The Meridian Trojans captured fourth place in the 2025 1A Boys State Basketball Tournament. They took an early lead behind the sharp shooting of senior guard, Jaeger Fyfe, and rolled to a 59-48 win over the Chelan Mountain Goats, Saturday in the Yakima SunDome.
The trophy is the first for the Trojans since their second-place finish in 2010, and they end the season with a record of 20-9.
The Trojans got out to a quick lead as Fyfe and fellow senior Talon Jenkins each hit a 3-point shot in the first three minutes, helping the Trojans to a 10-4 advantage.
That’s when Fyfe took over. He hit his second 3-pointer of the quarter, then nailed another one, and after a miss, stroked a third in four attempts and the Trojans had a 19-4 lead.
And, for good measure, he hit two more in the second quarter, sinking 6-9 for the half for 22 points.
Fyfe didn’t do it all himself. On one of his second quarter bombs, he was the recipient of the hustle and savvy of sophomore guards, Pierce Brzozowski and Trey Alexander.
Brzozowski crossed the centerline on a hard dribble but hit the floor when contacted by defenders. He was able to wrestle the ball free and forward it to Alexander near the top of the key. The ball only touched Alexander’s hands briefly, as he redirected the ball to Fyfe, standing alone on the right wing. The rest is history.
Brzozowski and Alexander have improved a tremendous amount this season and do things that the stat sheet doesn’t have columns for. Except for the time, right after the play described above, Alexander rifled a fastball from the top of the key to Brzozowski under the hoop for an easy lay in.
The Trojans led 33-23 at halftime, then piled on more in the third quarter. A 3-pointer by Jenkins with 3:40 left in the quarter gave the Trojans a 19-point lead, their largest of the game.
The Goats hit a couple late threes to trim the gap, but the Trojans were comfortably ahead by 12 points with 32 seconds left when Fyfe and Jenkins left the floor for the final time.
Senior post James Hedahl had a solid tournament for the Trojans. He fouled out with 5:22 left in the fourth quarter. The Trojans also graduate seniors Canyon James and Brock Haugen.
Fyfe scored a total of 33 points for the Trojans with Jenkins finishing with 19. Brzozowski had eight and two for Hedahl.
The Trojans finish in style, with their 20th win of the season, and back-to-back double-digit wins in the state tournament.
~ Ted House
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