'We’re ready for a great run:' Chapel Smith catches fire as Mount Spokane upsets Auburn boys in 3A regional round

PUYALLUP, Wash. — Their bus broke down in Ellensburg during their more than 300-mile journey from Spokane to Puyallup on Thursday, they arrived at their hotel past midnight and the Mount Spokane High School boys basketball team, with its nucleus of juniors and sophomores, entered with two losses its previous five games.

Just what signs were supposed to be pointing at the Wildcats upsetting this talented, second-ranked Auburn squad that entered with 15 consecutive wins?

"In high school basketball, sometimes you gotta convince kids that they are good," Mount Spokane coach David Wagenblast said.

No one should need much more convincing.

Ryan Lafferty scored 18 points, Chapel Smith hit five 3-pointers in the fourth quarter and Maverick Sanders added 12 as the seventh-ranked Wildcats stormed back from a double-digit deficit to win 69-58 on Friday at Puyallup High School to secure a bye into the quarterfinals of the 3A state tournament in the Tacoma Dome next week.

Smith hit the dagger — a corner 3-pointer after Mount Spokane harassed Auburn’s Kaden Hansen and forced a turnover on his drive that had Hansen and the Auburn bench livid looking for a foul call. Smith’s bucket gave Mount Spokane a 65-58 lead with 17 seconds remaining.

“I mean, we’re just playing so great as a team,” said Smith, a junior who scored 12 of his 15 points in the final period. “We got good ball movement and that gave me open looks and I was feeling it tonight.

“We have all stepped up at different times this year and this night it was my turn.”

Mount Spokane celebrated its upset win after missing out on what coach David Wagenblast thought could have been their year last season, when the Wildcats had two-time Greater Spokane League MVP Tyson Degenhart (now a freshman at Boise State University) entering his senior year and Lafferty just entering the program.

Then the pandemic happened and subsequent removal of any postseason opportunities. Lafferty and Degenhart are next-door neighbors and grew up battling each other 1-on-1, but didn’t get their chance to play in the postseason together.

This will have to do.

“We played a good game,” said Lafferty, a 6-foot-4 sophomore guard. “But I think we can even play a lot better.

“Look for us in the Tacoma Dome. We’re ready for a great run and to play for a state championship (which the Wildcats did three seasons ago).”

Smith drilled back-to-back 3-pointers near the start of the fourth quarter to turn a two-point lead into a 53-47 advantage for Mount Spokane (21-5). Two possessions later, he connected again and Lafferty scored on an offensive rebound to push Mount Spokane’s lead to 58-47 with 4:32 to play.

“They are just so fundamental in the way they play,” Auburn coach Ryan Hansen said. “They play off two feet all over the floor, they are very patient with their ball fakes and guys cutting off of those. They are going to be a physical team in the Dome. I could see them making a run at this.”

This was after Auburn raced to a 23-13 lead at the end of the first quarter with standout senior guard Tre Blassingame catching fire from the perimeter. He finished with a game-high 21 points, but he never seemed to find the same rhythm he had in the opening period.

Then Auburn’s Dae’Kwon Watson went to the bench with two fouls early in the second quarter and Mount Spokane came storming back, utilizing Sanders’ size inside against Auburn’s smaller lineup to tie the game, 34-34, at halftime.

It was back-and-forth, physical battle the rest of the way – a game worthy of the state tournament.

Even after Mount Spokane built it’s 11-point lead in the fourth, Auburn stormed right back, with Maleek Arington bulling his way to the basket, drawing fouls and hitting his free throws. Blassingame added a pair of tough finishes inside, including off an offensive rebound, and the Trojans turned up their defensive pressure to quickly cut the lead to 60-57 with 1:51 to play.

“These guys, all week in practice it was, ‘Look, they are really good and they are phenomenal with their ball pressure and pressing,’” Mount Spokane coach David Wagenblast said. “They exciting thing is we’ve given ourselves a great opportunity next week.

“And for Auburn, oh my gosh, they’re not going anywhere. They just get an extra game.”

That’s the first thing Ryan Hansen said, too, after speaking with his team in the locker room afterward. The Trojans missed out on a bye to the quarterfinals, but they will prepare for a first-round game Wednesday to play 15-seeded Kennewick, which beat Lake Washington Friday night, at 10:30 a.m. at the Tacoma Dome.

“We just need to keep our heads up,” Ryan Hansen said. “We knew we were in for a dogfight with Mount Spokane. We knew they were going to play a game like that. In a game like that you can’t settle for outside shots. You have to put some pressure on the defense.

“We learned we have to play with a sense of urgency for the entirety of the game. It wasn’t until we were down 11 that our kids really started to buckle down. You can’t wait until you’re down that much to do that. We have to compete, hit them first and we have to be more prepared to do that.”

---TJ Cotterill; @TJCotterill.