14th Annual
North Central District "A"
Boys Basketball Tournament
1971

Champ

ionship

Febr

uary 26

Cash
(20

mere
-2)

Score

: 41-38

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Omak 67, Othello 48
Game 1.
At Chelan, WA

Omak Pioneers, featuring strong board play by Gary Bramer, Gary Robbins and John Austin and a balanced attack, rolled to an 11-1 before Othello got its first field goal of the night.
The Huskies shot only 26 percent for the game, hitting 13-of-50 attempts. The Pioneers, meantime, stormed the boards to get 71 shots and make 26 for 37 percent. Coach Del Smith's Pioneers showed a big, 47-31 rebounding advantage.
Omak, after opening in a man-to-man defense, played a tough 3-2 zone over the last three quarters.
The Pioneers, with Bramer making a key contribution around the boards and Kelly Stevens and Tom McCormack hitting from outside, led by 32-19 at halftime and quickly stretched that margin to a 44-21 in the first four minutes of the second half.
The Huskies showed a remarkable tendency for scoring at the end of quarters. Three times, at the end of each of the first three quarters, the Huskies scored all at the buzzer. Gary Stephens got two of those buckets.
Omak was led by Stephens with 15 points and Bramer with 14, while Roger Broughton paced Othello with 13.

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Cashmere 46, Chelan 40
Game 2.
At Chelan, WA

Cashmere, unbeaten against Class "A" opposition this season, took advantage of a cold shooting Chelan team to build up a big early lead, then held off the onrushing Goats in the second half to post the opening round victory in the North Central District basketball tournament.
Caribou champion Cashmere, with Darrel Worley and Alan Smith working the boards, got many repeat shots to build a 15-point (21-6) cushion in the first 11 minutes against Chelan.
Although the Cashmere attack slumped midway through the second quarter, the Bulldogs carried a 25-10 lead into intermission.
The Goats hit only four of 24 shots in the first half and managed only one point, no field goals, during one seven-minute stretch.
Both teams, playing zone defenses, worked the ball cautiously at the game's outset, but the Goats switched to a man-to-man with six minutes to play in the half.
The Bulldogs, getting a couple of field goals from Steve Tift, expanded their lead slightly, to 32-16, in the third quarter before the full-court pressing Goats caught fire and reeled off five straight field goals.
Suddenly, the margin was just six points, 32-26. Cashmere's Ken McKenzie connected at the buzzer to build the lead to eight.
Cashmere moved out to an 11-point advantage early in the fourth quarter and maintained an eight-to-ten point lead most of the remaining distance.
Smith led all scorers with 18 points. Skip Boyd not only did a fine defensive job against Smith, but led the Goats in scoring with 17 points. Greg Griffiths turned in some strong board work for Chelan in the second half.
Chelan outshot the Bulldogs from the field while sinking 18-of-55 field goal attempts, compared to 15-of-41 for Cashmere. The Goats, thanks to a strong fourth quarter on the boards, showed a 31-29 rebounding edge.

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Chelan 63, Othello 56
Game 3. (Loser out)
At Chelan, WA

Chelan was just as tough as it had to be in its survival battle with Othello. The Goats, leading all the way, were never seriously threatened.
Othello twice cut the Chelan lead to six points in the third quarter, but never got closer than seven points in the final period.
With floor leader Kyle Engstrom dumping in four field in the first period, Jim Talley's club led as by as much as eight points during the early action.
Four field goals by Dan Lambert and three by Skip Boyd offset an Othello offensive outburst in the second quarter. The Huskies hit six of seven shots over one stretch, yet couldn't gain on the Goats.
When Othello pulled to within six points, 42-36, in the third quarter, Chelan responded with a string of seven straight points. Greg Griffiths, with two field goals, was the main contributor to that surge.
Chelan outshot the Huskies, 25 to 22, from the field. Both teams attempted 58 shots.
The Goats, with three players in double figures, displayed a balanced scoring effort. Engstrom led the way with 15 points and Griffiths was right behind with 14.
Roger Broughton and Keith Pershall scored 13 apiece for Othello.

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Cashmere 41, Omak 38
Game 4. (Championship, winner to state)
At Chelan, WA

Cashmere's patient, poised Bulldogs battled from behind to dethrone Omak in a tension packed struggle for the North Central District "A" basketball crown here Friday night.
The victory sends Ike Cummings' Bulldogs into next week's State Class "A" tournament at Tacoma. Cashmere which has yet to lose to a Class "A" school this season, will be returning to the state tourney for the first time since 1965.
Omak, a fourth place state finisher last year, gets a crack at the district's number two berth in the state meet when the Pioneers go up against Chelan here tonight.
Cummings, the Bulldogs soft-spoken coach, was an emotionally drained individual following Friday night's stem-winding championship clash.
In evaluating the contest, he said: "When it come right down to it, you can't single anybody out. They all made contributions.
"They've been a unified team all year."
The Bulldogs had to stage a comeback to notch the victory, their 20th in 22 outings this season. They were handcuffed by the Omak zone for the better part of three quarters. "There's no question about it," Cummings said. "Their defense really had us bottled up."
Because of the Omak zone, the Bulldogs concentrated on an outside shooting attack in the first half and took only 18 shots.
Omak, content to play it slow and methodical, led by as much as six points in the second quarter and boasted a 17-14 halftime lead.
The Pioneers, with their 1-2-2 zone, were able to clamp a tight two-man defense on the Bulldogs' Alan Smith and limit him to just four points in the first half.
But Omak found Cashmere's man-to-man defense to be equally as tough and the Pioneers hit a scoring slump in the third quarter.
The Bulldogs twice tied the score, the last time at 19-all with 3:23 to play in the third period. The Cashmere got the upper-hand when Omak committed two costly turnovers, one of the those a steal by the Bulldogs' Ken McKenzie. Steve Tift, connecting from the side with 2:05 to play in the third quarter, sent the Bulldogs ahead 21-19, and they maintained the lead the rest of the way.
The Omak defense began to loosen up at the outset of the fourth quarter and Smith shook loose for a couple of critical field goals, converting on of those into a three-point play which gave Cashmere a 29-24 lead with 5:22 remaining. The Bulldogs led by as much as seven, 33-26 at the 3:27 mark when Smith sank two free throws after Omak's Gary Robbins drew his fifth foul.
But Del Smith's Pioneers weren't finished. The came storming back in the last two minutes. John Austin and Kelly Stevens took turns scoring, mainly from the outside, and twice pulled within two, the last time at 40-38 on a howitzer by Stevens with 13 seconds to play.
Ten seconds before that, Mike Jurgens, taking a feed from McKenzie for a cripple, dumped in a vital field goal for Cashmere.
McKenzie came up with four real key plays for the Bulldogs, plus sinking four straight free throws in the late action.
Omak out-shot the Bulldogs, 18-13 from the field, but Cashmere dropped in 15-of-20 free throw attempts, including 12 in a row during one segment of the second half.
The Pioneers, in spite of hitting only one of 10 shots during that icy third period, wound up with 18 field goals in 45 tries for 40 percent accuracy.
The Bulldogs sank only 13 field goals in 37 attempts. Omak had the edge, 28-21, on the boards.

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Chelan 60, Omak 45
Game 5. (winner to state, loser out)
At Chelan, WA

The Chelan Goats who reached the district tournament level by winning a playoff game, have landed in the State Class A basketball tournament.
Coach Jim Talley's team earned a state berth by defeating Omak in the battle for second place in the final game of the North Central District A tournament here Saturday night.
Chelan will be appearing in the state tournament for the first time since 1961.
The Goats jumped off to a 7-0 lead and was never headed. Full-court pressing all the way, the Goats boated a 15-3 lead by the end of the first period and a 28-16 advantage at halftime.
They successfully used a passing game in the second half to protect their lead and to set up a number of lay-ins. The Goats attempted only 14 shots in the second half and canned eight. They hit three out of five in the third quarter.
Omak, in spite of a hustling effort, showed lingering effects of its tension-packed battle with Cashmere the previous night and never could get untracked.
The Pioneers lost five players on fouls. The Goats cashed in at the free throw line, hitting 28-of-39 attempts.
Kyle Engstrom turned in a fine floor game for the Goats and Skip Boyd, sinking 11 free throws, led Chelan in scoring with 19 points.
Omak's John Austin played his usual hustling game while leading his team in scoring with 18 points.