Up by 20 points, Blaine boys varsity basketball head coach Brett Farrar subbed off his starters with a minute left in the game. All five of them separately gave him an emotional hug before sitting down. Farrar, who lost his father that day to a long cancer battle, turned around a minute later as the final buzzer sounded, securing the Borderites place in the next round of playoffs, to hug his family.
Blaine outplayed a young Nooksack Valley team with quick offensive passing and a strong defensive performance. The game finished 58-37.
“[The team] gave a phenomenal effort defensively,” Farrar said. “They gave it everything out there, each and every one of them. It was a real team effort.”
A moment of silence was held before the game for Farrar’s father, who was a referee in the conference for multiple years.
“He loved the game,” Farrar said. “It was a pretty tough loss.”
Coming into the game, Nooksack Valley was no pushover opponent. The Borderites narrowly beat the Pioneers 52-49 in regular season play. A couple of fourth-quarter three-pointers secured the win for them that night.
Nooksack finished the regular season with a 5-11 record. The team has only one senior and three starting freshmen.
Blaine was 11-5 in regular season action and finished the season with seven straight wins. But on the back of a tough 86-57 loss to Lynden Christian in the district championship last Friday, the Borderites were looking for another path into the playoffs. They also wanted to win it for Farrar.
Farrar said he was pleased the team gets to keep playing.
Blaine came into the game flying, holding Nooksack to two points by the end of the first quarter. At halftime, the Borderites led 27-18. With a couple stops early at the end of the third quarter and two big threes from sophomore Joey Brown, Nooksack looked like it could get back into the game, closing the gap to four points. However, Blaine saw the quarter out, which finished 37-24, following a timeout and never looked back.
Quick team passing, strong drives from junior Matthew Russ, and three-pointers from seniors Scott Baldwin, Cole Thomas and Avery Dohner extended the Borderites lead to 20 points in the fourth quarter and gave them time to empty the bench.
Baldwin led the Borderites with 13 points. Thomas and Dohner both had 11, Russ had nine, junior Carson Lehnert had six, junior Lucas Smith had four, and senior Jaxon Kortlever and sophomore Noah Tavis each had two.
The boys will play next Saturday, February 19, at 6 p.m. at King’s High School in Shoreline. Their opponent was not announced by press time.
“We don’t know who we’re going to play yet,” Farrar said. “We’ve been really solid defensively all season, and if we keep playing that way, working as a team, we should be alright.”
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