38th Annual
North Central District "A"
Boys Basketball Tournament
1995

Champ

ionship

Febr

uary 22

Cash
(18

mere
-5)

Score

: 85-61

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Cascade-Leavenworth 82, Lake Roosevelt 79 (OT)
Game 1.
At Leavenworth, WA

For most of four quarters, sixth-seeded Lake Roosevelt had an upset within reach in Thursday's opening round of the North Central District A boys' basketball tournament.
But free throws - or five missed free throws late in the fourth quarter to be exact - cost the Raiders a chance at victory in regulation.
That's when Cascade answered back, as Ryan Hansen canned eight of his game-high 38 points in overtime to lift the third-seeded Kodiaks to an 82-79 victory over Lake Roosevelt.
Lake Roosevelt, which had led by 11 points early in the fourth quarter, converted just 7 of 16 free throws. Cascade led just once in regulation, taking a one-point lead for less than a minute late in the fourth quarter.
Three of the missed Raider free throws late in regulation were front ends of one-and-one chances. The last two came with the scored tied at 70-all with eight seconds left.
"The winning part was nice," Cascade coach Pat Fromm said. "But the kids know they were fortunate. I've got to hand it to the Lake Roosevelt kids. They flat outplayed us."
Hansen had three 3-pointers and shot 16-for-30 from the field to lead Cascade (16-5), which plays at Cashmere on Saturday. Lake Roosevelt (9-11) plays a loser-out game Tuesday.
Cascade's Todd McDevitt had 16 points and 13 rebounds.
Lake Roosevelt's Steve Hansen scored a career-high 29 points on 14-for-19 floor shooting, plus grabbed 15 rebounds. Teammate Chuck Simpson scored 19 points, Scott Zlateff had 13 points and Brian Darnold added 10.

Lake Roosevelt (9-11) - Zlateff 13, Simpson 19, Hansen 29, Malone 6, Wippel, Fields, Darnold 10, Williams 2. Totals 33-68 7-16 79.

Cascade (16-5) - Hansen 38, Force 9, Goehner 7, McDevitt 16, Ballew 8, McIver 4, McGregor. Totals 35-68 6-11 82.

Lake Roosevelt	20	34	50	70	79
Cascade	11	31	45	70	82

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Okanogan 72, Omak 61
Game 2.
At Okanogan, WA

Jordan Lesamiz has proven he likes playing in the big games for Okanogan.
None could be bigger than any game against neighboring rival Omak. That is, except Thursday's North Central District A tourney opener against the Pioneers.
Lesamiz, a 6-foot-4 sophomore, delivered a big effort for the second straight time against Omak, scoring a career-high 22 points and grabbing a team-high 14 rebounds. Lesamiz bettered his previous high by one point - that coming last Friday in a league game with Omak.
Okanogan made 16 of 25 free throws, while Omak sank just 4 of 8. Okanogan made 8 of 13 free throws in the fourth quarter, with Lesamiz shooting 3-for-3 and Darin Radke going 2-for-3.
Okanogan plays at top-seeded Chelan on Saturday, while Omak next plays a loser-out game Tuesday.
Okanogan's Mikel Ward produced 13 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks. Ryan Lafferty had 13 points and six assists and Radke added 12 points.
"At the beginning of the third quarter we got the ball inside to Mikel early," Okanogan coach Chris Ferenz said. "They had held him to four points in the first half, but he got two quick baskets and that opened things up for our forwards inside. The kids did a nice job moving the basketball around."
For Omak, Brett Marchand shot 6-for-7 from the field in the first half and finished with a team-high 22 points. Beau Barker added 14 points, shooting 3-for-4 from 3-point range before intermission.

Omak (12-9) - Barker 14, Marchand 22, Rusk, Beetchenow 9, Jensen 2, Sackman 9, Cox, Abshire 5. Totals 25-54 4-8 61.

Okanogan (15-6) - Lafferty 13, Ralston 2, Lesamiz 22, Radke 12, Ward 13, N. Popelier, Goroch, Judd, A. Popelier 10, Gibson. Totals 27-55 16-25 72.

Omak	------------	18	38	46	61
Okanogan	------------	23	39	59	72

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Cashmere 55, Cascade-Leavenworth 52
Game 3.
At Cashmere, WA

Cashmere senior Nik Pflugrath found an opportune moment to shine Saturday night.
The 6-foot-1 guard produced a career-high 24 points and sterling defense to help the Bulldogs beat Cascade 55-52 in the North Central District A boys' basketball semifinals.
Cashmere advances to meet Chelan in the championship game, scheduled for 8 p.m. Wednesday at Wenatchee High. Chelan beat Okanogan 67-51 in Saturday's other winner's-bracket pairing.
On Tuesday, Cascade (16-6 overall) hosts Omak and Okanogan hosts Lake Roosevelt in loser-out games scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m.
Cashmere (17-4) switched defenses effectively against the Kodiaks, with Pflugrath providing strong man-to-man defense when called upon against Caribou Trail League scoring champion Ryan Hansen. The junior was limited to 19 points, 12 below his season average.
Pflugrath shot 10-for-13 from the field, including two 3-point goals, and 2-for-2 from the free-throw line. Teammate Adam Kerns added 13 points.
"Offensively, we were a little tentative," Cashmere coach Miles Caples said. "They were trying to pack it in and take away our inside game.
"Finally in the fourth quarter, we opened some things up and finally started to shoot the ball well."
Both sides used just six players in the contest.
Cascade's Brendan Goehner had 3-point goals for 15 points, hitting two treys in each of the first and third quarters.
Cashmere, which jumped out to an early 7-0 advantage, took the lead for good at 53-52 with a free throw by Jake Kerns. Jordan Green added two free throws with eight seconds left. Cascade's Jeremy Force had a 3-point try bounce wide off the iron in the final seconds.

Cascade (52) - Hansen 19, Goehner 15, McDevitt 7, Force 7, McIver 2, Ballew 2. Totals 20-44 5-8 52.

Cashmere (55) - Pflugrath 24, A. Kerns 13, J. Kerns 7, White 6, Green 5, Voelker. Totals 22-45 7-11 55.

Cascade	------------	12	28	46	52
Cashmere	------------	15	25	37	55

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Chelan 67, Okanogan 51
Game 4.
At Chelan, WA

Eric Boyd scored 22 points to help the Goats to their third victory of the season over Okanogan.
Chelan led 12-11 before opening the second quarter with an 18-4 run. The Goats also put together a 9-2 run to take a 44-34 lead after three quarters.
"We just got out and got the fast break going," Chelan coach Joe Harris said. "They've got a lot of confidence in their abilities.
"They know they're going to hit a spurt somewhere down the line. It's happened in pretty much every game we've played."
Chelan's Andy Figueroa scored 13 points, with teammate Jeff Carlson and Brook Nickell scoring 11 and 10 points, respectively. Boyd and Nickell each made two 3-pointers.
For Okanogan, Mikel Ward had 26 points and 11 rebounds, Ryan Lafferty buried three treys to total 13 points, and Darin Radke scored 10 points. Jordan Lesamiz grabbed eight rebounds.

Okanogan (15-7) - Lafferty 13, Ralston, Lesamiz 2, Radke 10, Ward 26, Whitley, A. Popelier, Gibson. Totals 31-58 6-12 51.

Chelan (17-3) - Jerome, Nickell 10, Boyd 22, Hammons 4, Carlson 11, Cullen 6, Figueroa 13, Clinton 1, Henderson. Totals 25-62 11-19 67.

Okanogan	------------	11	26	34	51
Chelan	------------	12	33	44	67

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Okanogan 75, Lake Roosevelt 55
Game 5. (Loser out)
At Okanogan, WA

Ryan Lafferty scored 14 of his game-high 27 points in the first half as the Bulldogs took a 43-18 lead and cruised to the victory in the loser-out game.
Jordan Lesamiz scored all 10 of his points in the first half and Mikel Ward added eight. Ward, who grabbed a team-high 13 rebounds, had four of his six blocked shots before the intermission.
"We were able to control the boards and convert the outlet for some easy layups," Okanogan coach Chris Ferenz said. "We ran, which is really the first time all year. We don't do it very often.
"Speed isn't our strength. We were able to rebound and throw over the top. We took advantage of it tonight."
Lesamiz nearly had a triple-double, added 10 rebounds and eight assists. Lafferty had five assists and five steals for the Bulldogs, who are scheduled to play Cascade at 6:30 p.m. today at Wenatchee High in another loser-out game.
Chuck Simpson scored 15 points to lead Lake Roosevelt, which finished its season with a 9-12 record.

Lake Roosevelt (9-12) - Zlateff 10, Simpson 15, Hansen 2, Malone 7, Wippel 13, Feeley, Wilson 2, Fields 2, Nissen, Darnold 4, Albert, Williams.

Okanogan (16-7) - Lafferty 27, Ralston 7, Lesamiz 10, Radke 6, Ward 14, N. Popelier, Goroch, Lane, Whitley 3, Judd, A. Popelier 6, Gibson 2.

Lake Roosevelt	------------	12	18	37	55
Okanogan	------------	22	43	62	75

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Cascade-Leavenworth 77, Omak 62
Game 6. (Loser out)
At Leavenworth, WA

Ryan Hansen scored 40 points, but Cascade boys' basketball coach Pat Fromm was just as quick to praise 6-foot-5 junior Peyton Piestrup on Tuesday night.
Piestrup scored just one point, but supplied strong defense as the Kodiaks defeated Omak 77-62 in a North Central District A tournament game at Leavenworth.
Cascade advances to play Okanogan, 6:30 p.m. today at Wenatchee High, in another loser-out game.
Fromm inserted Piestrup, who hadn't played in Cascade's first two district games, into the lineup midway through the third quarter after Omak had cut the Kodiaks' lead to one point.
"He only scored one point, but he takes up some space inside. He kind of sparked the kids," Fromm said of Piestrup, who grabbed four rebounds in eight minutes of play. "He hasn't gotten a lot of playing time, but he answered the call and played pretty good defense for us."
Hansen made a 3-point goal and some free throws late in the quarter as Cascade (17-6 overall) took a nine-point lead into the final period.
"I was really pleased how the kids picked it up when they made that run at us in the third quarter," Fromm said. "Saturday we froze up a little bit when that happened (in a 55-52 loss to Cashmere). That wasn't going to happen twice in a row."
Hansen shot 5-for-10 from beyond the 3-point line and made 13 of 15 foul shots. Teammates Todd McDevitt and Brendan Goehner added 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Omak started strong, making four 3-pointers in the opening quarter, including three by Beau Barker. But the Pioneers, who finished the season 12-10 overall, made just two more treys, shooting 6-for-19 from 3-point range.
"I thought we did a good job, especially after first four or five minutes, getting out on their shooters," Fromm said. "They've got some guys who can shoot."
David Rusk led Omak with 14 points.

Omak (12-10) - Barker 11, Marchand 3, Rusk 14, Beetchenow 10, Jensen 8, Coffey 5, Abshire 2, Sackman 5, Cox 4, McCarty, Matt.

Cascade (17-6) - Hansen 40, Force 8, Goehner 10, McDevitt 11, Ballew 2, McIver 4, Piestrup 1, McGregor 1, Rieke, West, Warren, Anderson.

Omak	------------	18	35	46	62
Cascade	------------	17	42	55	77

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Cascade-Leavenworth 49, Okanogan 47
Game 7. (Loser out)
At Wenatchee High School

Ryan Hansen performed his usual magic, with 34 points, but he had to work hard - and take 28 shots - to get them. And he got some special help on his most important basket ... the tie-breaking layup with 11 seconds left.
Hansen, who scored 22 points over the final 13 minutes, had tied the game twice in the last 1:18, once with a 3-pointer and then with a 12-foot baseline jumper with 32 seconds left. The Bulldogs came downcourt and tried to get the ball inside to 6-foot-8 junior center Mikel Ward, who already had 19 points and 11 rebounds.
But on the lob pass in to Ward, Kodiak senior Brendan Goehner came over the weak side, leaped behind Ward and tapped the ball up, then tapped it again to himself. He spotted Hansen breaking long and hit him with the pass for the easy, game-winning layup.
"I was just helping out (on defense)," Goehner said. "I was glad I didn't get called (for the foul). I didn't touch him, but it's one of those things (officials) usually call."
As for the long pass to Hansen: "That happens a lot. Whenever I get a steal, there's always Ryan or Jeremy Force breaking downcourt. Ryan did what he was supposed to, I did what I was supposed to, and it worked out."
For Cascade (18-6), the victory - ending the season for Okanogan (16-8) - wouldn't have happened if Hansen hadn't gotten hot. The Bulldogs scored the first six points of the second half for a 30-21 lead, but Hansen responded by scoring 13 points in a 14-2 run.
"Ryan can make things happen that most kids just dream of," Cascade coach Pat Fromm said.
Hansen's take on things: "I did not want the season to end. I think we've got a lot of season left."

Okanogan (16-8) - Lafferty 7, Popelier 5, Lesamiz 4, Radke 6, Ward 19, Whitley 2, Ralston 4. Totals 22-39 1-2 47.

Cascade (18-6) - Hansen 34, Force 2, Goehner 3, McDevitt 6, Ballew, McGregor, McIver 4. Totals 17-52 7-11 49.

Okanogan	------------	9	24	32	47
Cascade	------------	11	21	31	49

Stats: 3-point goals: Okanogan 2-8 (Popelier, Lafferty), Cascade 8-21 (Hansen 6, McIver, Goehner). Rebounds: Okanogan 23 (Ward 11), Cascade 32 (McDevitt 13). Total fouls: Okanogan 11, Cascade 11. Turnovers: Okanogan 14, Cascade 8.

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Cashmere 85, Chelan 61
Game 8. (Championship, winner to state)
At Wenatchee High School

All year long, the Cashmere Bulldogs - a basketball team and program which has long prided itself on playing its best when it counts most, at tournament time - had been waiting for a game like this.
"We've been kind of waiting all year to be playing as a complete team," coach Miles Caples said, several minutes after his Bulldogs had done just that ... and just moments before he was drenched by those same players in celebration of their North Central District A championship.
"It's always been three players or two playing well, but not all of them at the same."
Until Wednesday night. When it counted most.
Their 85-61 state-berth-clinching victory over Caribou Trail League regular-season champion Chelan is best characterized this way: It wasn't even that close.
"We've been getting better and better, getting ready to come out and explode like this," said Bulldog senior Adam Kerns, the chief incendiary device with 22 points on 8-for-13 shooting and six rebounds. "We've wanted this really bad. This group (of seniors) has been playing together for a long time, and this is pretty special."
Chelan must play Saturday in the winner-to-state, loser-out against Cascade, which rallied from a nine-point second-half deficit to edge Okanogan 49-47.
"Our kids have done a good job all year of bouncing back from a loss," Chelan coach Joe Harris said. "I guess that's the luxury of our kids having done so well up to now: They've earned another chance."
But to beat Cascade, the Goats won't be able to play as they did against Cashmere. It doesn't get more one-sided than this:
Shooting. In the span starting with the final two minutes of the first period - when Cashmere led only 12-11 - and ending with four minutes left in the game, the Bulldogs shot 28-for-41 (68 percent). Over that same 22-minute span, the Goats shot 11-for-31 (35 percent).
And over that 22 minutes, a one-point Cashmere lead became 81-43.
Ballhandling. The Bulldogs committed only three turnovers in each half. The Goats, normally a sure-handed bunch, committed 18. "You can't win turning the ball over that many times," Harris said. "We threw it to the guys in black too many times."
Rebounding. On those rare occasions when they missed, the Bulldogs went to war to get the ball back. "We wanted to hold them to one shot," Kerns said. "Coach said if we played great defense and limited them to one shot, we'd win."
Although the game totals evened out somewhat in the final 41/2 minutes with reserves on the floor, at one point Cashmere had a 13-5 edge on the boards. The score at the time: 29-11 ... at the end of a string of 17 unanswered Cashmere points.
Nik Pflugrath scored five of his 15 points in that run, after which the Goats never got any closer than eight points. Derek White had nine points and six rebounds for the Bulldogs; Jake Kerns had seven boards. Chelan's Jeff Carlson had 12 of his team-high 14 points in the first half.

Cashmere (18-4) - J. Kerns 5, A. Kerns 22, Pflugrath 15, White 9, Green 9, Voelker 6, Harnden 9, Getchman 8, Stutzman 2, Henning, Crossland, Hansen. Totals 34-62 12-15 85.

Chelan (17-4) - Jerome 2, Nickell 7, Boyd 11, Hammons 6, Carlson 14, Parsley 3, Kollmeyer 9, Dobbs 4, Cullen 5, Figueroa, Henderson, Cooper. Totals 22-51 11-16 61.

Cashmere	------------	18	40	60	85
Chelan	------------	11	37	46	61

Stats: 3-point goals: Cashmere 5-17 (Kerns 3, Pflugrath), Chelan 6-16 (Kollmeyer 3, Nickell, Parsley, Cullen). Rebounds: Cashmere 34 (J. Kerns 7, A. Kerns 6, White 6), Chelan 29 (Hammons 6). Total fouls: Cashmere 14, Chelan 17. Technical foul: A. Kerns. Turnovers: Cashmere 6, Chelan 18.

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Cascade-Leavenworth 68, Chelan 65
Game 9 (Winner to state, loser out).
At Wenatchee, WA

They're called the Kodiaks, but perhaps the Cascade boys' basketball team should carry a new name on its way to the state basketball tournament.
Cardiacs.
"We've had our share of 'em, I'll tell you," Cascade coach Pat Fromm said of his team's rash of down-to-the-wire wars, including Saturday night's 68-65 North Central District A victory over Chelan in the final winner-to-state, loser-stays-home game.
"Tonight it was a little bit of luck, a very skilled offensive player and a lot of heart from everybody we put on the floor."
The skilled offensive player was - no surprise here - junior guard Ryan Hansen, who scored 11 of his game-high 36 points in the fourth quarter as the Kodiaks rallied from a 53-47 deficit.
The luck was Chelan's, all bad; after sinking seven of their first 14 3-point shots, the Goats made just one of their last 10 treys over the final six minutes. That included two misses in the final 14 seconds by guard Brook Nickell, and the last one - a half-court shot at the buzzer - would have tied the game and was straight ... but short.
"I was having flashbacks of last year when Nickell took that shot," Hansen said, referring to the Kodiaks' buzzer-beater in this same game a year ago, when Jeremy Force's 3-pointer sent Cascade to state and Chelan packing. "I wasn't celebrating until the ball hit the ground."
The heart was everywhere you looked, but nowhere more evident than in Force - Chelan's nemesis once again - and Brendan Goehner. The latter, who had been in a shooting slump, sank back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Kodiaks a 55-54 lead with 5:53 remaining. The former came to the forefront five minutes later.
Down 63-62 after Nickell's second trey of the game, Hansen drove the lane and, as usual, found himself surrounded by a bunch of guys in Chelan uniforms. He spotted Force breaking in from the baseline, hit the senior guard with the pass and watched as Force put in a six-footer with 52 seconds left for a 64-63 lead.
"It was basically `Give the ball to Ryan and let him do his thing,' " Force said. "Everybody collapsed on him and he got the ball to me."
"It's kind of like five against one when Ryan takes the ball to the hole," Fromm said. "And he does an excellent job of getting the ball to the open man. He's not just a scorer."
Hansen sank two free throws 20 seconds later, and Chelan's Jeff Carlson answered with a follow shot to make it 66-65. When Force was fouled with 14 seconds remaining, all he could think about was how he had missed a potential game-tying 3-pointer the previous Saturday against Cashmere ... and how he didn't want to a repeat performance.
"I thought about how much work we'd put in to get here, and how I'd been hoping all my life to be in a situation like this," said Force, who had made just 57 percent of his season's free throws up to that point - and only two of seven in the district tournament. "And I was thinking about how I didn't want to miss."
He didn't.
And so Chelan, which won the Caribou Trail League regular-season championship, goes home with a 17-5 record - for the second straight year victimized by the Kodiaks. The Goats' most productive players - Jeff Carlson (19 points, nine rebounds), Eric Boyd (20 points) and Nickell - are underclassmen who will have another chance.
"Our kids worked hard," Chelan coach Joe Harris said. "They could easily have folded (after Thursday's one-sided loss to Cashmere) and given up. They didn't. But Cascade did a good job. They just wouldn't go away. We tried to nail the door shut a couple of times and couldn't do it."
Cardiacs are tough to shake.

Chelan (17-5) - Carlson 19, Hammons 4, Boyd 20, Jerome 2, Nickell 9, Figueroa 5, Cullen 6. Totals 24-52 8-17 65

Cascade (19-6) - Hansen 36, Goehner 6, Ballew 6, McDevitt 4, Force 13, McIver 1, Piestrup 2. Totals 23-59 13-17 68.

Chelan	------------	19	32	50	65
Cascade	------------	17	33	47	68

Stats: 3-point goals-Chelan 8-24 (Boyd 4, Nickell 2, Hammons, Figueroa), Cascade 9-20 (Hansen 4, Goehner 2, Force 2). Rebounds-Chelan 31 (Carlson 9, Hammons 8), Cascade 35 (McDevitt 6, Hansen 6). Total fouls-Chelan 19 (Hammons), Cascade 16.

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