Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Oakesdale senior Matt Hockett scores against Almira/Coulee/Hartline in a comeback win on the last day.
The Oakesdale boys basketball team took fourth in state last Saturday, finishing a four-day run at Spokane Arena, winning three games byway of double-overtime, a fourth-quarter shutout and reversal of a first-half blowout.
It happened a year after finishing sixth and losing four starters.
"It's pretty fulfilling to not only get to the last day at state but to win on the last day," said Carl Crider, Oakesdale coach. "The margins of error are so slim."
Matt Hockett, the lone senior and returning starter for 2019-20, went from being a point guard his whole life to going inside late this year in Oakesdale's methodical offense.
Did he think they could surpass last year?
"I don't know if I would've believed it," Hockett said. "At that time. But the guys put in a lot of work."
They pushed it last summer, they played in a fall league in Spokane. Some didn't, and played football.
By March, Oakesdale's back-to-back state basketball finishes came six years after the 30-year Tekoa-Oakesdale sports cooperative broke up amidst controversy.
Did sixth-grade Matt Hockett think it was going to unfold this way?
"That wasn't a whole lot different, as far as my team," he said. "A lot of the guys were from Oakesdale. I thought we'd be alright. We had enough for a team."
When he got to high school, he and his brother Kit, a junior forward, would follow their great-grandfather, grandfather, mother, two aunts and an uncle, who all played basketball for Oakesdale, or Tekoa/Oakesdale.
The current team itself went far back.
"All the guys that started, I knew before I was in school," said Hockett.
He and Kit's uncle is Coach Crider. Their aunt and their cousin just took the Oakedale girls to the state championship game.
Did Matt and Kit's uncle think the boys team could go this far this year?
He did say he saw a lot of growth among the returning players last summer and after fall.
"We had to see that growth, then yes," Crider said. "We met what I thought we could do."
It started formally last November. Busride after busride, and Gavin Shrope, a junior backup forward, brought the music that would play over the top: Motley Crue "Home Sweet Home" and "Kickstart my Heart."
FIRST ROUND – DOUBLE OVERTIME
Oakesdale used every considered shot, pass, rebound, jump ball and Matt Hockett free throw to stay alive in their first round elimination game against Taholah.
At the end, in the second overtime, the Hockett brothers playing with four fouls each, guard Tyler Bober hit what his team could not get much of in four quarters and one overtime: an outside shot. From the wing, early in the second overtime, followed by, on the next possession Simon Anderson, another junior guard, from the same spot.
Oakesdale had a six-point lead they could use to end the game.
Before, in the first overtime, Oakesdale ball, a missed shot, a scramble, hands, arms, fingers, legs, floor, shoes, a whistle. Someone fouled Matt Hockett. He stepped over to the free throw line, his jersey hanging out after the scrap. He tucked it back in and made both shots.
If Tahola lost they would board the bus for an eight-hour drive home to the Quinault Indian Reservation.
Into the second overtime, Bober soon hit the shot from the wing, followed by Anderson and Oakesdale had a chance to close it out.
Tahola ball, they took it down the floor and put up a shot. It bounced high off the rim, Matt Hockett leapt, pulling the rebound out of the air with one hand.
You could hear the slap of his other hand to the ball across the Arena.
Hockett brothers, please report to the front desk, your reservation into the second round at state has been confirmed.
Oakesdale won 65-58. Matt Hockett led with 17 points while Kit Hockett, Ryan Henning and Simon Anderson each scored 12. Bober had 10.
STATE QUARTERFINALS – YAKAMA NATION
On Friday, Oakesdale lost to Yakama Nation 45-35, for the second consecutive year in the state quarterfinals.
Matt Hockett led Oakesdale with nine points and Kit Hockett had eight points in the loss to the no. 2-seeded Eagles, who went on to beat Lummi Nation in the semifinals 51-50, before losing to unbeaten Odessa in the championship game.
"It was winnable," said Crider of Oakesdale vs. Yakama Nation. "I think even more than last year."
Oakesdale trailed 21-5 at the end of the first quarter and then switched from matchup zone – an attempt to contain Yakama's quickness – to man-to-man.
"We played a ton of man (at state) after that Yakama Nation third quarter got over," Crider said.
DAY THREE – FOURTH-QUARTER SHUTOUT
Parked behind the Oakesdale-Farmington School District bus in the far corner of Spokane Arena lot Friday morning was another for Ocean Beach School District.
Welcome to Day Three of the state 1B/2B basketball tournament.
After the quarterfinal loss to Yakama Nation, Oakesdale gave up height at every position to Riverside Christian.
It would be a contest of three quarters.
Oakesdale trailed 21-18 at halftime with Kit Hockett no points.
Into the second half, Kit Hockett drove, off a Ryan Henning steal. He took the ball up for a shot, contact, miss.
"You gotta call that!" yelled Crider.
Oakesdale trailed 39-34 at the end of the third quarter.
Riverside Christian, a Yakima academy, would not score again in the game – not another point.
In the fourth quarter, Simon Anderson stole a pass and escaped downcourt with the ball. He took it up for a lay-in, Riverside Christian chasing him and fouled him.
"You gotta throw better passes, Joel! I can't move!" said the Crusaders' player who ran down Anderson.
One of these teams' state tournament would end at the conclusion of this game – out of the placings.
It was the Crusaders. Matt Hockett scored 20 points for Oakesdale in the win with 10 rebounds.
"Matt's role on this team was a work in progress the whole year," said Crider. "You go from being a point guard, and now we needed him to play on the inside. A position he'd never played before. He was able to improve in that role until the very last day."
FOURTH-SIXTH PLACE GAME –
REVERSAL OF BLOWOUT
19-9, 24-14 and 32-18 at halftime is how the last morning at state began.
Oakesdale down, in a major way, to start the second half against Almira/Coulee/Hartline, not yet 9 a.m.
Status quo continued. Then Matt Hockett blocked a Warriors' shot and threw the ball off the shooter, Oakesdale possession.
Hockett soon hit a turnaround eight-footer for 34-28. Then his brother got a steal, gunned up the floor with ACH after him. Kit pulled the ball around-his-back and lost the handle, off his knee – on the referee's over-rule.
Warriors' ball and Oakesdale forced a shot-clock violation. Then the Nighthawks passed the ball around and Matt Hockett caught the ball at the top of the key, a shot, got it, the ACH lead down to three points.
Oakesdale passing-by-wire kept up; eight, nine, 10 passes before Matt Hockett cut and drove, high up to the rim, six inches away, he released it, no, stuffed, by ACH hands.
"As you go further and further into a season, a lot of (our offense) by then was putting the play sheet away and letting our guys play basketball," said Crider.
It kept up. Oakesdale soon took the lead late in the third quarter.
At the end, Warriors ball, still down by three with a chance to tie. They passed a few times before Kit Hockett forced a changed ACH shot from the top of the key.
Bober then stood at the other end, at the free-throw line. He made both.
Oakesdale did it, to take fourth-place in state.
Almira/Coulee/Hartline finished sixth, after pushing undefeated state-champion Odessa to the wall in the quarterfinals, then eliminating Muckleshoot Tribal 69-46 the day before.
"I'm pretty proud to be from Oakesdale," said Matt Hockett. "I love being out in the country, the farm, I love my family."
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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