21st Annual
North Central District "A"
Boys Basketball Tournament
1978

Cashmere
(19-5)

Score: 59-53
Both to state

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Cashmere 74, Liberty Bell 42
Game 1. (Loser out)
At Chelan, WA

Cashmere's defending state champions kept alive their hopes of making a fifth straight state tourney appearances under coach Bill Kelly with an impressive second-half performance against Liberty Bell Thursday night.
The Bulldogs outscored the Methow Valley club, 19-6, during a classy offensive display in the third quarter to take firm, 50-28 control.
While Liberty Bell was experiencing a long scoring drought from the field, the Bulldogs' margin steadily climbed toward 30 points.
"I thought we played a heckuva third quarter," coach Kelly said following the victory. If fact he was pleased with the way Cashmere turned its entire performance around from one half to the other.
One of the keys to that turnaround was the rebounding of Scott Shook. His 19 rebound total is the "most since I've been here," Kelly said, then qualified that a bit by saying that "Jeff Tift could have had that many."
As a team, Cashmere smothered the Mountain Lions on the boards, 48-19, after building a 13-1 rebounding cushion in the first quarter.
Joel Clark did a fine job of passing off to set up his teammates with scoring opportunities and Garth Johnson played a solid defensive game to neutralize Liberty Bell playmaker Bart Northcott.
Cashmere shot an even 50 percent (29 field goals in 58 tries) and produced four double-figure scorers, led by Shook's 18 points, Clark's 15 and Johnson's 14.
Liberty Bell managed just 12 field goals (in 53 attempts) for an enemic .22.6 shooting percentage. Les Russell scored 13 to lead the Mountain Lions.

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Lake Roosevelt 70, Tonasket 64
Game 2. (Loser out)
At Chelan, WA

The Raiders from Grand Coulee Dam, feeding big Ernie Edwards on the inside, sank eight of their first nine shots and hit an incredible 62 percent for the game, yet had trouble putting away the scrappy Tigers from Tonasket.
Actually, it was a six-point flurry in the space of nine seconds at the end of the first half that gave Lake Roosevelt its victory momentum after Tonasket had threatened seriously.
Lake Roosevelt went from a shaky 35-31 lead to a 41-31 lead at the half when (1) Todd Mattson hit two free throws, (2) Marty Mueller followed with a steal and field goal and (3) Bruce Holbert quickly added another field goal after a Mueller steal. All this in the span of nine seconds.
Lake Roosevelt carried this momentum into the second half to lead by 51-35 with 4:50 to play in the third quarter.
But Tonasket, led by the hustling play of Butch Rothrock, scrambled back to within four. With just under two minutes remaining in the game, Tonasket missed a couple of crucial shots, any one of which would have sustained their momentum and turned this into a hair-raiser at the end.
Said Lake Roosevelt coach Darrell Boorman of that nine second spurt at the end of the first half: "That was a big help, six freebies."
Tonasket coach Les Wyatt wasn't bitter but... "If is hadn't been for those six points in nine seconds... He didn't finish, but most surely was thinking that things might have turned out differently.
Boorman called Tonasket "a good ball club."
That early Raider splurge, in which Edwards hit six straight field goals, sandwiched between two Craig Loe baskets, gave Lake Roosevelt some important impetus.
"That was the best job we've done of dumping off" (to Edwards on the inside). The Raiders, notably Mueller and Loe, set up Edwards with some fine feeds as he banged in nine field goals in the first half and totaled 22 points for the game.
Guard Rick Caddy sparked a second-quarter comeback that pulled the Tigers even on two occasions, 25-all and 29-29. Caddy got a couple of key baskets during this surge on sheer hustle and finished with 13 points.
Leading scorers for Tonasket were Marty Swager with 19 and Rothrock with 17.
Loe, connecting from long range, contributed 17 to the Lake Roosevelt effort.
While Lake Roosevelt was sinking 31 of 50 shots, Tonasket was making 25-of-58 for 43 percent. Tonasket had board control, 32-24.
Of Note:  Two-time NAIA All-American Les Wyatt, who played his high school ball at Ellensburg, has been hired as the head boys' basketball coach at Hanford.
Wyatt, just 23 years old, coached last season at Tonasket after graduating from Central Washington University in 1977, where he was a four-year starter in basketball, averaging 16 points per game. As a 6-5 center, he helped Ellensburg into the state basketball playoffs in his junior and senior seasons, the Bulldogs winning the state title in 1972.
At Tonasket, his team went 13-8, knocked off eventual state runner-up Cashmere and whipped Quincy, another state qualifier, before faltering in the district playoffs.
Richland school director personnel director Al Vandenberg said Wyatt came highly recommended to the Falcons, who went 18-7 last year.
"We talked with Dean Nicholson at Central, and he said Les showed greater promise to be an outstanding coach than anybody he had at Central. Initially, we were a little concerned that Les was so young, about the aspect that he is not a seasoned veteran," said Vanderberg. "But the more people we talked to the less a factor it became."
In addition to his coaching duties, he will teach math and physical education.
"It'll be a little strange coming back to Ellensburg and coaching against them," Wyatt said of his old team. "I'm happy to be coming to Hanford and to a strong basketball community like Richland.
"It's a good opportunity for me. Besides, I feel that you can learn more as a player than you can as a coach. I feel I learned a lot playing under Dean Nicholson," Wyatt said. "I like to emphasize defense and I don't think I could have had a better defensive coach than Dean Nicholson."
"I'll have to wait and see what kind of personnel we have before I'll know what kind of offense and defense we'll have. I'm pretty flexible," said Wyatt.

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Cashmere 68, Lake Roosevelt 52
Game 3. (Loser out)
At Chelan, WA

Cashmere and Quincy High School basketball teams renew their intense season-long rivalry here tonight, with the North Central District "A" championship on the line.
The Bulldogs of Bill Kelly and the Jackrabbits of Jim Spence are already assured of returned trips to the state tournament where they were dominate a year ago.
These rivals traded victories in their two league contests, then Quincy assured itself of a state berth and gained advancement into the district title game by beating the Bulldogs (50-48) in a playoff for first place on this same floor last Tuesday.
Kelly is now a perfect 5-of-5 in winning state berths since taking over as Cashmere coach.
For Lake Roosevelt, it was a deep disappointment. The Raiders opened the season with 15 straight wins and were in command of the Caribou Trail League race before running into trouble.
Friday night, Darrell Boorman's Raider ran into a tenacious Cashmere team that played up to its capabilities.
Cashmere played excellent team ball and held the upper-hand most of the way. The final score, though, is not indicative of the game.
In its final thrust, Lake Roosevelt three times crept to within seven points, trailing by that margin (53-46) at the mid-point of the fourth quarter. The Raiders were down by only eight when in the last two minutes Cashmere ran off 10 unanswered points.
"I think we finally put one together," said an elated coach Bill Kelly. "We didn't fold under the pressure."
"All four of the seniors (Garth Johnson, Bruce Parkins, Scott Shook and Joel Clark) played well."
Defense was the big thing in his evaluation of the contest.
"I still say the name of the game is defense.
"They (his Bulldogs) knew what they had to do on defense."
"For example, he said, "You have to beat big, 6-4 Ernie Edwards across the key."
The Bulldogs did a good job of stopping Edwards, who had two shots cleanly checked early, by Shook and by Johnson (from behind).
Kelly applauded Johnson for his work on Craig Loe, who managed just six points. "He held him scoreless the first half," Kelly said of Johnson's work on Loe. "He's (Loe) like Parkins is for us" in that he directs the offense.
Said a disappointed coach Boorman: "Cashmere earned that one, they played about as well as they can."
He pointed to a Cashmere scoring burst in the second period as being the key. Lake Roosevelt was down by only 16-14 when Cashmere proceeded to outscore the Raiders, 16-5.
"That string in the second quarter hurt," Boorman said sadly.
With Johnson hitting for four field goals and feeding for at least two others, Cashmere sank nine of 13 shots in the second quarter to take charge and carry a 34-23 lead into intermission.
For the game, the Bulldogs shot nearly 50 percent, sinking 27-of-58 attempts.
Again, as in the Tuesday night win over Liberty Bell, Kelly pointed to the strong rebounding of Shook, who picked up three fouls in the first six and a half minutes. After the third foul, the situation looked rather scary for Cashmere, but Shook played the rest of the way, without being whistled again. He grabbed 10 rebounds to help the Bulldogs to a 34-24 advantage on the boards.
Clark played an all-around fine hustling game in leading Cashmere with 22 points. Johnson collected 18 point and Shook added 14.
Lake Roosevelt, led by the 14 points of Edwards and 12 apiece by Marty Mueller and Matt George, connected for 21 field goals in 48 tries. 

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Cashmere 59, Quincy 53
Game 4. (Championship, both to state)
At Chelan, WA

There was a party at Cashmere School Superintendent Dick Johnson's house Sunday morning.
The reason: The traditional state basketball tournament qualifying celebration, a happening that is become an "automatic" for Cashmere Bulldog followers each March.
But there was more to this party than discussing Cashmere's North Central District "A" championship victory over Quincy and their fifth consecutive State "A" tournament appearance.
Saturday's win over Quincy was the 100th victory for coach Bill Kelly, in just five seasons at the Cashmere helm. That's 20 wins a year. Not bad. In fact, it's unbelievable.
Cashmere, since Kelly took over the reins from Ike Cummings for the 1973-74 season, not only has directed the Orange to 100 wins, but has been on the losing end only 25 times. Four of those defeats have been inflicted at state, three others came at a time when four starters were suspended from the 1974-75 team.
Kelly admitted he had thought about winning his 100th game Saturday night.
"It never crossed my mind," said Kelly, never lacking in modesty.
But he was more explicit about how his basketball team is playing right now: "Our problem this year was confidence. Our seniors have finally got the idea that they're a team. Right now we're playing together real well. I think we're ready for state."
Cashmere's victory, attained on a fourth-quarter spurt capped by Scott Shook's slam-dunk with four seconds to play, gave the Bulldogs the number one seed to the State "A" tournament.
Cashmere reeled off 11 unanswered points in the second quarter after Quincy had built a 14-8 lead. But Quincy stormed back in the third period with a blistering fast-break attack to take a 42-41 advantage.
Cashmere's error-free performance, only three turnovers the entire game, plus strong rebounding efforts by Joel Clark and Dave Doane, enabled the Bulldogs to take control in the fourth quarter.
Clark, in one of his finest games as a Bulldog, poured in 22 points to lead Cashmere. Bruce Parkins added 12 points.
Mike Royer banged in his first four shots en route to a 21-point show for Quincy. Ron Maack finished with 12 points.
Cashmere's victory margin was constructed on a 24-22 field goal edge, and 11-of-16 free throws. Quincy was nearly perfect at the line, sinking 9-of-10 tries.