By Anastasia Stepankowsky

Xavier Turner shot and dunked the Seattle Lutheran Saints to a 65-52 win over Providence Classical Christian Tuesday in 1B district playoff action.

Many of Turner’s 23 points came on slams he finished by hanging on the rim.

“It gets the crowd into it, and I get pumped up from it so, it’s one of my favorite things to do,” Turner said.

With Seattle Lutheran’s offense sputtering, Providence Classical jumped to an early lead and led at quarter, 13-7.

“I think Providence Classical Christian had a great game plan and they did a great job executing it. It kind of threw us off for a little bit,” said Seattle Lutheran head coach Brett Kapels.

Turner, the Saints’ leading scorer, kick-started a second quarter scoring frenzy with a 3-pointer and a one-handed dunk back-to-back that put the Saints in command. The Saints dropped seven 3-pointers in the quarter and led at the half, 34-21.

The second quarter decided the game, as neither team dominated in the second half and the 13-point halftime differential remained unchanged at the final buzzer.

“I thought our boys did a really good job in the second quarter of rebounding and making a run. We obviously hit some really big shots, which helped. But then I thought that in the third quarter we did a really good job defending,” Kapels said.

Seattle Lutheran earned an automatic bid to regionals. On Thursday, the Saints face Lummi Nation. Lummi, ranked No. 1 in 1B division boys basketball in the latest AP state poll.

Nevertheless, Kapels said he’s confident about his team’s chances.

“They’re ranked number one in the state, so nobody expects us to win. But I think everyone in that locker room does. They think we can go out and pull it out,” Kapels said.

Thursday’s game is at 8:15 p.m. at Mt. Vernon Christian.