Rogers Bucks Past Trend

There were delightful screams and tears of joy in the Rogers locker room at the Coliseum on Tuesday night.

The Pirates ended 17 years of frustration by holding off defending AAA state champion Ferris 58-55 in a loser-out game of the Greater Spokane League District 8 tournament. The win advanced Rogers into the Eastern AAA regional boys basketball tournament next week. The season ended for Ferris.

After Rogers coach Rick Mergenthaler and the players whooped it up, assistant Gary Kight, who has been at the school 13 years, tearfully told his team how proud he was of its accomplishment.

Rogers has never been to the regional tournament since it was established in its current format in 1988. Its last postseason appearance outside of the District 8 tournament was in 1978.

The Pirates join the top two seeds from the GSL Mead and Lewis and Clark - plus Central Valley in next week’s regional against the four survivors from the Big Nine. However, there still are two nights of seeding games.

On Thursday, CV, which beat Gonzaga Prep 72-66 in overtime, meets LC at 5:30. It was CV’s fifth overtime game of the season (2-3 record) and Prep’s fourth (0-4). Rogers will play Mead at 9 p.m.

On the girls side, Ferris and Central Valley join Shadle Park and Mead at regional. Ferris eliminated Gonzaga Prep 60-46 and meets Mead at 3:45 Thursday. CV, a 58-45 winner over University, faces Shadle Park at 7:15.

Rogers 58, Ferris 55

The Pirates (10-9) were down right defensive about making history and ending the season of defending state champion Saxons (13-8).

“It comes down to poise and defense. It always does,” coach Mergenthaler said. “When we play well that’s what we do.”

“We’ve had 20 (turnovers) in more games than we care to remember,” Ferris coach Wayne Gilman said, “but their defense was really good.”

It was an 8-2 run to start the fourth quarter, which began with the scored tied at 43, that gave the Pirates the cushion they needed. Four points came after turnovers and one after Scott Stocum picked up his fourth foul. Stocum ended up fouling out with three minutes left and 10 points, nine below his average.

Although the Saxons forced 13 turnovers and had a 38-25 edge in rebounding, the aggressive Pirates handled the Ferris matchup zone pretty well.

“You don’t concentrate defensively on one guy because they have balance scoring,” Gilman said.

Rogers 10 18 15 15 - 58

Ferris 12 17 14 12 - 55

ROGERS Muse 1 3-5 5, Simpson 1 0-0 2, Fischer 4 3-5 11, Metcalf 2 3-4 7, Olson 0 0-0 0, Mergenthaler 3 0-0 8, Smith 1 4-6 6, Spencer 8 1-1 19. Totals 20 14-21 58.

FERRIS Bursch 0 0-0 0, Coulter 2 1-1 5, Hardan 4 4-4 12, Gix 6 2-2 14, Henneberry 0 0-2 0, Oenning 0 0-0 0, Harmon 5 4-4 14, Stocum 3 4-6 10, Weatherred 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 15-19 55.

3-Point goals - Spencer 2, Mergenthaler 2. Total fouls - Rogers 17, Ferris 19. Fouled out - Metcalf, Hardan, Stocum.

CV 72, Gonzaga Prep 66 (OT)

The Bears (11-10) followed the lead of Jeremy Nesbitt against the Bullpups (12-9).

Nesbitt swished his sixth 3-pointer as time ran out to force the overtime with the game tied at 61.

“I just threw it up, luckily it went in,” Nesbitt said. “It wasn’t set up at all, just lucky.”

By hitting six of eight 3s, Nesbitt finished with 23 points.

The Bears then went out and hit all three of their field goals and all four free throws in the extra four minutes, without Nesbitt taking a shot.

“You learn from those things,” CV coach Terry Irwin said. “Having been exposed to those games throughout the season it prepares you for when you need it the most.”

GPrep 22 11 13 15 5 - 66

CValley 15 16 14 16 11 - 72

GONZAGA PREP Strahl 3 3-4 10, Kocharhook 0 0-0 0, Thielman 0 0-0 0, Herrin 4 0-0 12, Jordan 7 1-2 19, Powell 0 0-0 0, Sweeny 3 5-6 11, McFarland 5 2-2 12, Knight 1 0-0 2. Totals 23 11-14 66.

CENTRAL VALLEY Nesbitt 8 1-1 23, Larson 0 0-0 0, Schuh 7 3-3 19, Jensen 3 0-0 6, Williams 3 2-2 8, DelMese 1 0-0 3, Platt 2 5-6 9, May 2 0-0 4. Totals 26 11-12 72.

3-point goals - Strahl, Herrin 4, Jordan 4, Nesbitt 6, Schuh 2, DelMese. Total fouls - GP 17, CV 11. Fouled out - Sweeny, McFarland.

GIRLS

Ferris 60, Gonzaga Prep 46

The Saxons (17-4) got all the victories they wanted against the Bullpups (10-11) but until the last one they were too close for coach Janet Wolkey.

“We made it our goal to win every quarter,” she said. “The first three we were barely able to. Finally we were able to put it together in the fourth quarter. But Prep never gave up, they kept pecking away at us.”

“We’re not the type of offensive team that can come back from a huge deficit,” Prep coach Mike Arte said. “We have to do it with defense and they have so many weapons.”

Gonzaga Prep 11 10 11 14 - 46

Ferris 15 12 13 20 - 60

GONZAGA PREP Austin 0 0-0 0, Cronin 3 0-1 6, Thorn 0 0-0 0, Treloar 0 0-0 0, Williams 1 1-2 3, Bloom 5 1-1 11, Giesa 3 8-8 16, Palmer 2 0-2 4, Weiskopf 2 0-0 4, Strand 1 0-0 2. Totals 17 12-16 46.

FERRIS Pruett 2 4-5 9, Lundy 0 0-0 0, Morrisette 4 7-8 16, Brown 0 2-2 2, Schmedding 0 0-0 0, Watkinson 0 0-0 0, Rasmussen 0 0-0 0, Ireland 3 2-3 9, Tutt 2 0-0 4, Swinton 7 1-2 15, Williams 2 0-0 4, Curry 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 17-22 60.

3-point goals-Ferris (Pruett, Morrisette, Ireland). Prep-none. Total fouls-Prep 18, Ferris 13. Fouled out-Strand.

Central Valley 48, University 45

The Bears (11-10) were nearly flawless in the first half, committing just four turnovers and turning to sophomore Katie Carpenter, who knocked down five 3-pointers from the same spot on the left wing.

Macry McPhee added a big boost with nine of her 12 points off the bench when leading scorer Crystal Lee picked up her second foul.

But the Titans (11-10) came back from the 30-21 halftime deficit, holding CV to one free throw and two missed shots while forcing six turnovers before the Bears made a field goal. The gap was 36-33 entering the fourth quarter.

A basket by Emily Stuenkle gave U-Hi a 45-44 lead with 45 seconds to play but Carrie Sanders responded with two free throws with 22 seconds left. Then, with seven seconds left, Traci Ford was tied up in the lane and the possession went to the Bears, who iced the game on two free throws by Carpenter, her only points of the second half, with one second left.

University 11 10 12 12 - 45

Central Valley 11 19 6 12 - 48

UNIVERSITY Stuenkel 4 1-2 9, Shelton 1 2-2 4, Vlahovich 0 0-0 0, Ford 4 2-2 12, Wilson 1 0-0 2, Jamison 1 0-0 2, Perno 5 1-2 11, Gorman 2 1-2 5. Totals 18 7-10 45.

CENTRAL VALLEY Ang.Kallas 0 0-0 0, And.Kallas 0 0-0 0, Carpenter 5 2-2 17, Ault 0 0-0 0, Clark 2 0-0 4, MacPhee 4 4-7 12, Sanders 1 3-4 5, Lee 2 0-1 4, White 2 0-0 6. Totals 16 9-14 48.

3-Point goals - Ford 2, Carpenter 5, White 2. Total fouls - University 14, Central Valley 11. Fouled out - Perno.