Thomas Jefferson captured second place and Decatur third at the 2009 Bill Riley Communities Holiday Classic tournament hosted by Decatur in the Gator Dome last Tuesday and Wednesday.

The TJ Raiders pulled off a stunning upset as the action opened Tuesday, Dec. 29 -- defeating Decatur, 54-53, in the opening game for both teams. That advanced the Raiders into the Wednesday, Dec. 30 championship, where they were turned back by the Gig Harbor Tides, 55-52. The Gators dropped into the third place game, where they prevailed against Stanwood, 58-54.

Thomas Jefferson had to come back from an 18-point deficit to come close to the Tides in the final.

"It was a wild comeback," said Raiders head coach Kyle Templeton. "We responded well. We did not do well on shots in the third quarter, but we did not fold up the tent. "

The Tides proved to be a tenacious foe, taking as much as a 48-30 lead midway through the fourth quarter and then having to hold on for dear life.

A basket and a free throw by Eric Radford closed the gap to 48-33 to get the comeback under way ahead of two points by Justin Lanier.

Lanier wound up hitting two three-point baskets in a 10-point run that made it 52-48 with 1:00 remaining.

A successful free throw by Chris Repar of Gig Harbor broke the string and made it 53-48 with 26.6 seconds to go, then Jefferson's Jeff Brigham hit a three-point shot to close the score to 53-51 with 14 seconds left. Repar then received a chance to put the game away with 6.5 seconds left and missed both, giving the Raiders' Radford a chance after he was surprisingly fouled with 4.1 seconds to go.

Radford missed the first shot but made the second, making it 53-52 but with the ball in the Tides' possession.

Repar was quickly fouled, but made both shots with 1.8 seconds left to make it 55-52.

That left the Raiders in need of a three-point basket, which Lanier took an attempt at and just hit the back of the rim.

TJ's opener against Decatur was a study in contrast.

The Raiders built a 15-5 lead by 1:36 remaining in the first quarter, but the state-ranked Gators were not dead yet and they caught TJ at 32-32 with 5:00 to go in the third quarter. The game was back-and-forth from there, mostly in favor of Decatur. The Gators were back up, 50-45, with 2:38 left, then Jeff Baklund hit a three-point shot for TJ to make it 50-48 with 2:24 remaining.

The real excitement came when Brigham buried a three-point shot with 33.6 seconds left, suddenly giving his Raiders a 54-53 lead.

Decatur's Robert Oliver went to the line and missed twice with 12.7 seconds remaining, then TJ's 6-foot-7 senior Spencer Hicks snatched the ball off the boards. He was quickly fouled with 11.6 seconds left and missed his one-on-one shot. McCloud then got the rebound and tried for a long three but had it miss to the side.

The Raider fans then jumped up and down with some going to the court in celebration.

"We had back-to-back nailbiters," said Templeton. "We got one and we lost one. That's 50-50. We can't complain."

Lanier led the Raiders with 14 points against Decatur as Baklund hit 12, Brigham nine and Radford and Hicks seven each. Scott Sanford added five.

Jerron Smith paced Decatur with 18 points as McCloud hit 14, Terrell Williams 12, Dom Hunter five and Robert Oliver four.

In TJ's second game, Lanier led with 26 points and Radford was next with 13. Brigham hit nine and Danny Cha and Sanford both hit two.

Decatur turned its ship around to defeat Stanwood, 58-54, and take third place.

"It was a little better," said Olson of his team's second game. "It was a better outcome. We have got to get a lot better, though."

Smith swished in 30 points to lead the charge against the Spartans as McCloud scored 11, Terrance Peters eight, Williams six, Hunter two and Austen Wilson one.

The Gators were up, 57-51, with 8.3 seconds left but Stanwood's Drew Haugstad made things interesting with a three with 2.8 seconds left.

That closed the margin to 57-54 before Decatur's Smith saved the day by making one of two free throws with 1.6 seconds left.