Spartan approach
ROSALIA – Though you wouldn’t notice meandering through this quiet town on a Monday afternoon, tradition and progress have collided.
The focal point, as it is in many small towns, is basketball.
Rosalia is in the boys state basketball tournament for the first time since 1981, but when the Spartans tip it off with North River today at 12:30 p.m., the ball goes up in Yakima’s SunDome in the 1B tournament, not the Spokane Arena, which houses a different B tourney.
“It seems the same to me,” 6-foot-1 sophomore forward Jim Maley said. “I didn’t care where state was, just so I went to state. I’m so happy.”
Not so much for his grandfather Bob, who was in Spokane in 1978 watching his son Craig, Jim’s dad, win a fourth-place trophy, and again in 1981 when his son Brad did the same, as well as every other year they rolled the ball out.
“I’m excited for Jimmy because it’s the state tournament, but I wish we weren’t going to Yakima,” Bob Maley said. “Not because it’s Yakima, it’s just the way the tournament is.”
This is the second year since the controversial split of the B schools. The smallest of the small schools, 1B, finish their season in Yakima this week; the big small schools, 2B, conclude next week in Spokane.
B basketball dates back to 1931 and the tournament has been a fixture in Spokane since 1958. In the evolving landscape of school reclassification, as farming communities shrank and small, private schools proliferated, the B classification became the largest – and hardest in which to reach state.
Thus, the split.
“I always felt if you couldn’t compete against the whole B level … they watered down the tournament,” Bob Maley said. “We used to go every year. I didn’t even go to Spokane last year. It used to be the whole Whitman County League was in Spokane.
“It takes some of the luster off. I’d like to see them put it back, but I don’t think they will. That’s the changing times. The schools down here are getting smaller and that’s not going to change.”
The Spartans understand the disconnect, even though Rosalia hasn’t sent a boys team off to state since ‘81 and the girls have never been.
Jim Maley pulled out the recorded radio broadcasts of his dad’s games in Spokane and listened to them last week before Rosalia rolled over Tri-Cities Prep to qualify for state.
“I’ve heard the stories,” he said, “but I always asked to hear them, too.”
Nathan Richards, a 6-4 freshman who attended the last full State B two years ago, said, “I’ve been dreaming of going to state since sixth grade. … I wanted to play in Spokane. Unfortunately, we can’t.”
Coach Rob Hudkins is somewhat nostalgic since he played in the State B tournament with Liberty in the early 1990s.
“I wish we were going to Spokane so more people could come, and for some of these kids, their dads played there,” he said. “It’s still a big accomplishment and from where we started, it’s a huge accomplishment.”
That, ultimately, is all that matters.
When Hudkins arrived six years ago the Spartans had lost 54 straight league games, a string that reached 83. The Spartans who turned things around and are 17-8 and dream of bringing the school’s fourth state trophy home, were in grade school at the time.
“Knowing it’s the first time in so many years makes it more fun,” senior point guard Bobby Baskett said. “I’m proud to be part of it. Leaving a legacy is cool, too.”
“It’s been a community effort,” Hudkins said. “I’m gung-ho, passionate about basketball, and a lot of parents are passionate. This group had a stronger parental presence. A couple had parents who went to state. That’s important. They had that experience and wanted their kids to have it.
“It’s just taken time.”
The players make it sound simple.
“It’s that room over there and the players following him and him,” Richards said, pointing first to the weight room, then Hudkins and finally assistant coach Rob Watson.
“Zero hour lifting and Coach – the small details he pays attention to,” Baskett said.
Basketball was a seasonal sport prior to Hudkins. First he got the grade school to lift its ban on basketballs during recess. Then he opened the gym and started summer games.
“Another tough thing was learning to win,” he said. “We had good kids, but when I told them we were going to play in the summer they looked at me like I was crazy.”
The Spartans won a league game, then a game in the league tournament, then made district.
Along came this group of mostly freshmen and sophomores, who surprised everyone but themselves considering last year’s senior-dominant team went 12-13.
“It was a funny thing. We lost five or six seniors, but when we came back a lot of kids got to work right away,” said sophomore Zach St. John, whose parents both are State B veterans. “I expected we wouldn’t play consistent. I knew we were going to make young team mistakes.”
St. John, a powerful 5-11 forward who averages 9.9 points and 5.5 rebounds, is a disciple of the weight room.
“We’re a lot more aggressive,” he said. “The key thing is this year we have more of an edge.”
“All of us just wanted to go to state,” said senior forward Garrett Hartung. “We wanted to change from the years of losing all the time. We play as a team – it’s as simple as that.”
That team strategy will be tested – or strengthened – in Yakima with the 6-1 Hartung having the heart-breaking misfortune of missing the chance of a lifetime because he broke a big toe in Saturday night’s seeding game.
The look on the face of the Spartans’ top defender and second-leading scorer (10.3 ppg), said more about his feelings than words could.
Maley, the leading scorer (14.4) and rebounder (6.8), said adversity wouldn’t change the approach.
“It was hard work and dedication,” he said. “Nobody believed we’d be here but us. We just believed in ourselves.”
It may not be the same state tournament, but it’s still state.
“I’m glad for Jimmy, for all the kids,” Bob Maley said. “For both my kids, state was one of the highlights of their lives. They talk about the B tournament more than anything else.”
“That means a lot for these kids to get the experience,” Hudkins said. “We’re going to state. That’s all that matters.”