YAKIMA — Another day, another double-digit deficit.
In each of its two previous Class 1A state tournament games, the Seton Catholic boys basketball team made a habit of falling behind early only to come back with a vengeance down the stretch.
By Friday, the Cougars ran out of gas. No. 6 seed Seton Catholic suffered a 68-48 loss to No. 7 Meridian at Yakima SunDome and saw its season end one win shy of the trophy round.
Led by Talon Jenkins’ 21 points, the Trojans shot an efficient 27 of 49 (55 percent) from the floor and built a 36-23 halftime lead.
Outside shooting was a big part of Seton’s success in a comeback win over Cashmere on Wednesday and a furious rally against Zillah on Thursday, but the Cougars never got on track against Meridian, shooting 6 of 35 (17 percent) from deep. Meridian held a double-digit lead for the entirety of the second half.
“Honestly, it was just the ball wasn’t going in,” Seton Catholic senior Rico George said. “We got the shots we wanted. They just hit more shots than we did. The nature of the game, if you have a bad shooting night, it’s gonna be a tough game to win, so that’s kind of just what happened.”
George led the Cougars with 20 points and sophomore Kaiden Wilson added 13 points.
Though the Cougars didn’t want to make excuses for the result, they acknowledged fatigue played a factor in their third game in as many days, especially after two pedal-to-the-metal performances in prior days.
“We knew it was going to be tough coming in, we knew we couldn’t get down. … I think the second quarter for each of our (three) games have been just a hole,” Seton Catholic coach Donald Wilson said. “We’re not at full strength physically right now, but for us, it’s no excuse. … I’m proud of how they figured out how to get to this point. Tonight, we kind of just ran out of gas.”
Seniors George, Brady Angelo, Mason Glassmire, Lance Lee and Tyler Tran were at the forefront of elevating the Cougars’ program to new heights with three straight state tournament appearances, highlighted by a sixth-place finish in 2024.
Their success built a foundation for others to follow in the future, coach Wilson said.
“This is the best group ever,” George said. “We don’t see any faults in the people that we got in that locker room, and we just love each other. I’m just proud of everything that we’ve done.”
MERIDIAN 68, SETON CATHOLIC 48
MERIDIAN (19-9) — Talon Jenkins 21, Damion Hayes 0, Jaeger Fyfe 8, Canyon James 0, Brock Haugen 0, Matthew Blankenburg 6, Daniel Larsen 0, Trey Alexander 5, Gabe Galbraith 0, Pierce Brzozowski 16, Josiah Harris 0, James Hedahl 12. Totals 27 (8) 6-10 68.
SETON CATHOLIC (19-8) — Tyler Tran 6, Mason Glassmire 0, Brady Angelo 5, Rico George 20, Lance Lee 2, Roberto Valdez 0, Kaiden Wilson 13, Ben Deochand 2. Totals 19 (6) 4-13 48.
