Spartan steamroller aims at SunDome project

Rosalia's Nathan Richards stretches out to keep possession. Players on the deck in the championship game at Endicott, from the left, are Kaleb Simon, Flash Hodges, and Cole McCanna.

The undefeated Spartan hoopsters waded through a sea of orange and black-clad fans Wednesday morning to begin a quest to bring the school back its first golden ball.

Rosalia has never won a state title. Last year’s team brought back a fifth-place trophy from the first 1B show at Yakima’s SunDome.

That was the school’s first hardware since 1981.

Bringing back the same key players, Rosalia marched through the regular season with a 22-0 record. Led by senior Jim Maley and junior Nathan Richards, the Spartans entered the tourney with the top ranking in the state AP poll.

Eagles win opener

St. John/Endicott boys won their state tournament opener 59-43 over Tulalip Heritage. Warren Miller powered the win with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Dylan Schmick added 14 points, six rebounds and five assists. The win puts the Eagles in the winners bracket. Today, Thursday, they take on the winner of Wednesday morning’s Cusick/Lake Quinalt match.

“You can’t look past day one,” said Spartan Coach Rob Hudkins. “We aren’t even looking at the other teams in our bracket.”

Maybe they should.

Wellpinit and Sunnyside Christian, the number two and three-ranked teams in the poll, are on Rosalia’s side of the state bracket.

“Bottom line is when you get to state, everybody’s good,” said Hudkins. “You’re going to have to beat four good teams to win it all.”

The Spartans earned the SE 1B top spot to state after clinching the district tournament with a 60-39 win over rival St. John/Endicott Friday at Endicott.

Rosalia rolled out a tight defense that held the Eagles to just 12 first half points. Hudkins credited his crew for hustle, noting the number of times his Spartan defenders hit the court to take charge calls.

“We really wanted to establish a tone early,” said Hudkins. “We wanted to come out and play tight defense, limit their shots and not give them any good looks. And we did that.”

The Eagles rallied and began to close the 27-12 half-time gap. A charging foul, though, gave the Sparts the ball back and Richards drained a three-pointer from the top of the key to squelch the Eagle charge.

“That just killed us,” said SJE coach Rick Winters. “But that’s the mark of a great team. They didn’t seem to get bothered at all by our rally.”

Maley led the Spartans with 27, and Richards finished with 17. Warren Miller had 18 points to lead St. John/Endicott.

Rosalia opened state play Wednesday against Lopez, the four seed out of the Tri-district. St. John/Endicott began their run early Wednesday morning against Tulalip Heritage.

SJE enters the tourney with a 13-11 record on the season. Winters said he hoped to use that mark to camouflage his team’s strength.

“Hopefully they look past us and we can sneak on through the bracket,” said Winters.

The Eagles earned their ticket to Yakima by topping Touchet 54-44 in Saturday’s final district game.

The hot-shooting Indians knocked down their outside shots, but the inside strength of St. John/Endicott denied Touchet attackers any inside looks.

Winters also gave it to his bigs for collecting offensive rebounds for second chance looks.

Miller and Dylan Schmick had 13 points apiece to top SJE scorers. Marshall Byerley led Touchet with 21 points.

SATURDAY

St. John/Endicott 54- Touchet 44: 12/7 14/11 17/12 11/14: Warren Miller 13, Dylan Schmick 13, Cole McCanna 8, Ben Harrison 6, Mason Van Lith 6, Kaleb Simon 5, Kyle Raynor 3. Touchet: Marshall Byerley 21, Jake Hodnefield 13, Matt Kates 8, Bo Segerman 2.

FRIDAY

Rosalia 60- St. John/Endicott 39: 12/3 15/9 14/16 19/11: Jim Maley 27, Nathan Richards 17, John Kuhn 5, D.J. Brown 4, Flash Hodges 3, Zach St. John 3, Tom Carrothers 1. SJE: Warren Miller 18, Dylan Schmick 8, Cole McCanna 6, Kaleb Simon 3, Ben Harrison 2, Kyle Raynor 2.

Touchet 54- Colton 50: 13/13 14/4 10/15 17/18: Byerly 22, Hodnefield 11, Kates 8, Ford 6, Segerman 5, Valencia 2. Colton: Dustin Patchen 20, Josh Straughan 12, Spencer Jacobs 9, Sam Robertson 5, Chase Druffel 4.