40th Annual
North Central District "A"
Boys Basketball Tournament
1997

Champ

ionship

Febr

uary 28

Che
(22

lan
-1)

Score

: 50-47

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Cashmere 67, Liberty Bell 37
Game 1.
At Cashmere, WA

The Bulldogs were successful in elevating their game for tournament basketball, and cruised to the first-round district victory.
“I was fairly pleased with our intensity level,” Cashmere coach Miles Caples said. “The focus was pretty good. It's playoff time, and you've got to turn it up.”
The Bulldogs outscored the Mountain Lions 17-7 in the first quarter.
Jake Kerns led Cashmere with 18 points, and Jordan Green added 15. Caples praised the defense and rebounding of junior post Spencer Crossland.
“He didn't show up in the points,” Caples said. “But he really did a lot of good things. He's a good athlete for his size.”
Liberty Bell was paced by Travis Smith's 12 and Chad Prewitt's 11.

Liberty Bell (10-11) - T. Smith 12, Prewitt 11, Bannick 4, Burkhart 1, Fasse 2, Northcott 4, Voip 3, M. Notaro, J. Notaro, Deprati, Ellis.

Cashmere (16-5) - Kerns 18, Green 15, Darlington 12, Crossland 2, Sparks 6, King 4, Henning 2, Stendera 8, Tinker, Smith, Long, White.

Liberty Bell	------------	7	19	30	37
Cashmere	------------	17	32	51	67

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Omak 52, Brewster 38
Game 2.
At Omak, WA

David Rusk netted 20 points and sophomore wing Geoff Pearson came off the bench to score 10 points to life the Pioneers to a the first-round win.
Omak coach Rocky Verbeck praised the work of point guard Anthony Matt, who guarded Brewster's Johnny Gebbers, the league's leading scorer (20 ppg), and held him to five of his team-high 16 points during the middle quarters.
"Anthony really slowed down and challenged Gebbers a little bit," Verbeck said. "Geoff Pearson did a great job off the bench. His first full varsity game was at Quincy (on Feb.15) and he had nine points down there. He's done a good job."
Omak used a 20-8 second-quarter run to rake a 32-20 halftime lead.
"Our kids played really well defensively and caused turnovers in the second quarter." Verbeck said. "That was kind of a difference, because Brewster got after it. It was a pretty low-scoring game; it was a slugfest."

Brewster (8-13) - Sanchez 9, Shepard, Boesel 8, Becker 2, Gebbers 16, Gurney, McGuire 1, Brown, Meese 2.

Omak (18-3) - Massie, Matt 5, Monahan, Ayers 3, Sackman 5, Rusk 20, Brucker, Pearson 10, Utigard, Gardner 2.

Brewster	------------	12	20	28	38
Omak	------------	12	32	40	52

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Okanogan 41, Cascade-Leavenworth 34
Game 3.
At Leavenworth, WA

In a first round North Central District A boys' basketball game that looked like it could go either way, the Okanogan Bulldogs knew something that no one else was sure of.
They knew they would win their game against Cascade.
“I really didn't have any doubt,” Okanogan forward Jordan Lesamiz said. “I thought we could finish it off. We just have so much confidence in our defensive play.”
The No. 5 seeded Bulldogs outscored Cascade 17-4 in the final quarter, and pulled out a 41-34 victory over the No. 4 seeded Kodiaks.
For three quarters, the teams gauged one another. The Kodiaks probed Okanogan's 2-3 zone defense, and the Bulldogs looked for weaknesses in Cascade's man-to-man. While they were passing the ball around the perimeter and observing the opposition's defenses, neither team bothered to score too many points.
Cascade built its biggest lead, 30-24, at the end of the third quarter.
“I thought the kids played hard,” Cascade coach Pat Fromm said. “We just ran out of gas at the end.”
And Okanogan used the inside advantage it had discovered in the second half to take control. Jordan Lesamiz made a tough over-the-shoulder catch of a full-court pass and converted the layup to give Okanogan a 35-34 lead with 2 minutes, 17 seconds remaining.
Sol Horner posted up Cascade's Micah Rieke, spun into the shorter defender, and powered up for another basket a minute later to make it 37-34. The 5-foot-10 Rieke gives up 4 inches to Horner, but Okanogan didn't exploit the matchup until the end of the game.
“I had him on me the whole game,” Horner said. “I just had to take it to the hoop hard with the mismatch down low.”
Nine of Horner's team-high 12 points were scored in the final quarter. Lesamiz and Nicholas Popelier finished with 10 points each for the Bulldogs, and Aaron Gibson scored nine as just four Bulldogs produced points.
Rieke sparked Cascade's play in the third quarter with five of his game-high 14 points, and hustled to create scoring opportunities for his teammates. Diving out of bounds after an offensive rebound near the end of the period, Rieke looked back toward the basket and spotted Danyl Klump for an easy rebound.
When Brandon Klump jumped a little higher than everyone else to tip home a miss at the third-quarter buzzer, Cascade celebrated at midcourt and seemed to have emotion and momentum on its side.
The Bulldogs stayed calm though, and finished the job they had set out to do. A blown 19-point lead in a home loss to the Kodiaks earlier this season provided extra inspiration.
“Last time we played them we were too tentative,” Lesamiz said. “We decided we weren't going to let that happen again.”
The victory lands Okanogan a Saturday night winners-bracket game with Caribou Trail League champion Chelan.

Okanogan (11-10) - Popelier 10, Horner 12, Lesamiz 10, Gibson 9, Lassiter, Carlton, Martin, Duncan. Totals 17-32 4-6 41.

Cascade (12-9) - West 3, Rieke 14, McGregor 2, B. Klump 8, Lang 3, McCauley 2, Broaddus 2, D. Klump. Totals 15-41 1-3 34.

Okanogan	------------	11	15	24	41
Cascade	------------	13	19	30	34

Stats: Rebounds— Okanogan 27 (Gibson 8), Cascade 17 (B. Klump 8). 3-point goals— Okanogan 3-4 (Popelier 2), Cascade 3-18 (Rieke 2). Turnovers— Okanogan 20, Cascade 10. Total Fouls— Okanogan 9, Cascade 10. Fouled out— None.

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Chelan 37, Tonasket 19
Game 4.
At Chelan, WA

It wasn't an exciting game plan.
But all Tonasket boys' basketball coach Jay Hawkins wanted was to give his Tigers a fighting chance against host and top-seeded Chelan in Thursday's opening round of the North Central District A tournament.
His slow-down style worked for three solid quarters, as Chelan led by just nine points. However, the Goats pulled away with an 11-2 game-ending run to earn a 37-19 victory over the Tigers.
The deliberate pace left Chelan staggering to a 5-4 lead after one quarter. Each team had just two points until Chelan outscored Tonasket 3-2 in the final 17 seconds of the first quarter.
“They held the ball for a couple minutes a few different times,” Chelan coach Joe Harris said. “The kids handled it well and didn't get frustrated.”
Tonasket got off just 19 floor shots in the game, sinking seven of them.
“We went into it with the idea it might give us a chance,” Hawkins said. “It did. Chelan just has too many weapons offensively and defensively.”
Jeff Carlson led Chelan with 17 points on 6-for-10 floor shooting. He was 5-for-5 on free throws. Phil Cullen had 12 points for the Goats.
“They started out with a man-to-man defense, and we held the ball awhile,” Hawkins said. “When they came out with that 2-3 half-court trap, they get after you. We made mistakes, and you just can't have turnovers.”
The Goats committed just two turnovers in the game, while Tonasket had 11.

Tonasket (7-15) - T. Call, Hauff 8, Hendrick 3, Pile 3, B. Call 2, Thompson 3, DelRosario, Jones, Oberg, Gomez, Hotchkiss.

Chelan (20-1) - Dobbs 1, Nickell 5, Johnson 2, Cullen 12, Carlson 17, Rogge, Rodriguez, Miller.

Tonasket		4	6	17	19
Chelan		5	13	26	37

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Liberty Bell 69, Brewster 42
Game 5. (Loser out)
At Chelan, WA

The Mountain Lions leaned on their defense to stay alive in the North Central District A Tournament on Saturday night.
“That was by far our best defensive effort of the season,” Liberty Bell coach Rocky Kulsrud said. “We had a really poor effort at Cashmere (a 67-37 loss last Thursday), and tonight we challenged the kids.”
Jacob Burkhart and Sy Bannick combined to hold the Bears' Johnny Gebbers to one point in the first half and 10 in the game.
Liberty Bell was led by Travis Smith's 24 points.

Brewster (8-14) - Sanchez 5, Shepard 2, Boesel 4, Becker, Knowlton 2, Vargas 2, Gebbers 10, Gurney, McGuire 5, Brown 8, Meese 4.

Liberty Bell (11-11) - J. Notaro, Bannick 11, J. Smith 2, Burkhart 7, Fasse, Prewitt, T. Smith 24, Northcott 15, M. Notaro. Deprati 6, Ellis 2, Voip 2.

Brewster	------------	6	20	33	42
Liberty Bell	------------	17	26	43	69

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Cascade-Leavenworth 47, Tonasket 39
Game 6. (Loser out)
At Chelan, WA

Cascade's Mitch West scored a team-high 17 points to lead the Kodiaks to the win.
Cascade cruised out to a 18-4 first quarter lead, led my West's seven first quarter points.
“It was nice to see us shoot well,” said Cascade coach Pat Fromm.
Tonasket slowly crept back into the game, and after a Kevin Pile 3-pointer in the fourth quarter the lead was cut to three, 37-34.
“We were ahead the whole time but it was nip-n-tuck the whole way,” said Fromm. “I was very pleased with the way the kids played defense.”
Cascade's Micah Rieke scored 12 points and Brandon Klump added 11 points and 16 rebounds.
Tonasket's Kevin Pile scored a game-high 19 points.

Tonasket (7-16) - Thompson 2, Oberg 2, Hauff 6, T. Call 2, Hendrick 8, Pile 19, B. Call, Hotchkiss.

Cascade (13-9) - Rieke 12, McGregor 5, West 17, B. Klump 11, Lang 2, Broaduss, McCauley, D. Klump, Burlingame.

Tonasket	------------	4	16	28	39
Cascade	------------	18	24	37	47

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Cashmere 63, Omak 52
Game 7. (Semifinal)
At Omak, WA

Cashmere boys' basketball coach Miles Caples had prepared his Bulldogs for a physical battle with Omak in Saturday's North Central District A semifinals.
But the intensity of host Omak's attack still took Cashmere by surprise.
However, Cashmere returned the favor in the second half, especially in the fourth quarter, as the Bulldogs made a 22-5 game-ending burst to earn a 63-52 victory over the Pioneers.
Cashmere, which made the district finals last year, is scheduled to face Chelan in the district championship at 8:30 p.m. Friday at Eastmont High.
Cashmere's Aaron Sparks and Josh King each had six points during the fourth-quarter run.
“They tried pressing us, and those two ended up getting some easy ones over the top of the press,” Caples said.
Cashmere shot a blistering 15-for-23 (65 percent) from the field after intermission, including 13-for-16 from inside the 3-point stripe.
The win was Cashmere's third straight over Omak this season.
Jordan Green had 16 points to lead Cashmere, and Jake Kerns had 14 points and seven rebounds.
For Omak, Anthony Matt had 18 points and Joe Ayers added 12 points and seven rebounds. Pete Colomb produced five points and eight rebounds in his first game back from a sprained ankle.
“Jordan Green hit a long 3-pointer that cut our lead to six at the end of the third period,” Omak coach Rocky Verbeck said. “That was kind of a momentum-swinger.
“We had a couple defensive letdowns and could not get the ball to drop."

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Chelan 44, Okanogan 34
Game 8. (Semifinal)
At Chelan, WA

The Goats' Phil Cullen scored all of his team-high 15 points in the second half and grabbed 10 rebounds as Chelan pulled away to win the NCW District A semifinal game.
“Neither team shot very well in the first half,” said Chelan coach Joe Harris, referring to the combined field goal percentage of 27 (13-for-48) by the teams.
Chelan went on a 10-3 run to start the second half and expanded its five point halftime lead to 36-23 by the end of the quarter. Cullen fueled the Goat offense going 5-for-5 from the field and scoring 10 points in the quarter.
Chelan's Jeff Carlson was held to a season low seven points but did contribute with 10 rebounds and eight assists.
The Bulldogs' Nicholas Popelier went 3-for-6 from 3-point range in the fourth quarter and had a game-high 17 points.
“Popelier seemed to hit a big shot whenever they needed it,” said Harris.

Okanogan (11-11) - Popelier 17, Lassiter 9, Horner 2, Lesamiz 2, Gibson, Martin 2, Carlton 2, Duncan.

Chelan (21-1) - Dobbs 10, Nickell 6, Johnson 6, Cullen 15, Carlson 7, Rogge, Rodriguez, Miller.

Okanogan	------------	7	15	23	34
Chelan	------------	8	20	36	44

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Okanogan 53, Liberty Bell 50 (OT)
Game 9. (Loser out)
At Chelan, WA

If the Liberty Bell boys' basketball team's season was going to end Tuesday, it was going to take a supreme effort from Okanogan.
Okanogan coach Chris Ferenz got exactly that, as his Bulldogs repelled Liberty Bell 53-50 in overtime in a North Central District A loser-out game at the Chelan Community Gym.
Liberty Bell came back from an eight-point deficit with less than 1:30 to play to force the overtime, but could not keep the momentum going.
With Okanogan up 47-39 with 1:06 left, Liberty Bell's Travis Smith was fouled while shooting a 3-pointer. Smith sank all three free throws, then hit a 3-pointer with 53 seconds left to cut the Bulldog lead to 47-45.
The Mountain Lions got the ball back again and Joe Smith sank a put-back from eight feet out with one second left to forge a 47-47 tie, sending the game into overtime.
In overtime, scoring came hard. Okanogan was ahead 50-47 when Liberty Bell's Travis Smith hit another 3-pointer to tie it with 43 seconds to play.
Okanogan's Sol Horner hit two free throws to put Okanogan up 52-50. With 17 seconds left, Okanogan's Jordan Lesamiz, 6-foot-4, blocked an inside shot by 6-8 Travis Smith, then grabbed the rebound. Lesamiz was then fouled and went to the line, sinking one of two free throws.
Liberty Bell couldn't make good on two 3-point shots, the second getting blocked by Okanogan's Jerome Lassiter.
“It was a wild one,” Ferenz said. “The kids worked really hard and the effort paid off. They really had a will to win.”
The Bulldogs' Sol Horner scored a career-high 16 points and Jerome Lassiter also had a career-high 14 points to lead the team.
“It was great to see those two guys step up and have the game they did,” said Ferenz.
Travis Smith led Liberty Bell with 27 points.
“Liberty Bell kept hitting big shot after big shot ... especially Travis,” said Ferenz.

Liberty Bell (11-12) - J. Notaro, Burkhart 10, T. Smith 27, Northcott 2, Voip 2, Bannick 4, J. Smith 5, Fasse, Prewitt.

Okanogan (12-11) - Popelier 8, Lassiter 14, Horner 16, Lesamiz 9, Gibson 6, Martin, Spaet, Carlton.

Liberty Bell	9	19	34	47	50
Okanogan	10	21	34	47	53

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Omak 57, Cascade-Leavenworth 50
Game 10. (Loser out)
At Chelan, WA

Omak came-back from a 41-34 third-quarter deficit to win.
Cascade's Mitch West scored 10 of his game-high 23 points in the third quarter to lead the Kodiaks to a seven-point lead. But by the end of the quarter the score was tied 41-41.
With Omak up 52-48 late in the fourth quarter, Anthony Matt sank four free-throws to put Omak ahead 56-48.
“Anthony's free throws were key,” Omak coach Rocky Verbeck said.
Omak went 10-for-12 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter.
The Pioneers had a balanced offensive attack with four players scoring in double figures, led by David Rusk's 16 points and Peter Colomb's 13.
For Cascade, Ty McGregor scored 11 points.

Cascade (13-10) - Broaddus, Rieke 7, McCauley, McGregor 11, West 23, B. Klump 1, Lang 6, D. Klump 2.

Omak (19-3) - Massie, Matt 4, Ervin 10, Monahan, Ayers 4, Sackman 10, Colomb 13, Rusk 16, Brucker, Pearson.

Cascade		10	27	41	50
Omak		11	30	41	57

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Omak 65, Okanogan 41
Game 11. (Loser out)
At East Wenatchee, WA

The Omak Pioneers have proven this season they're capable of playing physical basketball.
They've also proven on some nights they can shoot.
Friday night at Eastmont High School they did both in the same game, and routed Okanogan 65-41 in a loser-out North Central District A boys' basketball game.
“We've been physical sometimes, and haven't shot the ball well,” Omak coach Rocky Verbeck said. “That's the closest to a complete game we've played in a long time.”
When the Pioneers put it all together ... look out. Not many teams can package a brutally effective inside game, and the soft shooting touch Omak displays when at its best.
On the inside, there's Josh Ervin and a host of strong, aggressive players. Ervin wears No. 14, but he's not your typical No. 14, usually worn by a guard.
He doesn't bring the ball up the court, and he doesn't hang around near the 3-point line. Against Okanogan, he was the ring-leader in the brutality department, and finished with 10 points and seven rebounds.
Ervin returned to the starting lineup for the season's stretch run after sitting out most of his senior year with a broken foot.
“The first doctor told me ‘No, you're not playing hoops this year,' ” Ervin said. “I decided to get a second opinion on that.”
The consensus on the Pioneers: they are an aggressive, hard-nosed rebounding team. They proved that point by gaining a 25-16 advantage on the boards against the Bulldogs.
“That's what people say about us,” Ervin said. “We push you around and knock you down. So that's what we go out and do.”
Well, not all of the time.
On the outside, David Rusk leads a group of shooters that can hit the 3-pointer. Rusk wears No. 32, which may be fitting. The senior falls somewhere between the big bangers in the paint wearing numbers that start with four and five, and the little guys wearing jerseys in the teens and twenties. He plays both parts equally well.
Against Okanogan, he showcased the perimeter game, and finished with 17 points. In the second quarter alone he made three 3-pointers and scored 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting. As a team, Omak made 8-of-12 3-point attempts.
“We had good ball movement,” Rusk said. “That helped out a lot, and gave me some open shots.”
Rusk's second-period outburst helped Omak build a 13-point halftime lead. Okanogan got within 11 points in the third quarter, but the Pioneers lead ballooned again in the fourth.
Pete Colomb scored 13 points for Omak, and Anthony Matt added 10.
“They shot really well from the perimeter,” Okanogan coach Chris Ferenz said. “And they just had too many big strong kids.
“We're kind of tall and lanky. We just got beat up a little.”
Okanogan guard Nicholas Popelier shot and slashed his way to a team-high 15 points.
The Pioneers faced one more battle to win a state tournament berth. Omak and Cashmere played Saturday afternoon for the district's second berth to the Class A State Tournament next week in Tacoma.
After their big win on Friday, Omak's players were content to try to win a trip to state on their own terms.
“If the shots are going in it's great,” Rusk said. “But we can get down there, and bang and get some trash, too.”

Okanogan (12-12) - Popelier 15, Lassiter 6, Horner 9, Lesamiz 3, Gibson 2, Carlton 2, Martin 3, Kladnick, Spaet 1, Duncan. Totals 17-36 3-11 41.

Omak (20-4) - Matt 10, Ervin 10, Ayers 1, Colomb 13, Rusk 17, Sackman 2, Pearson 2, Utigard 2, Monahan 3, Brucker 3, Massie 1, Gardner. Totals 26-50 6-11 65.

Okanogan	------------	5	18	33	41
Omak	------------	10	31	45	65

Stats: Rebounds— Okanogan 16 (Lesamiz 5), Omak 25 (Ervin 7). 3-point goals— Okanogan 4-9 (Popelier 2), Omak 8-12 (Rusk 3). Turnovers— Okanogan 14, Omak 12. Total fouls— Okanogan 13, Omak 16. Fouled out— none.

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Chelan 50, Cashmere 47
Game 12. (Championship)
At East Wenatchee, WA

They rolled around on the floor like little kids wrestling in mud.
Joe Harris had known them since they were just kids, when they were sixth-graders and ballboys on his first team at Chelan High. Now, Jeff Carlson and Brook Nickell were rolling around on the floor, laughing and shouting and maybe crying a little in celebration of the Goats' 50-47 North Central District title win over Cashmere.
And Harris' ear-to-ear smile had as much to do with those two seniors' joy as with the fact the Goats were heading to Tacoma for the Class A state tournament for the first time since 1993 ... the year before Carlson and Nickell put on Chelan varsity uniforms for the first time.
“I would do anything for Nickell and Carlson. They're like my own kids,” Harris said. “They've been with me for a long time ... and just thinking they're not going to be around next year is pretty frightening.”
But they will be around in Tacoma this week, so those two won't mind a bit that — after four years of outstanding play for the Goats — they happened to pick the district championship game of their senior year to put together some of their worst basketball. They combined for 1-for-12 shooting, eight total points and Nickell, one of the Caribou Trail League's top passers, had nary a single assist.
And they don't care a bit. Nor should they. They'd beaten Cashmere, their nemesis in both of the last two district tournaments.
“That's probably the worst game I've ever played,” Carlson said with a huge — albeit relieved-looking — grin. “But it's the greatest feeling. I'd take all those other games and trade them all in for this one game.”
Or for the kind of game teammate Phil Cullen had. The junior post, conservatively listed at 6-foot-9, dominated both ends of the floor, scoring 26 points on 9-for-16 shooting and hauling down 19 rebounds — just two short of Cashmere's team total. “He,” Harris said, “was a stud.”
Five of Cullen's baskets had come on assists from Robert Johnson in the right-side corner, precisely where Johnson found himself with 48 seconds to go, the score knotted at 45-45, and Cullen underneath the basket — but well covered.
It was the critical moment of the game. Chelan had played catch-up most of the game, down 18-10 after one quarter, 23-16 midway through the second quarter and 42-36 going into the fourth quarter. Cashmere's Jake Kerns had scored 15 first-half points and Jordan Green and Josh Stendera had together sank five 3-pointers.
But the Bulldogs had missed their first six shots of that final stanza, and the Goats had made their first four, one of them a 3-pointer by Lucas Dobbs.
Now, in the corner 16 feet from the hoop, Johnson didn't hesitate.
He took the shot ...
“He can hit that shot,” Cullen would say later. “He hits it all the time in practice. That's his specialty.”
“That was the guy we wanted taking the shot,” Cashmere coach Miles Caples would say later
“I was just in the flow,” Johnson said. “I always look for (Cullen) first. He wasn't open.”
... and the ball hit nothing but net. Swish. 47-45, Chelan.
That field goal pushed the Goats over the hump, over three years of frustration. The Bulldogs' Spencer Crossland would see his 10-footer with 18 seconds left dribble off the rim and into Cullen's waiting hands. Chelan would salt the game away at the line, with Dobbs sinking one of two with 12 seconds remaining and Cullen sinking a pair with 5.7 ticks left.
“It's been a long time coming,” Harris said. “You get to a point in your season, especially with what Jeff and Brook have been through, where you want something so bad you try to go beyond what you're capable of doing. Early on, that was the case — we had guys trying to do too much.
“But I don't want to take anything away from what Cashmere did. They did things against us that we couldn't handle.”
But the Bulldogs went 0-for-7 in the fourth quarter, and that killed them.
“The lid went on (the basket) for us,” Caples said with a shrug, knowing his team would have to come back to the same Eastmont gym in 14 hours to play the second-to-state, loser-out game with Omak. “We had great looks, we had our opportunities, but we weren't able to finish them.”
And now, for the first time in four years, the Goats aren't finished after district.
“We knew this was the year. Now we got the monkey off our back,” Carlson said.
“Now we're going to go to state ... and do something.”

Cashmere (17-6)— Crossland 4, Stendera 8, Kerns 17, Darlington 6, Green 11, Sparks 1, King, Long, Henning. Totals 15-45 11-14 47.

Chelan (22-1)— Carlson 4, Cullen 26, Nickell 4, Johnson 4, Dobbs 8, Miller 4, Rodriguez, Rogge. Totals 17-40 14-21 50.

Cashmere	------------	18	29	42	47
Chelan	------------	10	27	36	50

3-point goals— Cashmere 6-16 (Green 3, Stendera 2, Kerns), Chelan 2-11 (Cullen, Dobbs). Rebounds— Cashmere 21 (Darlington 7), Chelan 34 (Cullen 19). Turnovers— Cashmere 12, Chelan 15. Fouls— Cashmere 22 (Kerns), Chelan 18 (Dobbs).

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Cashmere 71, Omak 43
Game 13. (Winner to state, loser out)
At Chelan, WA

Matt Darlington was living out a dream.
Omak's boys basketball team was reliving a nightmare.
“Ever since I was a baby I've been going to Tacoma for the state ‘A' tournament,” said Darlington, a Cashmere junior who grew up watching the basketball exploits of his older brother Paul and sister Heidi, both of whom played at state (Paul at Cashmere, Heidi at Cascade). “It's always been my dream to walk out onto that court in Tacoma. And you know you'd hear it from the family if you don't go: ‘Hey, we made it and you never made it.' ”
After Saturday — and the Bulldogs' 71-43 thrashing of Omak in the North Central District A tournament finale, in which Darlington's 16-point, 13-rebound performance played no small role — the Darlington family can rest easy. Matt and his Cashmere teammates are going to state.
The number of Omak team locker rooms necessary in Tacoma got cut in half, though, because Omak's boys found themselves in that same recurring nightmare: They were playing Cashmere, and everything was going wrong ... again.
Omak went 20-1 against everybody else this year. Against the Bulldogs, they were 0-4.
“I think we get so pumped up for them,” said Cashmere senior guard Josh Stendera. “They took us out of the whole thing last year (with an Omak district tourney win last year over the Bulldogs), and we came out this year and wanted paybacks.
“We played super hard. We wanted it so bad — because we saw last year how the seniors handled it (the loss), and we couldn't deal with that.”
The Pioneers, meanwhile, couldn't deal with the Bulldogs' inside height advantage.
“The matchup situation causes them some problems,” Cashmere coach Miles Caples said. “They're very athletic with those 6-2 kids, but we can match that athleticism with just a little more size.”
Indeed, the Bulldogs' front line — 6-foot-4 Jake Kerns (21 points, seven rebounds), 6-4 Darlington and 6-5 Spencer Crossland (eight points, including a thunderous dunk in the first period) — was too much for the Pioneers to handle.
“We've got that size inside,” Darlington said. “When we work it inside and then kick it out to the guards, that seemed to work for us.”
The game was close for only one and a half periods, until Kerns made a nifty baseline cut, took a pass from guard Jordan Green (one of Green's seven assists) and scored to give the Bulldogs the lead for good at 26-24.
Darlington followed with five straight points for a 31-24 lead, and Omak never recovered. Darlington scored seven third-quarter points, the Bulldogs got up by 15 ... and never looked back.
“We just broke down a couple of times — more than a couple of times — on blocking out,” Omak coach Rocky Verbeck said. “We did get out of synch offensively, but then, Cashmere was playing pretty good defense. It wasn't that we weren't trying, we just couldn't get any continuity.”
Josh Ervin and David Rusk each scored 10 points for the Pioneers, who shot only 30.6 percent from the field.

Cashmere (18-6) - Kerns 21, Stendera 6, Crossland 8, Darlington 16, Green 8, Sparks 4, King 6, Smith, Tinker 2, Henning, Long, White. Totals 23-48 24-27 71.

Omak (20-5) - Ervin 10, Rusk 10, Sackman 5, Ayers 8, Colomb 8, Pearson 2, Monahan, Matt, Massie, Brucker, Utigard. Totals 15-49 10-17 43.

Cashmere	------------	16	35	50	71
Omak	------------	14	27	35	43

Stats: 3-point goals— Cashmere 1- 5 (Kerns), Omak 3-11 (Colomb 2, Sackman). Rebounds— Cashmere 38 (Darlington 13), Omak 21 (Ervin 4, Ayers 4). Turnovers— Cashmere 16, Omak 16. Fouls— Cashmere 16, Omak 22. Fouled out— Darlington, Ayers.

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