In the world of 1A basketball, playing at the Yakima SunDome in March is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Under the new tournament format introduced by the WIAA, only eight teams, made it to play on the SunDome courts this year, instead of sixteen as in previous years.

The Vashon Pirates faced Chelan High School, the first seed from Districts 6 and 7, on Thursday night in the first game of the tournament and lost, 44-57. They went on to play Onalaska High School, the first seed from District 4, on Friday, losing a 48-50 nail-biter.

Coach Andy Sears was clearly proud of the Pirates’ accomplishments as an unranked team making it to the final eight.

“Look at how far this team has come,” he said. “We had a lot of new faces, and they worked extremely hard. I’m just really happy for these guys, getting to the SunDome.”

For the Chelan Goats, it was personal when they faced off against the Pirates. Vashon knocked the Goats to the losers’ bracket last year when they had been the overwhelming favorite to win it all.

While the Vashon defense out-rebounded Chelan 41 to 33 on Thursday, the Goats scored 20 points off Pirate turnovers. The Pirates shot only 14 percent in the second period and were down 12-27 at the half.  Vashon started hitting in the third to come back to win the quarter and narrow the margin to 25-36. The Pirates continued the battle in the fourth, but the Goats came away with the victory.

“When you’re playing great teams, the margin for error is slim,” Sears said.

Scoring for the Pirates: Alex Wegner (23), Hamzah Griffin (8), Ben Whitaker (7), Kyle Bakker (4) and Don Lofland (2).

The Onalaska Loggers came into the tournament with a 19-1 regular season record. Vashon struggled to drop their shots, then the Loggers made two fast-break lay-ins to put Vashon behind, 4-11. Vashon closed the gap to 8-13 by the end of the first. The Pirates kept it close in the second quarter, ending the half trailing 19-26, and narrowed the margin to 31-35 by the end of the third.

The Pirates hit 62 percent from the field in the fourth and came to within one point twice in the quarter. But the Loggers answered with four of the six treys they would have in the game.

With less than 10 seconds left in the game and down by five, Bakker shot and hit the first 3-pointer of his career just as the shot clock buzzed to keep the Pirates’ hopes alive.

A foul by the Pirates put the Loggers at the free-throw line to shoot two. They missed both. With less than five seconds left, Wegner drove down the middle but couldn’t get a final shot off, and Onalaska came away with the win.

Scoring for the Pirates: Wegner (24), Bakker (9), Griffin (4), Adrian Arceo (3), Tyler Stoffer (2), Whitaker (2), Lofland (2) and Jesse Hazzard (2).

Sears gave props to several Pirate players for their work in the tournament.

“Bakker had a nice game,” said Sears, “and Jesse and Matt (Dicks) gave us good minutes when we got in foul trouble. Hamzah came through like he has all season.”

Wegner was the Pirate’s high scorer in the two games.

“Alex had a great tournament,” Sears said. “He carried the team and made some tough baskets to give us some second chances. He had over 100 points in the tournament.”

Wegner holds the honor of being in the starting line-up of a state tournament team for all four years of his high school career.

“And Adrian, that’s a great story,” said Sears. “It was really special seeing him grow, working his way into the starting line-up after not being on a team since middle school.”

Wegner also picked up several honors this season, being named to the All-State Team by the Washington Interscholastic Basketball Coaches Association, as well as the the 1A State All-tournament first team.

He also received a McDonald’s All-American nomination, one of 30 players in Washington state and the only 1A player nominated, and was named to the Nisqually All-league first team. Hamzah Griffin was given honorable mention, and Sears was voted Nisqually League Coach of the Year by his peers.