By Tim Clinton
SPORTS EDITOR

Seattle Lutheran leveled the Columbia Adventist Kodiaks, 71-32, in regional action Saturday to earn a second-straight trip to Spokane for the Class 1B state final eight boys basketball tournament.

The Saints open state action Thursday with a 2 p.m. game against Almira-Coulee-Hartline at the Spokane Coliseum. The game will immediately follow West Seattle rival Shorewood Christian's 12:15 p.m. game against Yakima Tribal.

Seattle Lutheran carries a 22-1 overall record into Thursday's contest, with its only loss this year being to Bellevue Christian by a 55-51 score Dec. 30.

The Saints have won 16-straight games since then.

Columbia Adventist finished its season at 16-5 with Saturday's loss to Seattle Lutheran in the Renton High School gymnasium.

Josh Meyer -- a 6-foot, 4-inch junior forward -- paced the Saints with 20 points against the Kodiaks and 6-2 senior guard/forward Xavier Turner swished in 17.

Meyer led the team with an 18.2 scoring average going into the Columbia Adventist game while Turner averaged 15.9.

Roberto Duenaz is a 5-9 junior point guard who averaged 11.1 points and Grant Ball a 6-0 junior point guard/shooting guard who averaged 8.2 points, while 6-1 junior point guard Isaiah Dowding-Albrecht averaged 7.0.

Simon Solomon is a 5-9 junior guard who averaged 4.5 points.

Rounding out the Saints' roll of names are 6-2 senior forward Brandon Lulow (3.3), 6-1 sophomore guard Joe Meehan (2.8), 6-0 freshman Gavin Doerr (2.6), 5-11 senior guard JT Gallant (2.2), 5-11 sophomore post Matt Smith (0.8) and 6-0 senior forward Ryan Okabayashi (0.5).

Seattle Lutheran is coached by Brett Kapels and his assistant coaches are Andrew Burza, Jack Menashe, Steffond Brown and Bryce Morgan.