Notes from the championships

Garth Meyer, Gazette Reporter | Mar 15, 20180

All who were at Spokane Arena Saturday night, March 3, witnessed a near-legend.

No. 1 seed Sunnyside Christian led Almira/Coulee/Hartline by three points with four seconds left in the 1B boys state championship game when guard Lane Marsh went to the free throw line in a one-and-one.

A week before in the regional round, Sunnyside Christian beat the no. 8-seeded Warriors 55-36.

Now in Spokane, Marsh's free throw bounced out, ACH came down with the rebound and a whistle blew.

“They'll want 11 or 15 to shoot it, stay on them!” called the Sunnyside Christian coach as his players each took a man under the Warriors' basket for the ensuing inbound.

ACH's no. 12, Chase Gerard, bounced the ball in to Hayden Loomis, who got boxed in the corner momentarily then threw it up the floor, no. 11 and 15 were covered, the ball going to no. 33, 6'4” post Payton Nielsen. He dribbled and shot/collision/buzzer – all at once. The ball flailed through the air and the Sunnyside bench leapt in victory.

Then a gasp. A whistle had blown, for a foul, on the shot.

The clock above the backboard showed 0.3 seconds.

Warriors teammates converged on Nielsen and he stepped to the free-throw line. He would have three shots. His free-throw percentage for the season was 54 percent.

If he missed the first one, the state championship would go to Sunnyside Christian, their 10th for boys basketball in school history and second consecutive. If Nielsen made the first free throw and missed the second, the same result. If he made the first two and missed the third, same result.

A rebound tip-in with 0.3 seconds left was further against the odds.

No. 33 stood at the black line, a shaggy hairdo, a senior in nondescript shoes. He bent his knees, he took the shot.

Got it. Time out Sunnyside Christian.

Back on the floor, back to the line.

Nielsen dribbled, bent his knees again as Spokane Arena screamed with a palpable intensity.

He put the ball up.

Yes, down.

The Sunnyside Christian lead was one point.

A week before, after ACH's loss in regionals, Nielsen, a four-year starter, went to the gym the next morning to shoot free throws. He had already been working with an assistant coach since January at the line, not leaving practice each night until he swished three foul shots in a row. Now, with the state tournament four days away, on the advice of his father, he switched his free-throw style from elbow-out to setting his shooting arm straight under the ball – as he quit doing in eighth grade.

At Spokane Arena as a high school senior, standing on the line in the state final, the referee bounced the ball back to him. The calm look on no. 33's face remained for the third shot.

He dribbled, bent his knees and the sound of a fever pitch split the air.

He put it up.

Yes! He did it. He did it.

Sunnyside Christian threw a long, fruitless inbound and the buzzer went off.

Overtime.

Nearing the end of the four-minute period, the game tied at 58-58, no. 33, who had stayed clean of foul trouble, got the second of two defending the basket from the Knights' quick guards cutting into the key. It was his fifth foul – he was gone.

In came Nielsen's backup, a fresh-faced big kid in Recs Specs sports goggles.

He was an eighth-grader.

These three towns, Almira, Coulee and Hartline combine for one 1B school with so few students they needed to send an eighth-grader into the state championship game.

Long live 1B basketball.

Young Reece Isaak pulled down the first rebound and the game stayed tied. Down to the last seconds, ACH again rushed the ball up the floor for a long shot – this time to win it – by guard Maguire Isaak, no. 15: no.

Double overtime, now with the task harder. No. 33 out of the game, and ACH had to last another four minutes against the Knights' relentless penetration.

Could they do it for Nielsen, who had pulled them from the brink, for their three towns, playing against the private school drawing students across greater Yakima/Sunnyside?

In the end, no. In fiction, perhaps, but in truth, no. 33 standing on that line, in that moment, downing those three shots could make anyone believe.

Brock Ravet

Kittitas' Brock Ravet again graced the 2B boys state final, the junior who led his team to the championship last year and soon after committed verbally to play at Gonzaga two years from now. Unusual for that to happen so early, also rare for a kid from a 2B school; how good is Brock Ravet?

If you were there, you knew in two possessions, or less.

Up against undefeated St. George's, Ravet looked like he was toying with them. He'd disappear in a scrum in the lane before the ball would rocket outside to an open man on the perimeter. He threw passes so quick, teammates couldn't catch the ball even though they saw it coming. He went airborne in the lane carrying the ball like a football before a dropping in a soft four-footer.

He drove, he passed – one-handed, two handed – he dribbled, he rebounded, he stepped back, he scored.

Josh Perkins hurry up and graduate. Someone is coming for your job.

On a side note, Ravet also appeared in a championship game that was one of the worst-played contests in the state 1B/2B tournament in recent years. It was as if once the talent level went that high, out came the partially-organized offense, the solo styling, the isolation plays/lack of plays. Even St. George's did not show much set offense, indeed they seemed to have no ideas for how to counter Kittitas in the second half other than to gun three-pointers.

It was all in contrast to the methodical, thought-out basketball that most often characterizes the 1B/2B tournament; an antidote to so much of the current college and NBA game.

As for Ravet, in a word, yes, he is ready to put up ill-advised three-pointers for Mark Few.

Perhaps that's unfair. Nonetheless, Ravet is a great player who makes you want to see what he would be like in a more set offense.

The detonator

How about Abbie Miller, the detonator?

The Colfax senior guard set off the Bulldogs crowd with one, two, three late fourth-quarter three pointers, beginning with her team down by seven points with 3:43 remaining in the 2B girls final.

Miller then made another shot and a free-throw to seal it, the Colfax crowd exploding again.

She and the four other senior starters had done it, beating league foe Davenport to take the state championship, Colfax's eighth with coach Cory Baerlocher.

The crowd too

The Colfax girls won the state 2B title game and so did the Colfax cheerleaders and crowd.

The range, volume and visual impact of the cheers was noticeable.

Pain to joy

What about the determination on the faces of the Pomeroy boys Saturday morning, March 4, coming off a 50-48 heartbreaker of a loss to Almira/Coulee/ Hartline Friday in the semifinals?

Then that look busted into joy on the face of Devon Caruso, whipping his fist in the air as the senior guard hit outside shots to put Pomeroy up early in the third-place game against Yakama Nation – who had beat them a week before in regionals. That loss was unacceptable; two years ago, before the state formatting changed, it would have ended the Pirates' season.

That kind of result was not supposed to be for these Pomeroy boys, who finished fifth in state last year and returned a slew of key seniors (and was without a starter from last year, guard Jace Gwinn, a junior, gone with a knee injury the whole season).

Nonetheless, the possibilities for this Pirates team were high: quiet star Jacob Tewalt and his signature banked-in three-pointers, poised Oscar Morfin, quick and controlled Ryan Wolf, Hogan Heytvelt on the inside and Caruso with the intensity.

The pain of Friday night had to be immense, but then Saturday, the state tournament was still there for one last day, one last game, one last whip of Devon Caruso's fist and a yell for joy at what this game can do.

Pomeroy took control of Yakama Nation in the second quarter, leading by 21 at halftime, eventually winning 69-47 for third in state.

Caruso finished his career with 19 points on 6-of-10 shooting.