Cruiser Boys Basketball Is Headed To State

Playing with two of their key starters out, the Cruisers needed double overtime to finally put away the La Center Wildcats 86-82 behind the 40 points and 11 rebounds of Reilly McIlraith to advance to the 2nd round of the District 4 playoffs.

Eatonville's Reilly McIlraith lays in two of his career-high 40 points against La Center. The Cruisers would go on to win the game 86-82. Photo: Alyssa Wood-Shotswell

Eatonville fought back from a 6 point deficit after the first quarter to trail by only 1 at the half and then even the game up at 52-52 at the end of the 3rd frame.

With less than a second left in the game and both teams knotted up at 67 apiece, the Cruisers had a chance to win the game but missed two key free throws and the game went into overtime.

McIlraith seemed to be in the "zone" a lot of players talk about in the overtime periods. He stepped it up a notch and seemed to put his team on his back.

"I was definitely in the zone in those two overtime periods. I had a couple of shots go in back to back that really got the confidence level high. I just tried to make sure that I wasn't doing too much and just tried to take the opportunities that the game gave me."

In the extra period, both teams would trade baskets and end the first overtime tied at 76.

In double overtime, La Center would pull out to a 4 point lead but would miss many crucial free throws that left the door open for the Cruisers to get back in the game.

With 15 seconds on the clock, Brandon Storm would pick off a Wildcat pass and dribble up court and the Cruisers would call a timeout. On the ensuing inbound play, the Wildcats would foul McIlraith and send him to the line for two free throws. He would sink 1 of 2 to give the Cruisers an 84-82 lead with 10 seconds left in the second overtime.

The Wildcats would bring the ball up the court and give it to their leading scorer on the night, freshman Boston Walker, who would try to tie the game up but he would be fouled and sent to the line for two free throws. He would miss the first and then attempt to miss the second to get the rebound and put it back up to tie the game, but Walker would cross the free-throw line before his shot went into the basket and the point was waived off and the Cruisers would inbound the ball leading 84-82 with 1.8 seconds on the clock.

On the inbounds play, the Wildcats would immediately foul the Cruisers leading scorer McIlraith and he would go to the free-throw line with four-tenths of a second on the clock and sink both attempts to give the Cruisers the 86-82 victory and a match up with #2 seed Seton Catholic in the district semi-finals.

McIlrath led the Cruisers with a double-double, dropping 40 points and 11 rebounds. Jakob Lucht scored 19 and Walker Bruun with 14.

With some key players out of action for the night, McIlraith knew he would need to step his game up a bit to try and compensate.

"I knew that with two of our starters out I would definitely have to step up both scoring and as a leader. I also knew that I wouldn't be able to do it alone and that others would have to step up also. That's exactly what happened with Jakob (Lucht) hitting some huge shots and then Brandon (Storm) and Walker (Bruun) making clutch plays on defense," commented McIlraith after the game.

In regards to McIlraith's career-best 40 point outburst, Head Coach Mark Swartout praised his senior point guard's play, "Reilly has had the best week of basketball I've seen in Eatonville ever. He's a gap filler. If we need rebounding, he rebounds. If we need scoring, he scores. If we need the ball distributed, he's our distributor and one of the best leaders I've ever coached!"

With that win, the Cruisers moved on to the semifinals and faced the #2 seeded Seton Catholic Cougars on Saturday.

In the semifinal game on Saturday, the Cruisers rallied from a narrow 21-17 halftime deficit to beat Seton Catholic 47-43 in the 1A district semifinal on Saturday and earn a state regional berth and a date with Castle Rock in the 1A District 4 championship game.

Eatonville's Shay Brannon lays one up and in for two of his game-high 21 points in the Cruisers semifinal victory over Seton Catholic. Photo: Alyssa Wood-Shotswell

The Cruisers went on a 7-0 run to start the game and put the Cougars in a hole that they were quickly able to battle back from to take a 12-9 lead entering the 2nd quarter.

The Cruisers would try and fight their way through a rough shooting night to get back in the game but would find themselves trailing 39-33 entering the final quarter.

Eatonville would trim that lead to 39-37 thanks to a 5-0 run to start the fourth quarter and they would go on to outscore the Cougars 14-9 in the quarter to finish the comeback and seal the 47-43 victory and clinch a berth to the regional round of the state tournament.

Shay Brannon led the Cruisers with 21 points and 8 rebounds. Eight of those 21 points came in the final quarter to help the Cruisers complete the comeback. Reilly McIlraith put in 11 points and 6 rebounds.

Head Coach Mark Swartout was very proud of how his players have played this season.

"I am really proud of these young men and how hard they play. They all play with heart and they have each other's backs. We, as a team, talk a lot about how life can put obstacles in front of you and these guys just bust them down time and time again. The leadership from our seniors this year has been amazing. They all come from great families so it's no wonder they are all great young men."

The Cruisers will now have a week off before they take on the Castle Rock Rockets in the 1A district championship game on Friday, Feb. 18th. The location and time of this game are to be determined.