Boys’ basketball stays course, wins district semifinal
Published 1:30 am Tuesday, February 21, 2017
Vashon’s boys’ basketball team advanced another step toward a return to the state tournament with a 41-35 victory Wednesday over the Seattle Christian Warriors in the district semifinal. In the other semifinal, Cascade Christian beat Port Townsend 62-61 and faced the Pirates last Saturday in the final.
Wednesday’s game against Seattle Christian started fast with Seattle guard Evan Toy getting the tip and driving to the hoop. He missed the shot, but Pirate Noah Edmonds got the rebound. Point guard Langston Dziko brought the ball up the court and started the offense. Edmonds drove the left side of the lane, drew two defenders and passed to Dziko. He was ready, caught the pass deep in the left corner, took off into flight and returned to his feet with a 3-point lead.
Seattle Christian came up the floor and Toy, the quick and talented guard, threw the ball away. This was a brilliant pass that didn’t become an alley-oop slam dunk because 6-foot-4 forward Zac VanderLey didn’t see the sign from Toy, which told him that the alley-oop was wide open. Despite the turnover, the Warriors took advantage of other scoring opportunities, and took an early lead of 8-3.
Pirate Jacob Chavez drained a 3-point shot from deep in the left corner. Fifty seconds later, Chavez knocked down another bucket from deep. With the first period winding down, Casper Forest drove to the hoop, and, despite it taking him two shots to get the ball into the basket, his determination got the two points. The quarter ended with VHS ahead 11-10.
The second period was a fight for which Seattle Christian was not prepared. Vashon did not allow penetration into the paint. When VanderLey got the ball inside, Ethan Danielsen was there to contest his shot. VanderLey did get 11 points for the night, but there were many misses due to Vashon’s tenacious defensive front, and Danielson’s five blocked shots.
Dziko started the quarter with a pass to Danielsen, he then cut to the basket, and Danielsen tossed the ball back to him as he went up for the score. He was fouled on the play, and with that free throw, VHS led by four. Danielsen put back an offensive rebound for two more; Edmonds hit a 15-foot jumper, Forest put up a lay-in and, before the buzzer, Forest drained a jumper from the free throw line. At the half, the Pirates had the lead 25-15.
The 10-point Pirate lead was too much from which to recover for the Warriors, but in the third quarter they cut Vashon’s lead to three points, with turnover help from Vashon.
The final quarter started with a Warrior basket to cut the Vashon lead to 29-28, but Pirate forward Edmonds answered with a 17-foot jump shot. Seattle Christian answered with a bucket from 10 feet. Now with a 1-point lead, and four minutes remaining in the game, Danielsen drove into the key and drained a runner to make the score 33-30. The Warriors scored on a 10-foot turnaround jumper from VanderLey to bring the margin back to 1 point.
Vashon’s Rhys Jennings missed from deep, and then Edmonds missed from deep. Vashon maintained possession and with the clock at 2:20, Edmonds
drove for a lay-in and another 3-point lead at 35-32. VanderLey shot from 15 feet, and the ball was in, and then out. Jennings got his eighth rebound, none more important, and Vashon set up its offense. Dziko hit Danielsen at the top of the key, Edmonds cut to the basket, and Danielsen zipped the ball to Edmonds for the score, and a 37-32 lead. This now felt like some breathing room, until Toy buried a three for the Warriors, putting the score at 37-35.
With the clock at 1:15, Forest threw a long, cross-court pass to Edmonds on the left side. Edmonds did not hesitate as he drove to his right and directly home for two huge points, and now a 4-point lead with less than a minute to play. The Warriors missed their shot, and on the scramble for the ball, Seattle starter Dalton Saggau was called for his fifth foul. Seattle Christian would continue to foul in an attempt to gain possession of the ball, and opportunity to score, but they lost another player to his fifth foul, and Vashon would not be beaten tonight.
This was the seventh straight victory for the Pirates, led in scoring by Forest and Edmonds with 10 points, and Chavez had 9 points. Toy led Seattle Christian with 12 points.
Pirates lose in district final, play Kings Way Christian at Regionals
Cascade Christian found a way to beat the Vashon Pirates, for the first time this year, and this 51-41 victory, gave the Cougars the district championship. Both teams advance to regional playoff brackets, February 24-25.
Despite being behind 11-6 after one quarter, Vashon came back to lead at halftime 21-19, due mostly to Edmonds penetrating into the paint and hitting 6-foot jump shots and lay-ins. Cascade could not stop Edmonds; his 15 points were high for the Pirates, but not enough to counter the Cougars balanced scoring from their starters, and a huge disparity in free throws.
During the whole game, Vashon shot two free throws, while the Cougars shot 19, making 15 of them.
In the second half, Cascade Christian made an early 8-2 run, but the Pirates caught them at 27 points each on baskets by Edmonds and threes by Casper Forest, but that was the last time the Pirates were in striking distance. The third quarter ended with the Cougars leading 34-27, and in control.
In the fourth quarter, Vashon needed momentum, but Cascade Christian stayed 6 points ahead, and when the Pirates started to foul to gain possession, the Cougars made all of those free throws.
Tyler Fox had 18 points and Grayson Jones 11 for Cascade Christian.
Vashon will play King’s Way Christian High School at 2 p.m. Saturday at Battle Ground High School in Battle Ground.
The winner will advance to the state tournament, the loser will end their season.
— Daniel Briggs is the father of a VHS varsity boys’ basketball player.
