Zillah rallies past two-time defending WIAA 2A champion Lynden at SunDome Shootout in Yakima

YAKIMA, Wash. – Two-time defending Class 2A state champion Lynden has made the Yakima Valley SunDome its home away from Whatcom County for several winters.

The Lions, ranked No. 2 in the Scorebooklive.com preseason poll, had won 20 of their last 21 contests under the concrete roof entering Thursday’s contest against 1A power Zillah, nabbing four state titles along the way with a 2020 semifinal hiccup the only blemish.

Lynden looked well on its way to adding another victory, building an 11-point lead and holding the high-scoring Leopards to a modest 24 first-half points.

“They had us rattled, their size and athleticism,” Zillah coach Mario Mengarelli said. “We were a little bit shell-shocked, a little nervous when Lynden came to town.”

The Leopards, though, have plenty of SunDome magic of their own, and tapped into it in the second half.

Riding the game-high 20 points of senior post Nic Navarre and a defense that held the Lions to 35-percent shooting in the second half, the Zillah battled past Lynden 60-55 in the first of the two-day SunDome Shootout.

“Their culture, their program, there is never a down year for Lynden,” Mengarelli said. “They are the mountaintop.”

As they did earlier this season against two other 2A state-trophy contenders – CWAC favorites Prosser and Grandview – the Leopards clawed their way back from a double-digit deficit to stay undefeated.

Trailing by 11 in the final seconds of the first half, Brandon Favilla gave the Leopards a boost heading into intermission with a 3-pointer.

Zillah started to roll after the break, scoring the first nine points of the third quarter and taking their first lead – 33-32 – on a Yizzy Sandoval trey.

Lynden would regain momentum to take a 40-39 lead into the fourth quarter.

The Leopards, though, went on another 9-0 to start the fourth quarter run to reclaim the lead, this time for good.

Standout sophomore Dekker Van De Graaf, who struggled shooting early before scoring nine of his 14 points after intermission, capped the victory with a breakaway dunk.

Navarre finished the game 8 of 14 from the field, knocking down several turnaround jumpers.

“He is a deadly shooter from the 15-foot range,” Megarellis said. “His brother (former all-state forward Luke) and his dad, they live in our gym so it’s no surprise, but now everybody else gets to see it.”

Two-time 2A tourney MVP Anthony Canales led the Lions (7-3) with 19 points and junior post Brant Heppner added 16, but both faced tough defense all game.

“We did a little gimmick defense on them and made them work,” Mengarelli said. “Our whole thing was, ‘make someone else beat us.’”

Jack Stapleton chipped in a dozen for Lynden, which faces Mark Morris at noon Friday in a rematch of last season’s 2A title game.

Zillah (7-0), which meets Seton Catholic at 3 p.m. Friday, got nine points from Favilla and Nakea John, and eight from Sandoval. John scored seven in the fourth quarter.

After Friday, the Leopards will not face a non-SCAC opponent until late January when they host Chelan.

“We’ve had our milestone checklist and we’re hitting our milestones, but I preach to them, ‘we’ve done nothing.’ In the grand scheme of things, we’ve done nothing.”

Added Navarre: “(This victory is) going to give us a lot of confidence, but we’ve got to keep our noses down and keep grinding.”