Squalicum rains on West Valley's boys

By Paul Shugar
Yakima Herald-Republic

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SEATTLE -- The West Valley boys learned Storm is an appropriate nickname for Squalicum.

Defenders everywhere each time a West Valley player got the ball anywhere inside the 3-point arc, Squalicum snowed in the Rams on Thursday in the quarterfinals of the Class 3A state tourney. Both teams are almost mirrors of finesse and speed, but the Storm executed better in the 53-37 victory.

"Our problem was not defense," said WV coach Jim Berndt, whose team drops to 20-7 overall. "We played defense good enough to win, I thought; the root of our problem was we didn't execute well offensively."

As tenacious on offense as defense, the run-and-gun Squalicum team showed why it has only one loss and is ranked fifth behind 24 victories. This team will get to find out how good it really is against top-ranked Rainier Beach (27-1) in the semifinals today.

WV must settle for a rematch with Columbia Basin League 3A Division rival Eastmont (19-8) at 2 p.m. today in KeyArena. The Rams won the last matchup, 61-46 for the district championship, and will need a victory to reach Saturday and play for a trophy.

What they probably won't face today is defense like the Storm played. WV shot 13 of 44 from the field (29.5 percent) with Evan Berndt (14 points) and Jared Robinson (10 points) leading the charge. This allowed the Squalicum to build an early seven-point lead and take a 25-18 lead at half.

The Rams managed to get within one, 29-28, on a Berndt 3-pointer with 1 minute, 29 seconds left in the third. But the Storm pushed the lead back to three heading into the fourth, and a WV 3-point attempt for the tie to start the fourth missed.

Squalicum scored the next seven points to start pulling away behind Nick Stackhouse's game-high 23. Teammate Patrick Voeut, who did most of his scoring early, was the only other Storm player in double figures with 11.

Stackhouse further padded his stats in the fourth quarter as WV started fouling in the final 4 minutes. He went 10 of 12 from the free-throw stripe, and the team shot 15 of 18 (83 percent) from the line in the second half to make sure there would be no comeback.

Now WV must figure out how to beat the Wildcats again after handing them three defeats already this season. But they plan on joining their girl contemporaries on Saturday to play for the team's first trophy since taking third in 2004.

"We've played three times already, but we didn't come over to go home," Berndt said. "We want to play on Saturday and get a trophy."

 

WEST VALLEY -- Staples 0, Goodman 0, Delorme 3, Evan Berndt 14, Borton 7, Jared Robinson 10, Hernandez 3, Wood 0. Totals 13-44 5-10.

SQUALICUM -- Dickerson 0, K. Stackhouse 5, Patrick Voeut 11, Nick Stackhouse 23, Greene 5, Hooper 9, Wallace 0. Totals 16-41 18-23.

West Valley 9 9 10 9 -- 37

Squalicum 14 11 6 22 -- 53

3-point goals: WV 6-22 (Delorme 1-1, Berndt 1-7, Borton 1-3, Robinson 2-7, Hernandez 1-2, Wood 0-2), Squal 3-10 (Dickerson 0-1, K. Stackhouse 0-2, Voeut 2-3, N. Stackhouse 1-4). Rebounds: WV 27 (Borton 8), Squal 33 (Greene 8). Turnovers: WV 12, Squal 8. Total fouls: WV 21, Squal 9. Fouled out: Goodman (WV), Delorme (WV).