There was far more than Plateau pride on the line Friday night when Skyline and Eastlake collided — KingCo 4A supremacy was also at stake.

Tied for first with 8-3 league records, and just five regular-season game remaining, the winner was guaranteed a crucial upperhand headed into the postseason.

And, in a scrappy, back-and-forth battle, it was no surprise it came down to the final shot.

In the end, however, it was Skyline that held on for a 65-62 victory.

“It was important to establish king of the conference this game,” Skyline senior Miles Edwards said. “Both of us had the same records, we both had our ups and downs … it was just good to establish some confidence going into the playoffs, to come down to here to their place and win.”

Down 65-60, with 14 seconds left, Eastlake senior Dylan Pericin drove the distance of the court for a lay-in. His shot brought the Wolves to within two, 65-62, with 8 seconds remaining. Unable to get the ball inbounds, the Spartans heaved the ball downcourt where Michael Russo grabbed the steal. Eastlake had a timeout, and appeared to call for it, but it wasn’t recognized. The Wolves continued to push the ball up the court to Pericin, who got off a running three-pointer that just clanked off the iron as time expired.

“We had a timeout, but they didn’t see it, so we tried to push the ball up the floor,” Russo said. “We got a shot off, we can’t hold our heads down for that. We have to keep our heads up, we played a great game.”

There were 12 lead changes and four ties in Friday’s matchup. The last of those swings came at the 3:16 mark of the fourth when Edwards knocked down two pressure-filled free throws for a 59-57 Skyline lead. The Spartans never trailed after that, pushing their advantage to as many as six in the final minutes.

Edwards, who scored a season-high 14 points, also drew a pair of key charges.

“All week, the question has been ‘Are we tough enough?,” he said. “I kind of took that offensive so I guess I just played with a chip on my shoulder, or something to prove. It just gave me that extra hunger.”

Six-foot-nine Cory Hutsen led the Spartans with 17 points. He scored 10 of those in the fourth quarter by penetrating into the Eastlake defense that was already in foul trouble.

“Cory was a matchup nightmare for them,” Skyline coach J. Jay Davis said. “Whenever that presented itself inside we tried to take advantage of it.”

Russo led Eastlake with a game-high 19 points. Conner Iraola scored 17. He hit four three-pointers, including a long bank shot with 51 seconds remaining that brought the score to 63-60.

Skyline, which lost its two previous games, improved to 9-3 in league and 13-3 overall.

“You feel like when you get in this wreck that we’ve been in, ‘Oh God, here we go again,'” Davis said. “But the great thing about it was I really liked the way we came out and started the game with energy and focus.”

The Spartans are currently tied with Garfield (9-3) for the top spot in the KingCo 4A.

Eastlake dropped to 8-4 in league and 11-5 overall. The Wolves play their final four games at home against Inglemoor, Issaquah, Garfield and Redmond.

Issaquah stopped by Garfield

Issaquah gave Garfield a run for its money in the first quarter Friday night, but slow second and third quarters led the Eagles to a 62-53 loss.

Issaquah trailed just 14-13 after the first quarter, but was outscored 36-18 over the next two quarters.

Nick Price and Derek Quan each scored 12 for Issquah, which dropped to 2-10 in league and 5-11 overall.

Garfield was led by Glenn Brooks’ 21 points. The Bulldogs are currently tied for first in the KingCo 4A with Skyline (9-3).

Crusaders win second straight

Eastside Catholic bumped its win streak to two games Friday night, beating Ingraham, 64-54.

The Crusaders were led by three players in double figures. Jake Springfield scored 17, Joey Schreiber had 15 and Nile Kramer added 13.

Eastside improved to 5-7 in league and 5-11 overall with the victory.