By John McCallum
Editor 

Blackhawk boys earn berth

Cheney upsets Wapato

 

Last updated 2/22/2018 at 3:11pm



When you get to this point in the basketball season, it doesn’t matter who your next opponent is.

What matters is you still have one.

For the Cheney High School boys basketball team, that next opponent is 10th-ranked North Kitsap, thanks to the Blackhawks 74-69 come-from-behind overtime win last Saturday in Great Northern League/Central Washington Athletic Conference playoff crossover action at Wapato. Cheney overcame a six-point halftime deficit to tie the game at 63 at the end of regulation, then outscored the 17th-ranked Wolves 11-6 in the extra four minutes for the upset and advancement to the state regional round this Saturday.

Head coach Gregg Smith said they practiced on several adjustments during the week in preparation, but it took about 5-6 possessions for his team to figure out they needed to stay with them — the most important being guarding Wapato leading scorer DaMarius Brown with just one player instead of double-teaming him.


“He gets his 20 points,” Smith said. “But we’re not going to let their other shooters get going.”

The plan worked, but it took some effort. In the third quarter the Wolves got hot from the field and threatened to run away with the game, opening a nine-point lead and scoring 18 points on 9 for 10 shooting from the field. Cheney stayed close by matching their 18 points, helped along by five Wapato turnovers giving the Blackhawks more possessions.

In the fourth it was Cheney’s turn. The Blackhawks went 4 for 7 from the field and 3 for 5 from 3-point range to eventually pull even — tying the game on freshman Cole Omlin’s 3 with 14 seconds remaining.


Smith initially thought he had shot too fast, but with a timeout, drew up a defense that forced Wapato into taking a bad shot with about two seconds remaining, with Cheney snagging the rebound to head to OT. In the huddle, Smith said you could see there was no panic on his players’ faces.

“It was just that strong feeling of, ‘now we’re going to win,’” he said.

Omlin led Cheney with 15 points, with Justace Reiter adding 14, Jake Berman 13 and Camden VerStrate 11. Cheney was 54 percent from 2-point range, 20-37, and 33 percent, 7 for 21, from beyond the arc.

Manuel Delgadillo had 23 points to lead all scorers, with Brown adding 20.

With the win, the Blackhawks earn a trip west to Puyallup’s Rogers High School to face 19-4 North Kitsap. Two of the Vikings four losses came against teams from Canadian college prep schools, 90-55 to Brentwood and 77-71 to Vancouver College on Dec. 28 and Dec. 29.

The others were an early-season two-point loss to 4A Jackson and a 55-50 setback to Olympic League rival Olympic High School on Jan. 12.

The Vikings are a tall team, Smith said, with two players at 6-5 and three at 6-4, including sophomore guard Shaa Humphrey. Smith added that six-foot junior guard Connor King is another player Cheney will have to watch.

The Vikings like to shoot a lot and score in bunches while playing an aggressive, man-to-man pressure defense. Smith said facing them will be a challenge, but given Cheney is in it’s deepest playoff run in years, one the Blackhawks are happy to face.

“It’s exciting, it’s very exciting,” Smith said.

John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.

Author Bio

John McCallum, Retired editor

John McCallum is an award-winning journalist who retired from Cheney Free Press after more than 20 years. He received 10 Washington Newspaper Publisher Association awards for journalism and photography, including first place awards for Best Investigative, Best News and back-to-back awards in Best Breaking News categories.

 

Reader Comments(0)

 
 

Powered by ROAR Online Publication Software from Lions Light Corporation
© Copyright 2024

Rendered 03/19/2024 12:45