1A boys state basketball: Seton Catholic comes back from 17-point deficit to down Cashmere in Round of 12

YAKIMA — A rollercoaster of emotions hit the Seton Catholic boys basketball team over the course of Wednesday’s Class 1A State Round of 12 game against Cashmere.

A flat first half and a deficit that grew as large as 17 points in the third quarter had the Cougars staring down an early exit from the Yakima SunDome. But the Cougars weren’t ready to go home.

Behind Kaiden Wilson’s 32 points, including 18 in the second half, the Cougars outscored the Bulldogs 21-7 in the fourth quarter to grab a 68-61 win and advance to the 1A state quarterfinals. For a second consecutive year, No. 6 seed Seton will face No. 4 Zillah, the defending state champion.

“That was a crazy game,” Seton Catholic senior Lance Lee said. “We just kept our composure. We knew that this could potentially be the last game with me, Kaiden (and) the group of seniors we have. It’s a special group. The whole message was just, fight ’til the end, don’t give up.”

“A rollercoaster of emotions — at first we were down 17 and then coming back in the second half,” Wilson added.

Seton Catholic was held to 8-of-28 shooting (28 percent) from the floor during the first half and gave up six 3-pointers to the Bulldogs, who led 41-28 at halftime after outscoring the Cougars 27-15 in the second quarter.

Seton Catholic climbed back within single digits midway through the third quarter with an 8-0 run on a 3-pointer from Rico George, who added 17 points, a three-point play from Lee and a Wilson layup. Wilson played the majority of the second half with four fouls but was able to avoid an early exit.

Cashmere extended the lead to 60-47 less than two minutes into the fourth, but were held to just one point for the remainder of the fourth. One of the biggest differences between the two halves, according to Seton Catholic coach Donald Wilson, was the Cougars’ defensive stops.

Brady Angelo, who started the second half after sitting the entirety of the first half, scored a game-tying basket, then hit a go-ahead free throw with 1:20 left to give the Cougars a 62-61 lead.

“We came out of the half and said, ‘Hey, our rotations are bad,'” Donald Wilson said. “We keyed in on rotations and then Brady (Angelo) gave us that spark coming back. People look at Kaiden and say he’s the engine, but Brady is one of our true engines. He said, ‘Look, I’m gonna play.’ He’s dealing with some stuff, but he did it. Rotations got together, we pulled together and got the stops that we needed.

“This was fun.”

SETON CATHOLIC 68, CASHMERE 61

SEQUIM (19-9) — Tobie Larson 11, Tom McDevitt 9, Cole Norman 0, Caiden Hoffman 0, Mac Carlson 16, Rylan Hatmaker 0, Colton Stendera 7, Rylan Nelson 18. Totals 22 (9) 8-14 61.

SETON CATHOLIC (19-6) —  Tyler Tran 3, Mason Glassmire 0, Brady Angelo 5, Rico George 17, Lance Lee 8, Kiet Nguyen 0, Roberto Valdez 0, Kaiden Wilson 32, Ben Deochand 3. Totals 23 (7) 15-25 68.

Cashmere               14             27             13             7—61

Seton              13             15             19             21—68