WIAA 4A/3A boys basketball game of day: Glacier Peak reaches state semifinals for second consecutive season

Grizzlies hold off Ethan Harris, Camas in final seconds for 44-42 overtime win in 4A quarterfinals

Glacier Peak survived a physical encounter with Camas in overtime in a Class 4A boys basketball quarterfinal Thursday. / Photo by Todd Milles

TACOMA, Wash. - Bodies were crashing on the hardwood. Elbows were swinging. Even one of the state's best players had to have his knee wrapped.

Welcome to the WIAA basketball quarterfinals.

And third-seeded Glacier Peak and No. 5 seed Camas played like each wanted to advance. Badly.

Limping with a wrapped left knee, Grizlies' standout Josiah Lee made one of two free throws with 15.3 seconds remaining in overtime, and Ethan Harris had two game-tying shots around the basket in that final seconds that missed - and Glacier Peak escaped with a 44-42 victory Thursday in the Tacoma Dome.

With the win, the 4A Wesco champions are in back-to-back Class 4A semifinals, and will play the Auburn-Gonzaga Prep winner Friday.

"We are excited," Lee said. "But that game (against Camas) was as good as it gets, for sure."

It wasn't for the faint at heart.

Tied at 39-39, Glacier Peak had a chance to win it at end of regulation, but Camas' Cade Washington intercepted the inbounds pass to send it into overtime.

It was also the sequence in which Lee hit the floor hard, and was on the bench getting his knee wrapped up at the start of overtime.

Glacier Peak was in good hands with Reed Nagel (game-high 16 points) and Zach Albright (15 rebounds), who was an interior enforcer, swinging elbows to clear space if he had to.

"When Zach has a rebound, you let him be," Lee said. "He's dangerous."

Albright also sank a pair of free throws with 2:09 remaining, giving Glacier Peak the lead for good - 43-41.

Jace VanVoorhis stole a midcourt pass for Camas, and charged into the lane in transition for a foul with 30.7 seconds remaining. He made one of two free throws to cut it to 43-42.

Camas had to foul - and sent Lee to the free-throw line. He made the first attempt, but missed the second one.

Harris, who led Camas with 14 points, missed a 8-foot shot, then collected a deflected rebound. He tried getting an off balance shot on the reverse side, but missed everything. Glacier Peak got the rebound to advance.

"If you are going to move on, every now and then, you are going to get something that says, 'We maybe got lucky,'" Glacier Peak boys coach Brian Hunter said. "Every team that wins this has a moment of, 'Well, maybe that shouldn't have happened, but it did!'"