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Tonasket 67, Quincy 65
Game 9. (Loser out)
At Eastmont High School

Tonasket coach Mike Thacker wasn't serious about any possibility of divine intervention, but certainly Lady Luck seemed to be looking out for the Tigers Tuesday night.
Tonasket's Bret Holmdahl scooped up a loose ball with two seconds to go and swished a 14-foot jumper at the buzzer to give the Tigers their thrilling victory.
"A win is a win is a win," said Thacker afterward. "No matter how it comes, even if God helps out."
The Tigers were in no apparent need of help, divine or otherwise, in the first half. Tonasket bounced back from a 10-5 deficit and built as much as an 11-point advantage in the second period.
First-half rebounding proved to be the key for the Tigers, who crashed the offensive boards with such success that they managed to get off 38 shots from the field, 13 more attempts than the Jackrabbits.
"Our early lead was the key," said Thacker. "It's awful hard to come back. Both sets of kids looked tired (at the end)."
Quincy coach Jim Spence refused to buy the Thacker theory on stamina.
"These are good kids," said Spence. "They've come back all year. They played their hearts out. When it comes right down to it, we almost had a steal at the end. If we get that who knows what might have happened?
"But that shot by Holmdahl was the difference in the game."
Quincy battled back to within four points of the Tigers at the end of the third period. The Jackrabbits cut the Tiger lead to 61-59 on Joe Downs' foul shot with 2:44 to go. The teams traded buckets before Quincy's Rob DeLeeuw hit a put-back and a turnaround jumper along the baseline to tie the score at 65-all with 25 seconds left.
Tonasket called timeout to set up a last-second shot, preferably inside. But Quincy's defenders kept the ball on the perimeter and finally knocked it loose with three seconds to go. The ball bounced right to Holmdahl, who picked it up and sank the game-winning shot.
Holmdahl led the Tigers with 22 points and 12 rebounds. Scott Fay scored 13 points, while Brad Buchert and Jim Attwood added 10 apiece for Tonasket.
Downs topped all scorers with 24 points and grabbed 16 rebounds. DeLeeuw collected 18 points, mostly on lay-ups and Buck Milbrandt added 15 for Quincy.
Statistically, Quincy won the field-goal shooting battle, 51 to 43 percent. But Tonasket topped the rebounding stats, 43-33, and finished the game with an amazing 21 offensive rebounds.

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Oroville 66, Cashmere 64 (2OT)
Game 10. (Loser out)
At Eastmont High School

In the game of missed opportunities Oroville finally capitalized when the Hornets' Darryn Trainor hit a short jumper in the key with 50 seconds left in the second overtime to clinch the win.
The Hornets seemingly had the game locked up much earlier in the contest, holding a 55-43 lead with 3:25 to play in regulation.
But the Hornets missed five straight one-and-one free throw opportunities in the late moments and Cashmere's Tim Osborn drove the length of the court and hit a lay-up with 22 seconds to go to send the game into overtime. Oroville's Chris Hancock missed a jumper from the side with three seconds left, leaving the score tied at 55-all.
Oroville also had a chance to put the game away in the first overtime. Hancock had a two-shot free throw with two seconds left and his team trailing by one. He missed the first, then swished the second to force overtime number 2.
Referring to his team's near el-foldo in the late going. Oroville coach Allen Jefferson said, "We just haven't been in the big games that often; we're not used to the pressure. And Cashmere has a real mystique in this league."
"I just told the kids (late in the fourth quarter) that we had to make a free throw sooner or later..."
Make that later, period.
After missing the five straight one-and-ones in the final three minutes of regulation, Oroville's players made two of four foul shots in the first overtime and three of five in the second. Trainor's conversion of a pair of free throws early in the second overtime proved crucial.
Cashmere coach Bill Kelly was despondent after the heart-breaking loss.
"I hate to have the smell of this game screw up a season, but it does for me," he said, after his team hit only one of four field goal tries in the final overtime. "In the 23rd game of the year you'd think they (the players) would come to play. They just weren't ready for the game."
Oroville's players came out smoking in the first half, hitting nearly all their shots from the field and building a 32-22 advantage at the intermission. The Hornets sank 16-of-22 field goal attempts, 73 percent, in the first 16 minutes of play.
Meantime, Cashmere struggled, hitting just eight of 30 shots (27 percent).
Cashmere, responding to Kelly's halftime lecture, roared back on the strength of its man-to-man defense and full-court zone press. Osborn picked up the offensive load, scoring 17 of his 28 points in quarters three and four.
But Cashmere, despite holding brief leads at 59-58 and 61-59, could never quite put together the late surge its been so famous for in recent years. The Bulldogs' cause was hurt badly when Osborn fouled out midway through the first overtime.
"You've got to have your best five players in the lineup to get that shot (at winning)," Kelly said.
The Hornets went without the services of Allen Allie and J.B. Sneve, two of their three big offensive threats, in both overtimes. Allie and Sneve fouled out late in the fourth period.
Hancock scored a game-high 33 points. Allie collected 11 and Chad Mathews had 10. Oroville wound up shooting 54 percent from the field (26-of-48), but only 56 percent (14-of-25) from the line.
Hitting double figures for Cashmere were Doug Milner and Rick Spanjer each with 10 points. Cashmere shot 37 percent from the field (22-of -60). 

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Oroville 67, Tonasket 66 (OT)
Game 11. (Loser out)
At Eastmont High School

The heart-and-soul of Oroville (Chris Hancock) kept the Hornets in contention but for the second game in a row it was the unheralded sophomore, Oroville's third reserve off the bench, who performed like a seasoned veteran.
Darryn Trainor, a 52 percent free throw shooter on the junior varsity team this season, coolly swished two pressure packed foul shots with nine seconds left in the overtime session to send Tonasket home for the season.
With Tonasket ahead 66-65 and the clock counting down toward 10 seconds, Trainor picked off a Tiger pass, deflected by teammate Chad Mathews, and he drove down court. He was fouled before he could get the shot off, setting the stage for his two free throws, after Tonasket had called a timeout to let him ponder the situation.
But Trainor's story doesn't end there. He was also responsible for putting the Hornets into overtime after Tonasket had roared from a 12-point deficit midway through the third quarter.
Trainor tied the game 60-60 with a driving, short jump shot from the right of the lane with 15 seconds left in regulation. Tonasket made a last-gasp bid from beyond 30 feet to win it in regulation. The shot fell way short.
After Trainor's two free throws in the overtime had put Oroville on top, the Hornets created a jump-ball situation  in frontcourt with three seconds to play. Although Tonasket finally did control the tip after a deflection, all the Tigers could muster was an 18-foot off ball balance shot at the buzzer. It was well wide of the mark.
Amazingly, those four points were all that Trainor scored in the game.
Hancock, a superb junior center, pumped in 28 points in the dramatic contest and also controlled the backboards along with his sidekick, J.B. Sneve. The left-handed Sneve finished with 15 points.
"He's really making me look bad isn't he," exclaimed Oroville coach Allen Jefferson, referring to Trainor. "He spent most of the year, playing strickly jayvee ball. But when he scored 38 points against Ephrata's JV we decided to bring him up.
"The kid is going to be a good one. He's smart. He's an A student."
He's also become an instant hero for the Oroville fans, who have packed their section throughout the tourney.
For Tonasket, being eliminated from the state race was tough to accept. The Tigers roared into the tournament as the defending district champion number 1 seed, and Caribou co-champion with Leavenworth.
"Turnovers at tournament time is the key," said second-year coach Mike Thacker. "If you keep the turnovers down, you'll win."
Tonasket didn't take care of the ball, turning it over 23 times against Oroville.
"We had our chances," Thacker said. "We had the ball with 20 seconds to play and couldn't take care of it."
Tonasket, which led, 29-28 at the half, appeared on the verge of being blown out midway through the third quarter.
Led by Hancock's 10-point scoring flurry, Oroville roared to a 45-33 lead midway through the third period but with 5:25 left in the game, Tonasket had regained the lead, 53-52, holding Oroville without a field goal during that stretch.
It was a basket swapping affair the rest of the way, although Tonasket led 60-56 with 1:23 to play before two turnovers, an offensive rebound basket by Hancock and Trainor's field goal knotted the score.
Bret Holmdahl led Tonasket with 19 points and Tracy Williams and Brad Buchert, instrumental in the Tigers' comeback, finished with 13 points apiece. Paul Beyers also came through with some clutch baskets down the stretch to finish with 11 points.
The Hornets, who start only one starter, Sneve, and bring two sophomores off the bench (Trainor and Mike Thornton), may be beginning to show their promise.
"I've kept preaching to these kids that they can be successful if they believe in themselves," Jefferson said. "I think they're finally starting to believe what I've told them. That's half the battle right there."
Tonasket is also a young team.
"A lot of people don't realize I don't have a kid on this team who played last year," Thacker said. "Brad Buchert was on the team but didn't play.
"We're a young team. I think we had a pretty good season. But I do know this. We will be back next year. You can bet we'll be back."

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Leavenworth 73, Chelan 40
Game 12. (Championship, winner to state)
At Eastmont High School

No, Leavenworth's Boys North Central District "A" basketball championship, fashioned in awesome style, over Chelan Friday night, isn't the first district title in the school's history.
But there probably weren't many Leavenworth fans at the jam-packed Eastmont High gymnasium who remember the school's last and only previous district title.
It was in 1931 when coach Waldo Roberts' team downed Waterville and Ephrata, in a single day.
Friday night coach Sam Willsey's Grizzlies ended that 52-year famine and also set off a thunderous celebration by the overjoyed Leavenworth contingent.
The Grizzlies, now owning a spectacular 20-2 record, proved, as they have all season long, that they're the class of the Caribou Trail League and deserved the district's number 1 state berth.
Their victory margin in three games was 26 points per contest. That's really impressive when you consider the rest of the games in the tourney have been decided by just a five-point margin.
Relentless.
That's one description of the Leavenworth Grizzlies.
They just keep coming after you, wearing you down. They pound the boards with authority. They work hard on defense. Everyone that played on the floor is a threat to score.
And there's no question about it: they are a team.
Against Chelan, which has always performed well in the Eastmont gym, it was clear by halftime that the Grizzlies were in control.
Although the Goats have made a habit of coming from behind this season, Leavenworth led at the break, 25-17, Chelan simply didn't have the manpower to make a run at the Grizzlies.
Leavenworth just has too many ways to beat you.
Down 9-6 at the quarter, Leavenworth turned to Mark Kimmerly, who lit the fire that led to the Grizzlies easy triumph.
Kimmerly scored 10 of Leavenworth's first 12 points of the second quarter and Greg Turner added five.
Next, Kimmerly got some help from Mike Caemmerer, Leavenworth's Plain connection. They combined for 14 third-quarter points as the Grizzlies expanded the cushion to 44-29.
Then as the fourth quarter unfolded. Turner pumped in Leavenworth's first six points and Kimmerly added eight more and it was 63-36 when Willsey sent in the reserves.
For Kimmerly, it was a fitting way to compete a comeback from an injury that had sidelined him three games during mid-season. His 22-point flurry was his season high and, showing just how team oriented the Grizzlies are, only the fourth 20-points plus night by a Leavenworth player all year.
Chelan coach Robbe Pitts had nothing but praise for the Grizzlies, who have beaten his team soundly three times this year.
"They are one fine ball club," Pitts said. "They've got the size, the quickness, the shooting...everything. I hope they go over there and do well (at Tacoma)."
Added Pitts: "We thought we had the formula to beat them tonight but we didn't."
Leavenworth's strength showed early. When starter Mike Rayfield picked up his third foul and had to sit down, Nick Waters came in and played admirably. Then when Waters was nicked for his third foul before the half was over, sophomore Robert Parton entered and also did a good job.
Doug Parton, although not scoring, engineered Leavenworth's offense expertly, helping set up double figure contributions from Caemmerer (16 points) and Turner (11).
For Chelan, it was a frustrating night. After a promising start, the Goats were out-muscled badly on the boards, rebounding favored Leavenworth 36-18, and also committed 21 turnovers.
Leavenworth's hounding defense led to a cold shooting night for the Goats (18-for-54 for 33 percent). Leavenworth sizzled at 58 percent with a 27-for-46 exhibition.
Greg Talley scored 18 points to lead Chelan, none in the third period when it became apparent that the championship belonged to Leavenworth.
Wade Miller added 12 points for the Goats.

Oroville 81, Chelan 70
Game 13. (winner to state, loser out)
At Eastmont High School

Those three-hour bus rides, 1,300 miles worth in the last nine days, have paid off for the amazing Oroville Hornets.
"Just call us Cinderella" was the cry in the ecstatic Oroville locker-room after the Hornets, ignited by Chris Hancock's probable district tournament record scoring spree, had demolished Chelan at the Eastmont High gym Saturday night.
Hancock pumped in 42 points, giving him 163 points in six post-season games (27.1 average), to lead the Hornets to their first State "A" berth since 1965 when Mike Bourn led Oroville to the District "A" title. Oroville had entered the tournament as the eighth, and last, seeded team.
So enthusiastic were the win-starved Oroville hundreds that they hoisted rookie coach Allen Jefferson onto their shoulders and paraded him around the gymnasium floor.
It was a great outpouring of emotion by Oroville, which last made a serious run at gaining a state berth in the mid-1970s when then coach Daun Brown's club lost on the final night to Quincy.
And it also came less that five months after the town and school district had been struck by the football team's player "strike."
However, it should be pointed out that only three members of this team, Hancock, Darryn Trainor and Chad Mathews, were involved with that football issue.
Hancock, with a big assist from seldom-used senior guard Mike Sherman and the reliable J.B. Sneve, hooked up in a sizzling scoring duel with Chelan's sophomore sensation, Greg Talley.
Hancock's 42-point spree included 14 field goals in 23 attempts, a 14-of-18 performance at the foul line and 17 rebounds. Talley pumped in 37 points, scoring from all angles, to lead the Goats.
Oroville, now 17-9 for the season, survived a gallant comeback effort by Chelan to win its fourth straight loser-out game and fifth in its last six outings.
Chelan whittled a 30-16 deficit midway through the second period to 39-36 by halftime, then forged a 45-all tie on Talley's basket with 3:42 remaining in the third quarter.
Before Chelan scored again, it was a 60-45 game, Hancock scoring 13 of those 15 unanswered points, and the Goats never recovered.
During that run Sherman, wearing a junior varsity uniform because his mother Carol had washed his varsity uniform with blue jeans, creating quite a mess, provided the spark.
Sherman was all over the floor defensively, coming up with steals and feeding Hancock inside for easy baskets.
The fast-breaking Hornets (30-of-55 from the field) turned out to be that "Cinderella" that pops up every few years at tournament time.
"They're not the same team we beat twice in December and January," said Chelan coach Robbie Pitts. "I could see the talent was there then but you've got to credit them for putting it together.
"It was a physical game, more than we'd have liked it to be. But they weathered the storm better than we did."
What's the story behind the Hornets, who had to beat Steve Chamberlin's Okanogan Bulldogs, 74-67, in a playoff game just to land that eighth district berth?
The players say it's their coach.
"He generates electricity in us," said Sneve, the only starter who will graduate this spring. "He gets us ready to play. He gets the best out of everybody on the team."
Hancock describes coach Jefferson as a person "who pasted us together."
All year long, Jefferson, in his own words, has 'preached to the kids that they can be winners. They listened to me and believed what I said.
"I've got to thank the kids tonight. They're the ones who did the job out there, not me."
"When I came here, I saw the raw talent was there to be successful. The key was to get three other kids to well with J.B. Sneve and Chris Hancock. Once we got that started I started motivating the kids."
In addition to Hancock's gigantic scoring spree, he's now produced 652 points for a 25.1 average in 26 games, Sneve contributed 14 points and Allen Allie popped in 11.
Sophomore Mike Thornton also made some key contributions off the bench (eight points) and junior John Sylvester did a good job on the boards for the Hornets. Mathews and Sherman engineered Oroville's fast-break attack expertly.
For Chelan, Talley scored at a steady rate all-game long. He had 17 at the half. But he had little help. Jon Townsend sparked Chelan's mid-game rally and finished with 13 points.
Despite the setback, Pitts said, "I was really proud of the kids. Nobody thought we would get this far."
Chelan finished the season with a 14-10 record.

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Tournament Scoring Leaders