Sharpshooting Jayson Kjenstad's 22 points and an unrelenting transition game sent Class 2B SeaTac League South second place Evergreen Lutheran past visiting Tacoma Baptist 58-54 on Saturday, January 23.
The Eagles raised their league won-loss record to 5-3 and overall record to 6-10.
"Even though they had momentum at the end, we hung on," said Eagle head coach Dave Habeck. "I'm proud of the boys."
Sophomore Jayson Kjenstadt's field goal with 43 seconds left in the fourth quarter extended an Evergeen Lutheran lead to 56-49, but the Eagles had to sweat out a Tacoma Baptist three-point goal and a Crusader regulation field goal that closed the gap to 56-54 with 10 seconds remaining.
Sam Shannon dispelled any final doubts of the outcome by calmly swishing home two charity tosses with 0.4 seconds showing for the final score.
Evergreen Lutheran campaigned hard to erase a 10-2 Tacoma Baptist first quarter blitz. Shannon sandwiched two three-point goals around a Stevie Lawrence three-pointer. Roland Wedde's driving lay in brought the running Eagles to a 13-10 lead after one quarter.
The squads fought to a pair of ties before Wedde and Wyatt Weimer paced Evergreen Lutheran to a 25-21 advantage going into halftime.
With coach Habeck exhorting his troops to push the ball up quickly, the Eagles utilized steals and Kjenstad's breakout third quarter from outside and inside to continually extend the margin until Kjenstad's outside jumper firmed up the EL lead to its biggest margin at 40-28 with 2:36 left in the third.
Tacoma Baptist drew within 42-36, but Kjenstad converted two free throws to send the Eagles to the fourth quarter leading 44-36. For the quarter, Kjenstad connected for 16 points.
"It was the green striped socks we wore for Winterfest," he jokingly exclaimed. "Actually, my teammates fed me the ball and got me open shots. The finish was an epic."
After Evergreen Lutheran held a 10 point lead in the final quarter at 49-39, the Crusaders closed within 49-48, but Kjenstad's corner three-pointer and outside jump shot stretched the thin margin to 54-48 with 1:28 remaining. A TB free throw then set up the frantic finish.
Wedde finished with 11 Eagle points and also recovered 10 caroms off the glass. Shannon also closed with 11 points. Weimer added nine points and five steals.
Griffin Lowe and Chris Gladney scored 15 points each and Micah Slifer contributed 14 for the Crusaders.
