15th Annual
North Central District "A"
Boys Basketball Tournament
1972

Cashmere
(20-1)

Score: 57-43
Both to state

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Omak 62, Oroville 29
Game 1. (Loser out)
At Coulee Dam, WA

Pioneers crush Oroville, face Okanogan next

Omak smacked Oroville in the opening round of the North Central District basketball tournament here Thursday night.
The Pioneers steadily piled up its lead against Oroville, showing a 27-17 halftime advantage and a 43-32 bulge at the end of three periods.
The Hornets stayed within striking distance in the first half, but managed only 12 points in the second half.
Omak gathered 25 field goals compared to only 10 for Oroville.  The Pioneers had their problems at the free throw line, hitting only 10 of 23 attempts.
Omak scoring was evenly distributed with Gary Robbins was high with 16.

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Okanogan 63, Lake Roosevelt 57
Game 2. (Loser out)
At Coulee Dam, WA

McIlhenny scores 31 as Okanogan wins

Okanogan and the Raiders battled for the lead all evening. Lake Roosevelt moved away to a six-point lead in the opening minutes, but Okanogan charged back to post a 35-30 halftime lead.
It was nip-and-tuck throughout the second half, with the lead changing back and forth.  With 40 seconds remaining, Jack Charlton sank a lay-in to put Okanogan in control, 56-54.  Scott McIlhenny then converted a three-point play to wrap up the win.
McIlhenny staged a tremendous exhibition as he scored 31 points and played a great floor game, setting up many baskets.
He was also instrumental in the Bulldogs' slight, 29-24, edge on the boards.
Jeff Ballod led Lake Roosevelt scoring with 15 points.
Okanogan canned 26-of-56 field goals and 11-of-19 from the line, while the Raiders sank 23-of-61 shots from the field and 11-of-18 free throw attempts.

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Omak 56, Okanogan 49
Game 3. (Loser out)
At Coulee Dam, WA

Omak wins hair-raiser over rival Okanogan

Omak and Okanogan hooked up in a donnybrook here Friday night before the Pioneers emerged with a 56-49 victory that put them in the State Class A basketball tournament.
The Pioneers, while clinching a state berth, advanced to the North Central District championship game against top-seeded Cashmere.
It wasn't until the mid-point of the fourth quarter that Del Smith's Omak club went ahead to stay in this hectic semifinal battle with arch-rival Okanogan.
Jim Strom's Bulldogs, hitting eight-of-ten shots in the first quarter had taken a 6-0 lead at the game's outset and owned a 17-6 advantage at one point. Omak closed the quarter-ending count to 17-10 and gradually crept up on the Bulldogs, going ahead, 26-25, late in the half.
The lead bounced back and forth in the third quarter, but the Bulldogs' big weapon, Scott McIlhenny had picked up his fourth foul.
Omak was nursing a 45-44 lead with 4:20 to play in the final period when McIlhenny went to the sidelines with his fifth foul. The Pioneers then began to take control.

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Cashmere 57, Omak 43
Game 4. (Both to state)
At Coulee Dam, WA

Cashmere captures district crown again

For the second successive year, the Cashmere Bulldogs reign as the North Central District basketball champions.
The Bulldogs corralled the championship trophy by scoring a 57-43 victory over Omak in the title struggle played before a jammed-to-the-rafters throng in the Lake Roosevelt High School gym Saturday night.
Ike Cummings' orange-and-black clad warriors will enter the state tournament at Tacoma Wednesday morning as North Central Washington's number one representative.
Omak, making its third state tourney appearance in four years under coach Del Smith, will be the district's number two team.
With Omak's Gary Bramer sidelined by the flu, the Bulldogs' formidable inside combination of 6-8 Alan Smith and 6-4 Harold Schell dominated the action around the boards in the championship clash.
But even with this superior physical advantage around the boards. it wasn't until early in the second half that the Bulldogs were able to break the game open.
The Pioneers had built a wall around Smith with a zone defense and these tactics paid off in the first half. Then Cashmere outside shooters began to fire away from the corners, enabling Smith to operate with a little more freedom.
"We knew they would jam it up inside," said Cashmere coach Cummings. "To open it up," he said, "Our guards would have to start shooting."
"This is what we talked about at halftime."
Cummings acknowledged that the loss of Bramer hurt the Pioneers severely. Omak already was without the services of starting guard Don McCormack.
"There's no question they had to be hurting without Bramer," said Cummings.
Cummings is hopeful that Smith and Schell will be able to operate inside freely once the Bulldogs get to state.
"When we get over there, we won't get jammed up so bad." he said. alluding to Omak's employment of a sagging zone.
Smith accounted for a big chuck of Cashmere's scoring against Omak, connecting on 15-of-16 free throw attempts and totaling 31 points.  He and Schell were each credited with 17 rebounds as Cashmere dominated the boards, 46-30.
Field goal shooting was even, at 18 apiece, but the Bulldogs canned 21-of-29 free throws.  Cashmere made 18-of-49 from the field and Omak sank 18-of-60.
Omak opened with a sagging man-to-man defense, but Dave Freimuth, Bramer's replacement, picked up four fouls in the first quarter and the Pioneers switched to a zone.
Meantime, Smith collected five points in the last two minutes of the first quarter to give the Bulldogs a lead they never relinquished.
Omak trailed by only 19-15 at halftime when Smith, going up for a rebound, inadvertently scored on a tip-in for the Pioneers just before intermission.
Smith and Schell hit on three successive rebound shots to open the third quarter and the Bulldogs were off and running. Mike Jurgens and Ken McKenzie began to connect from the corners and Schell, patrolling the baseline, would take an occasional feed from Smith for lay-ins.
Cashmere owned a 32-18 lead before Mike White scored Omak's first field goal of the second half.  Jeff Mallett, with three straight buckets, then led a revived Omak attack.
Omak had the offensive momentum just before the mid-point of the fourth quarter as White accounted for nine straight Pioneer points. But McKenzie broke the Omak momentum when he scored on down floor solo with 3:52 to play, making the score 51-37.
White scored 15 points to lead the Pioneers.