In the first quarter, after he had already sunk a 3-pointer from the left corner, Jaedyn Brown held the ball once again in the corner. He faked out his opponent and used the moment of hesitation to aim and fire away another three.

These are the kind of shots that have defined Brown’s career and paved the way for his 111 3-point shots in the 2022–23 season, a Pullman High record.

His 111 threes surpass his previously season-high and school record of 109 3-pointers from last season.

On Saturday, Brown paced the undefeated Pullman High School boys basketball team (23-0, 12-0 Greater Spokane Leauge) with 22 points including six 3-pointers in the Greyhounds’ 78-49 win over the East Valley HS Red Devils (11-13, 7-9) in their 2A state crossover game at PHS.

Junior Champ Powaukee scored 21 points including three 3-pointers and provided eight assists to his team. He wasted little time as he scored his first points on a game-opening three off of the assist from senior Dane Sykes.

Sykes also had himself a day. The senior scored 18 points with eight assists to keep his team on top.

Sykes scores most of his points in the paint and that did not change on Saturday as he delivered highlight reel dunk after dunk to which caused the crowd to erupt. 

“With three dunks tonight he’s got to feel good about how things went,” Craig Brantner said.

Brantner praised Sykes for guarding the last several opponents’ best inside man and for finding his shot over the course of the season after a slow start.

At the end of the first quarter, the Red Devils drove down the court in transition with a real chance to even things up before the quarter break but Caleb Northcroft had other plans.

The junior sixth man stepped up for the Greyhound and kept pace with the Red Devil attacker all the way down the court to eventually block the shot and preserve Pullman’s 13-11 lead after eight minutes.

Northcroft’s defensive prowess allowed Brantner to rest other guards like Tanner Barbour by assigning him to a team’s third option rather than keeping him on a team’s first option the whole game, Brantner said.

In the second quarter, the Greyhounds relied on another Brown three and a Powaukee layup, taken from center court and scored off of the dribble to open scoring.

Any Greyhound fan looking for a favorite Brown three has a likely candidate in Brown’s second-quarter shot from way downtown. Brown was once again nowhere near the 3-point line but nonetheless fired away a rocket of a shot straight through the hoop. As he shot, he was knocked down and ended up on his back right in front of the Pullman student section.

Powaukee ended the first half by missing three straight free throws as the Greyhounds led the Red Devils 32-19 at the break but immediately redeemed himself by making a free throw for the Greyhounds’ first points of the third quarter.

Powaukee balled out all game long including escorting an East Valley defender to the basket as he drove toward the hoop and made the layup off the glass from the right wing with a defender on his hip the whole way.

It was all Greyhounds in the fourth quarter as they outscored East Valley 30-5 to lock in the blowout crossover game victory and extend their season.

In an excellent demonstration of ball movement, Sykes, Northcroft and Brown each exchanged the ball beyond the arc before Brown drove toward the basket and pitched it out to Barbour in the right wing who immediately flung the ball to Powaukee all alone at the top of the key for the three.

As a cherry on top, Brown once again found his senior teammate Sykes for another successful dunk.

Preston Sluder led East Valley with 21 points but no other player scored more than 12 points.

Barbour scored 5 points with one 3-pointer and Austin Hunt scored 6 points.

The Pullman Greyhounds advance to the first round of the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association 2A State Tournament. To advance to the later rounds to be played in the Yakima SunDome, the Greyhounds must beat R. A. Long High School (20-4, 15-2 Greater St. Helens) at 2 p.m. Saturday. The game will be hosted by West Valley High School in Spokane, a school whose three only Greater Spokane League losses were each to Pullman.