17th Annual
North Central District "A"
Boys Basketball Tournament
1974

Cashmere
(19-4)

Score: 45-33
#1 seed to state

Tonasket
(14-9)

Score: 63-45

Game 7.
Loser 3rd

Lake Roosevelt
(16-5)

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Cashmere 51, Okanogan 36
Game 1.
At Chelan, WA

Okanogan held a narrow lead through most of the first half and stubbornly refused to yield control until midway through the third quarter.
Craig Owens then led a Cashmere comeback.
His two field goals and four free throws in the third quarter enabled Cashmere to forge ahead, 43-31, by the end of the period.
Then Okanogan succumbed to some rather productive Cashmere free throw shooting in the forth quarter. Cashmere netted only one field goal during the final period but scored 15 points on free throws, in 23 attempts.
For the game overall, Cashmere out-shot Okanogan by a 15-12 margin from the field and sank 21 free throws in 31 attempts.
Cashmere coach Bill Kelly received scoring efforts from eight players, with Rusty Parkins' 11 points showing the way.
Okanogan's Chris Pock was the game's high scorer with 15 points.

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Tonasket 62, Oroville 51
Game 2.
At Chelan, WA

Only the spectacular shooting of Matt Lorz kept Tonasket in the ball game during first half action against the red-hot Hornets.
Oroville played superb ball in the first half to show a stunning, 39-32 lead at the intermission. But the Hornet attack went dead after the break and netted just three points in the third quarter and nine in the final period.
Tonasket, putting on a furious full-court press, bolted ahead, 46-42, in the third quarter and pulled away in the final period.
The Tigers had wrestled the lead at 42-41 on a basket by Lorz.
Lorz accounted for half of Tonasket's first-half total with a 16-point output and finished with 26. Shane Leggett contributed 14 to the Tonasket effort.
Phil Hauenstein led the Hornets with 13 points.

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Okanogan 66, Oroville 53
Game 3. (Loser out)
At Chelan, WA

After Okanogan wiped out a 10-point deficit against Oroville, Bulldog coach Jim Strom couldn't say enough about his center, Chris Pock.
"Pock leads us in everything but scoring," said Strom. "Boy, he was tough tonight. I think he's the best center in the league."
It was the sensational play of Pock underneath and the ball handling of Paul Davis out front that led the Okanogan to its comeback victory.
Pock's superior rebounding and productive scoring against the massive Oroville frontline enabled the Bulldogs to take a 30-21 rebounding advantage.
Like Pock, Davis also scored a steady clip and was primarily responsible for keeping the Bulldogs from completely collapsing under the scrappy, full-court press employed by the Hornets throughout the game.
Although the Bulldogs did have their problems against the press (23 turnovers) it was the Hornets' over-eagerness in pressing that may have cost them the ball game and ended their season.
The Hornets' aggressiveness sent Okanogan to the foul line 35 times, with the Bulldogs converting on 30 occasions.
When the Bulldogs got to shoot the ball, they did it effectively, sinking 18 field goal in 37 tries for nearly 50 percent accuracy.
Oroville, after taking a 23-13 lead midway through the second quarter, went cold for the second night in a row.
The Hornets hit over half their shots early then connected just 15 times in 42 tries the rest of the way.
"I guess we didn't want it enough," said Oroville coach Dan Giffen. "I have no explanation."
Okanogan's Strom has thought all along that his Bulldogs were much better than their mediocre record indicates.
"We've had so many close games this year," said Strom. "We're finally putting it all together."
"Our key is to get the ball into Pock," he said. "When we do, we either get a good shot or a good pass from Paul."
The Bulldogs did, and the Hornets paid the toll.
Pock led all scorers with 22 points and Davis totaled 19.
Phil Hauenstein topped Oroville with 20 points.

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Cashmere 48, Tonasket 41
Game 4.
At Chelan, WA

The virtue of patience and the response to pressure situations sent the Cashmere Bulldogs into the championship game of the North Central District "A" basketball tournament here Saturday night.
The Bulldogs rallied in the fourth quarter for a semifinal victory over Tonasket.
Coach Bill Kelly's Cashmere team tries for a state tournament berth against Lake Roosevelt Friday night while Tonasket and Okanogan battle in a survival test.
"They try to make you play their game," said Tonasket coach Gary Jorgenson of Cashmere before the game. "They made us lose our poise in both games this year (Cashmere had scored two victories over Tonasket) and it cost us."
The Tigers lost their poise again, with the same result.
Tonasket, playing brilliantly through three periods, took a 38-34 lead into the final quarter.
The pressure was on Cashmere, but the patience the Bulldogs used in meticulously setting up each shot, paid off in two baskets by Ron Franklin and another by Craig Owens to put the Bulldogs ahead, 40-38.
Now the pressure turned on Tonasket, Randy Krell responded with a tying basket, the last field goal the Tigers would score in a three-point period.
The Tigers had a chance to open up a four-point lead but connected only one time in two one-and-one free throw situations.
The Bulldogs countered, under pressure, with eight straight free throws, four by Dean Johnson, all in bonus situations.
The Bulldogs patience on offense, they controlled the ball about 75 percent of the time in the second half, is exactly the kind of philosophy that Kelly teaches his players.
"We have to have a lot of patience," Kelly said. "We're not exactly generating a lot of steam of offense."
Tonasket managed only five shots in the fourth period and did not grab even one rebound.
The Bulldogs' impregnable defense forced Tonasket into 14 turnovers and allowed only 30 Tiger shots the entire game. Although Tonasket hit exactly half of them, the Tigers were only five of 15 from the field after intermission.
After Tonasket's great first half effort in which the Tigers rallied from a 24-18 deficit, to tie the game at 26-all at intermission, the Bulldogs made two adjustments.
"We talked about getting more movement in the offense and putting more defensive pressure on Tonasket's high scorer Matt Lorz.  That adjustment made by putting Owens on Lorz, who had totaled 10 points in the first half.
"I stopped gambling," said Owens. "I kept trying to keep him from getting the ball, but I didn't try to steal it."
Lorz went scoreless when Owens changed his defense strategy.
Franklin was also a key contributor for Cashmere, scoring six points in the final period.
Cashmere netted 17-of-40 field goal tries to Tonasket's 17-of-31. But the Bulldogs converted 14-of-18 at the line to the Tigers' five of nine.
Cashmere's grabbed 17 rebounds, compared to Tonasket's 14.
"We haven't got any standouts on the team," a proud Kelly said. "There's not a lot of talent on the floor."
But one thing is certain, they are winners.

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Tonasket 63, Okanogan 45
Game 5. (Loser out)
At Chelan, WA

"We don't care who we play tomorrow," said Tonasket coach Gary Jorgenson. "If we play like we tonight we will beat either of them."
The Tigers' match-up with Lake Roosevelt could be another tight one. The Raiders have beaten Tonasket twice by two-point margins, one of them in double-overtime.
Okanogan stayed with Tonasket for three quarters before the Tigers ran off nine unanswered points at the start of the fourth quarter.
Jim Clarkson accounted for six of the points, including a three-point play to put Tonasket ahead, 44-35.
"Clarkson is getting his hook shot back," Jorgenson said.
After the Bulldogs made one more charge, the shooting of Chuck Burbery, who poured in eight points in the final quarter and 11 for the game, kept Tonasket on top.
"Burbery can be deadly," Jorgenson said. "He picked a good time to pump them in."
The Tigers had shooting miseries in the first half, and only the brilliant play of Shane Leggett kept them in the game.
Leggett scored eight points in the first quarter as Tonasket took a 12-10 lead, then wound up a 12-point first half with a basket at the buzzer to lift his team to a 23-21 lead at the break.
"Leggett played super defense, came up with the steals and did everything he could to keep us going," Jorgenson said.
Leggett finished with 15 points. Matt Lorz content to feed off most of the night, added 10.
Okanogan's Paul Davis played a spectacular game for coach Jim Strom, totaling 18 points. 

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Cashmere 45, Lake Roosevelt 33
Game 6. (Championship, winner to state)
At Chelan, WA

It's time for Cashmere basketball followers to unpack those orange-and-black trimmed skimmers and head west because their beloved Bulldogs are Tacoma-bound for the third time in four years.
In typical fashion coach Bill Kelly's Bulldogs bashed their way to a victory over Caribou Trail League champion Lake Roosevelt here Friday night to claim the North Central District Class "A" basketball crown.
Lake Roosevelt coach Jerry Riggan's Raiders find themselves in the same spot they were a year ago after losing the title tilt.
Cashmere, which takes particular pride in its defense, had good reasons to be proud again, as the Bulldogs, trailing by 20-18 at intermission, held Lake Roosevelt to four points in the third period and just 13 the entire second half.
But as important a role as Cashmere's defense played it took an inspired offensive show by Tim Smith, whom Riggan calls "the best guard in the league" to break open the intensely played contest.
"I don't know how I did it," Smith said. "I surprised myself."
Smith scored 12 points in the second half, one less than the Raiders, eight of them on jumpers from around the head of the key in the fourth period. 
He also grabbed four key rebounds, came up with three steals and handed out two assists.
"If there was a key thing it was Tim in the fourth quarter, a shower-drenched Kelly said afterward.
Although Kelly talked more about "the team defense" aspect of the victory, he put some special emphasis on the individual efforts of Craig Owens and Jeff Tift.
Owens shut down Norris Palmanteer in the second half, allowing the Raiders' leading scorer only a single basket.
Tift held sophomore Jeff Loe scoreless.
In the first half it was the Raiders who made the Bulldogs sputter badly.
Cashmere turned the ball over 12 times before intermission and managed only 13 shots.
But the Raiders couldn't take advantage of the opportunity, and led by only 20-18 at the break.
"We played well the first half," said Riggan. "But we played very poorly the second half. They deserved to win. Everybody was trying to do it himself and we're not that kind of team."
While the Raiders were playing everybody-for-himself, Cashmere, with Smith providing the spark, went on a 14-2 binge, after a 24-all deadlock, to decide the issue.
Riggan felt that Cashmere's dominance of the boards, especially in the second half, helped strike the fatal blow.
Cashmere out-boarded the Raiders, 18-9, after the break and 30-18 for the game.
Kelly also got a sturdy effort from "instant basket" Ron Franklin, the southpaw sixth man who has the knack for producing points quickly, which he did against the Raiders.
Dean Johnson nullified the rebounding power of the Raiders' Richard Wippel, blocking up the middle effectively, and Rusty Parkins played a hard-nosed defensive game for Cashmere.
Cashmere's patience on offense paid off again, as the Bulldogs canned 19-of-36 field goal attempts to Lake Roosevelt's 14-of-44.
Both teams committed 14 fouls, although both coaches agreed that three early fouls on Wippel was another key factor in the outcome.
Cashmere sank seven of 14 free throws, including five of six in the second quarter when the Raiders had their chance to break it open after taking a 14-9 lead.
Lake Roosevelt was a mediocre five of 13 at the foul line.

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Tonasket 61, Lake Roosevelt 38
Game 7. (winner to state, loser out)
At Chelan, WA

Tonasket will be the North Central District's number two representative in the State Class "A" basketball tournament, opening Wednesday in Tacoma.
The Tigers dominated the action nearly all the way in cutting down Caribou Trail League champion Lake Roosevelt in the district's second-place battle here Saturday night.
For Lake Roosevelt, it was a disappointing end to an otherwise successful season. The Raiders capped their regular season by winning 10 straight games and taking the Caribou championship, then dropped two straight in tournament play.
Oddly enough, Tonasket did not receive a single point from CTL scoring champion Matt Lorz in fashioning its victory over Lake Roosevelt.
One thing I think is really fitting," commented a pleased coach Gary Jorgenson in the joyous atmosphere of the Tonasket's dressing room.
"Matt Lorz did a not score a point," said Jorgenson.
"We had a newpaperman who thought we couldn't win without Lorz' points.
He took only "five or six shots," said Jorgenson.
Jorgenson said "everybody did a great job," but had special praise for Jim Clarkson, who was a dominate figure on the boards and who hit nine of 10 shots from the free throw line while totaling 19 points.
The Tigers were uncanny from the free throw line as the connected on 21-of-24 attempts.
From the field, they shot an even 50 percent, on 20 baskets in 40 attempts. Lake Roosevelt, which put up many a hurled shot after falling hopelessly behind in the second half, tried 65 and sank only 17.
Tonasket, with Clarkson, Lorz and Chuck Burbery providing the strength, owned the boards, 32-21.
The Raiders were shut out on, the boards until the final minute of the first quarter.