‘Cats take scenic route to state
Published 9:52 pm Thursday, October 2, 2008
Tuesday night, in what may prove to have been their biggest game of
the year, the Wildcats stood toe to toe with the Kennedy Lancers … and
the Kennedy squad blinked.
When the evening was over, Mount Si had the 52-48 victory
and had earned the school’s first visit to the state basketball
championships since 1979.
The 1979 edition of the `Cats were led by coach Ray Beach and
featured players such as Robert Graham, Darin Gere, Joe Eddings, Bryon Schultz
and Dave Watkins. They went to the state competition as champs of the
Seamount League and defeated 1978 AA champion Mark Morris High
School before falling to Enumclaw, Cleveland and Olympia in succession.
The 1977 edition of the Wildcats _ also led by Coach Beach _ was
the last Mount Si team to win the state championship.
Now the team is coached by seven-year veteran Garrick Phillips and
features players with names like Jason Arriaga, Chris Kaplan,
Chris Emerson, Ben Eaton, Isaiah Cormier, Mike Helgeland and Marc and
Mike Dahm. And, like their longhaired and bell-bottomed predecessors,
they’re taking Mount Si to the big show.
Throughout the season the `Cats have shown a remarkable ability
to bounce back from the brink of disaster. In three loser-out games over
the preceding 10 days, Mount Si won all three, interspersed by the single
loss to Sammamish.
The game with Kennedy was just another example, with both
teams playing it close into the final minutes. The Lancers pulled ahead at one
point in the third quarter and threatened again in the fourth. However,
senior sparkplug and team leader Arriaga had other ideas, scoring 14 of his
game-high 20 points in the final frame. His two successful tosses from the
charity line with 43 seconds remaining sealed the Mount Si victory.
For a change the Wildcats also dominated at the boards, with
Arriaga pulling down 19 rebounds and Cormier adding six. Kaplan was
the other `Cat to score in double digits, recording 10 points for the night.
There’s no rest for the weary, and Thursday afternoon at Bellevue
Community College Mount Si played its last district game against Blanchet
to determine fifth and sixth seeds at state. The Braves were coming off a
65-61 win over Newport which dumped the KingCo 3A champion Knights out
of the proceedings.
Blanchet ultimately prevailed in a sloppy, foul-filled game, 66-53.
The Braves scored first and never gave up the lead, although Mount
Si managed to pull within a point or two on a couple of occasions. Once
again it was cold shooting that did the `Cats in, along with a lot of fouls
which brought loud boos from the Mount Si side of the gym.
After falling behind 17-6 in the first quarter the Wildcats started
connecting, pulling two points with just under two minutes left in the half
on Cormier’s hanging-from-the-rim jam. The Braves then skated
away, outscoring the `Cats 9-1 in the last 90 seconds.
It was more of the same in the second half, with the Mount Si
players racking up the fouls. Arriaga got his fourth personal 30 seconds into
the third quarter and was pulled from the game for a few minutes. He
returned after Kaplan got called on a technical.
Through it all the Braves built a comfortable lead, going up 44-30
by the end of the third frame. There were occasional moments of shooting
brilliance by the Wildcats, with both Marc Dahm and Fallows draining
three-pointers, but overall Mount Si let the game get away. Towards the end
even Coach Phillips and the Mount Si bench picked up technical fouls,
which brought more howls of outrage from the stands.
The fact remains that as a tune-up for state it was not a pretty contest
and Mount Si lost ugly. On the plus side, freshman Logan Ratcliffe had a
great game, scoring 11 points, as did Arriaga.
“They out-executed us and out-hustled us,” Coach Phillips
summarized afterwards. “Blanchet seemed to be the more aggressive team, but
we out-fouled them something like 16-2 in the second half. I stressed to the
kids that a lot of it was our own cause. Some of the kids mouthed-off in
the first half.
“It was a tough game to play; it really was meaningless, but we’ll
use it as a learning experience. We wanted to have one more opportunity
to sharpen up for state. Overall I think we’re ready for state.”
Despite the outcome of this last district game, Arriaga was
upbeat. “I’m just happen we can play at the Key Arena next week,” he
commented. “I’ve dreamed about it. I didn’t
know it would become a reality.”
The Wildcats entered state play on Wednesday night with a “late
show” against 15-8 Lynden. The game took place at the Key Arena at 9 p.m.
and was the last contest of the 16-team opening round. The winner will
face the victor of the Franklin Pierce-Rainier Beach game tonight at 9
p.m. in second round action.
