In the Pullman High School Greyhounds’ victory over the R.A. Long Lumberjacks in Spokane in the first round of the 2A WIAA State Tournament, there was a drastic difference in support of the crowd for both schools.

Pullman is just under an hour and a half from Spokane and Longview is over six hours away. It is clear there is a reason for the difference in the size of support. Nonetheless, having the support of the fans is incredibly important in the momentum and atmosphere of games.

Pullman saw a full band, full cheerleading squad and a dedicated student section, all on top of several full families attending the game.

“It’s great that our athletic director is able to get so many people here and supporting us,” head coach Craig Brantner said.

Despite trailing by as many as 18 points, the Greyhound support never wavered and with that support, Pullman flipped the score and came out on top by a final of 67-55. The 30-point swing was capitalized by senior Jaedyn Brown’s 32 points and fast break dunks from Brown himself and senior Dane Sykes.

Those fastbreak dunks both resulted in large eruptions from the supporting crowd, despite Brown’s coming while the team was still down by double-digits and Sykes coming late in the fourth quarter after they had already built a substantial lead.

That only showed how involved the crowd was in the Greyhounds finding their groove after a slow start to claim victory and move on in the Tournament.

Late in the game, Austin Hunt checked out one last time to spend the last few minutes on the bench, being met with thunderous applause from the families and students in attendance for his fantastic performance in the game.

Throughout the game, Hunt came up big on the defensive side of the ball, anchoring the post and not allowing any easy shots inside the arc. On the offensive side, he scored 9 points in the victory.

Following the game, Brown said he felt like the crowd had a big impact on the game, allowing the team to stay within themselves while also being the energy the boys’ needed to feed off to find their comeback.

“Oh, definitely a big help. The crowd energy was amazing and we were definitely feeling it,” Brown said.

Earlier in the season, in the second-to-last home game in Pullman for the Greyhounds, guard Champ Powaukee said that he loves when the student section is in full force and gets the opportunity to have their energy in these big games.

“It’s very important [to play well in front of the student section and have their support],” Powaukee said.“Just get more people to come and then put on a show.”

As the team moves on, they are three wins away from claiming victory as 2A State Champions, however, those final three games will be played in Yakima.

With the trip from Pullman being nearly three and a half hours long, it is tough to tell how many Pullman fans will travel to support the boys. Either way, they will find a way to feed off the energy when needed.