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The dream is fulfilled

Cascade Christian captures Class 1A boys basketball state crown

Shaun Scott

With a state championship on the line, the Cascade Christian Cougars boys basketball team lit up the scoreboard.

The Cougars, behind the hot shooting of point guard Cody Shackett, raced out to a 29-8 halftime lead and held on for a 45-35 victory against the Meridian Trojans in the Class 1A boys basketball state championship game on March 6 at the Yakima SunDome.

Shackett, who was named the tournament MVP, scored a game-high 22 points in the championship title game tilt. Meridian battled back narrowing the Cougars’ lead to just five points in the latter stages of the fourth quarter. Shackett came to his team’s rescue, scoring on an inside bucket with 2:40 left and a drive to the hoop with 1:04 remaining, giving the Cougars a 44-35 cushion.

“This is something we’ve been thinking about for almost our whole life,” Shackett said of winning the state championship. “You always want to imagine how it feels but you really can never describe what it really means until you do it. We knew we could win coming into this game and we did.”

Senior sharpshooter Jonnie Washburn said the Cougs were loose heading into the title game.

“We’ve played together for so long that we’re probably a lot different from most other teams before a big game,” Washburn said. “We do a lot of laughing and joking around in the locker room before the game. We try to take the approach that it’s just another game and not get too worked up. I think that’s one of the reasons why we came out shooting like we did.”

Cougars head coach Jerry Williams said he wasn’t worried when Meridian made their run in the second half. He knew his team would come through in the clutch and it did.

“We knew they would make a run. There was no way they were going to just give the state championship to us,” Williams said. “I knew our guys would find a way to get the job done. They’ve been brilliant at it all year long and have really grown up as a team. They fight back every time another team challenges them. Nobody deserves this state title more than them.”

Cougs corral win against Vashon in semifinals

For the third time in four tries, the Cougars beat their nemesis, the Vashon Island Pirates, during the 2009-10 season.

Only this time, Cascade Christian’s 57-48 win against defending state champion Vashon Island in the Class 1A semifinals on March 5 capitulated the Cougars into the championship game for the first time in school history.

Cougars sixth man Ty King scored 10 of the Cougars’ 14 points in the second quarter and was a major reason why the Cougs came out on top against their rivals.

“Coach (Jerry Williams) always tells me I’m one of the best shooters on the team,” King said. “I was just wide open on some of those shots. I was just really feeling it and fired away.”

The Cougars built a 36-28 lead in the third quarter but saw that lead slowly evaporate in the fourth period. John Gage’s bucket in the paint for Vashon cut Cascade’s lead to 44-41 with 2:36 left in the game. Vashon had the momentum but Cougars senior Jonathan Felczak knew how to get it back. With the shot clock running down and Felczak close to 28 feet from the hoop, he hoisted a three-pointer from way beyond the arc hitting nothing but net, giving the Cougars a 47-41 lead with 2:01 left in regulation.

The Pirates never recovered from Felczak’s shot.

“Johnny (Tveter) just got me the ball. The clock was running down and I had to make something happen,” Felczak said. “I just put it up.”

Williams was impressed with the way Felczak, David Walters and Tveter played defense on Gage, Vashon’s big man in the paint. Gage scored a team-high 21 points but had to work for every single bucket in the process.

“Our guys did a great job defensively on him. We knew if he really gets going it could be a long night for any team trying to stop him,” Williams said. “Our defense did a good job of staying on him and made it just difficult for him to get going.”

Formidable defense pays off for Cougs against Loggers

The Cougars didn’t score one field goal against the Onalaska Loggers in the fourth period.

It didn’t matter.

The Cougars’ pesky defense surrendered just 27 points and the Cougars reigned victorious courtesy of a 37-27 victory on March 4. Cascade’s pressure defense, spearheaded by TJ Tuttle, forced Onalaska to shoot a woeful 27 percent from the field. The Loggers scored just 12 points in the second half. The Cougars’ offense was led by Shackett’s team high 10 points.

Williams said he was impressed with the grit his team displayed in a game where offense wasn’t of paramount importance.

“Our defense won us this game tonight. It was huge,” Williams said. “Our defense played hard and our guys played with a lot of heart. They contested everything. This is the second game in a row where our defense rose to the occasion.”

Washburn said Onalaska was the toughest defensive team he has faced all year. He was held to a mere two points in the contest.

“They were by far a great defensive team,” Washburn said. “We played great defense too and shut them down. We never let them back in it even when we had trouble scoring at the end. We didn’t play our best game but we won. That’s all that matters right now.”