District Class 1B Boys

Sunnyside Christian led 16-1 midway through the first quarter before TLG's Luke Dearden scored the Eagles' first basket.

When the first quarter ended, the Knights held a commanding 31-8 lead. Their advantage at halftime was 40-13.

Aaron Van de Graaf led the way for Sunnyside Christian. The senior guard scored 19 points, including 14 in the first quarter and 16 in the first half.

For TLG (13-11), junior Kris Wood and sophomore Luke Dearden shared team scoring honors with nine points each. The Eagles' leading scorer, senior Tim Dearden, was held to five points--all coming in the first half of his final high school game.

The closest TLG got to Sunnyside Christian was 2-1, on a free throw by senior Anthony Settler with 7:17 remaining in the first period.

But the Knights quickly took control, creating turnovers with a swarming pressure defense that triggered a run of 14 consecutive points and pushed their lead to 16-1.

All told, the Eagles had nearly as many turnovers (29) as field-goal attempts (34). The Knights, for their part, turned the ball over 12 times but shot a blistering 59 percent from the floor (35/59).

Trout Lake/Glenwood 72, Klickitat 43:

The Eagles avenged a second-round loss to the Vandals to advance to the district championship game against unbeaten and top-ranked Sunnyside Christian.

TLG (13-11) had three players score in double figures in its Feb. 13 victory at Goldendale that ended Klickitat's season.

Tim Dearden led the way with 16 points. He was followed in the scoring column by Dannon Kavanagh with 15 and Kris Wood with 13.

Dearden, the team's lone senior, also played a big role in helping TLG control the action around the backboards. He pulled down 16 rebounds, while Devin Dean grabbed 14 misses.

Moreover, Dean and Dearden made sure the Eagles' offense performed at a high level, accounting for 11 and seven assists respectively.

TLG took the lead in the first quarter and never relinquished it.

The Eagles led 18-8 after one quarter and doubled its advantage to 34-17 by halftime. They then put the game out of reach by outscoring the Vandals 19-7 in the third quarter.

For Klickitat (8-16), Richard McConville scored 16 points to share high-game honors with Dearden and leading scorer Jeromie Mason had 11. (The Vandals' second leading scorer, Levi Sanchey, did not play because of the flu.)

Sideline Notes:

Trout Lake/Glenwood's district championship game appearance was its first since the two schools combined athletic programs in 2005-06.

Trout Lake claimed its one and only district basketball title in 1997. A 50-46 victory over Sunnyside Christian in the championship game earned Trout Lake its first-ever state tournament berth.

Glenwood never won a district title in boys basketball, but its first (and last) state entry in 1992 went on to place eighth.

Sunnyside Christian, which has won six of the last 13 district titles, has produced three state boys basketball championship teams; those achieved top honors in 1998, 2002 and 2005.