minutes of play, the Lions went to the locker room with a 30-18 advantage.
As he does, Canales continued to score in spurts, dropping in the Lions’ first eight points of the third quarter as well.
Cedarcrest, despite somewhat keeping up, was held at arm’s length. The Red Wolves trailed by as much as 16 but never less than 10 during the third quarter. Every big bucket Cedarcrest had, Lynden immediately retook the momentum with a power play of its own.
The fourth quarter was no different, as the final score was also Lynden’s largest lead of the game at 21 points.
“We just knew we needed one more than everyone else,” Elsner said. “We set our minds to that, and that was our goal: get to state. Now we’re still in it.”
Lynden senior guard Charlie Ayres finished with nine points, while junior forward Brant Heppner finished with eight.
Cedarcrest was led by 20 points from senior guard Adam Rawlings.
Lynden now advances to the regional round of the state tournament, securing the first berth out of 2A District 1. The Lions will likely be among the 2A state bracket’s top-five seeds, which means they will not face elimination in regionals.
Cedarcrest will have to win one more game against No. 3 Anacortes (18-5) or No. 4 Lakewood (14-9 on Saturday, Feb. 10.
Connor J. Benintendi is a former CDN sports reporter, send tips and information to newstips@cascadiadaily.com.
