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TOPPENISH, Wash. — Pardon the Toppenish boys basketball team if it wasn’t in awe of Zillah’s 10-year, 122-game SCAC winning streak.

The sixth-ranked Wildcats had a couple things in their favor Friday night when they entertained the No. 3 Leopards in Top-Hi’s swanky new gym that was packed by halftime of the preceding girls game:

1. Just two of those 122 Leopards’ victories were against the Wildcats, who were realigned to the SCAC before the 2020-21 season after ripping through the CWAC with a 17-1 mark en route to a sixth-place finish in the Class 2A state tournament the winter before.

Those losses were by five and six points, respectively, with the latter a late-January contest in which Zillah had to rally out of a 10-point halftime hole.

2. Toppenish had in its quiver a January 2020 victory against Zillah fueled in part by several players now upperclassmen, including junior point guard Josh Perez, who then a freshman sank the game-winner at the final horn of the nonleaguer.

WATCH: Jason Grant reacts to streak-breaking win

So, while Friday’s final score – 72-44 – might’ve stunned, this victory has been in the works for a while.

“We’ve put in countless miles and traveled to quite a few places and made a lot of memories and it paid off tonight,” Toppenish coach Joseph Mesplie said while enjoying the postgame delirium. “Our kids came out and played hard tonight and I think it’s going to be huge for our program.”

The Wildcats scored the first seven points on senior night and never trailed, earning at least a share of the SCAC regular season title and improving to 7-1 in the SCAC and 15-2 overall.

Wildcats senior Jason Grant muscled his way to 18 points in the first three quarters and was his usual force on the boards and defensively.

Toppenish juniors Shane Rivera scored a game-high 21 points (11 in the fourth) and Riley Mesplie, the coach’s son and one of eight seniors honored pregame, added 14.

“I think it’s a statement win,” Grant said. “I’m going to enjoy the crap out of it. It’s a senior night win and it’s a big deal for me.”

The 2020 matchup helped stoke what has already become a top SCAC rivalry.

“It’s been unfinished business since my sophomore year when we got that buzzer beater,” he said. “I knew we were gonna have a battle for years to come and I’m pretty sure it hasn’t stopped yet.

“We’re going to see them again.”

"Again" figures to be the district final in two weeks. The tournament begins Thursday and wraps up Feb. 19 with placing games.

Clay Delp scored 20 points for Zillah (6-1, 13-1), which only briefly seemed itself during a third quarter spurt when it hacked a 14-deficit deficit to five. Toppenish, however, pushed its edge back to 14 heading to the fourth quarter.

Leopards junior and SCAC leading scorer Luke Navarre was saddled with two fouls in the game’s first few minutes and didn’t return until the second half. He finished with five points.

Ashton Waldman had 10 for the Leopards.

For a program with the championship pedigree Zillah has – three state crowns since the sting of its last conference defeat – it’ll be a better-now-than-in-four-weeks approach.

“Since I’ve been coaching, we haven’t not shown up for a big game and usually thrive in these environments," Zillah coach Mario Mengarelli said. “This feeling, you hate it but you love it because it shows growth. Tonight doesn’t define us.”

The Leopards can earn a share of the conference championship with a victory Saturday against Wapato.

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