State finish on their minds
If lightning happens to strike twice in the same place, North Central High School basketball seniors DJ Scott and David Butler will be there to see it.
The two NC seniors were members of the Indians squad that a year ago finished last during the Greater Spokane League regular season, then caught fire to win six of its last eight games and finish third in the Class 3A state tournament.
North Central is improved this year – the Indians were 7-11 with two GSL games remaining – and while Scott and Butler know that a repeat of last year’s fantastic finish would defy the odds, they’re heading into the final weeks of the season with considerable confidence.
“What we learned from last year’s experience,” said Scott, “is that anything can happen, especially when you’re a 3A team competing in a mostly 4A league. Last year we knew what we had to do and picked it up at the end. We have some huge games coming up now, and we’re working to improve every day.”
The Indians have been streaky this season, with a pair of three-game winning streaks but also losing runs of four and five games. A recent close contest with Shadle Park, though, served to boost their morale at just the right time.
“It was a tough loss,” said Scott, “but it showed that we can play with the best teams out there. Even though we lost, it proved to us that we’re better than we thought we were and inspired us to keep working. There are some good 3A teams around the region that are built like Shadle, so that game was good preparation for what’s coming up.”
“We’re taking it one step at a time,” said Butler. “The big thing our seniors brought back this year was the experience of being at state. We know what it’s like, the intensity, how hard we have to play. Now that we’re done playing the 4A teams, our season really starts. We always want to win every game, but at this time of the season we have to.”
Scott is a 5-foot-9 point guard who was coach Jay Webber’s seventh man last season and has stepped into the starting lineup this year. He’s a team leader whom Webber looks to for strong defense and the kind of hustling play that doesn’t always show up in the scorebook.
Butler may be NC’s best athlete, one of the top high school hurdlers in the state. In fact, he was undecided until a week before practice began whether he was going to play.
“It was hard because training through the winter would really help me get ready for track season,” he said, “but after we lost to Shadle in football, I pretty much made up my mind that I was going to play.
“The first half of this season, I wasn’t too impressed with myself, but at practice I shoot through our breaks and put in a lot of extra work, so I’ve played better lately.”
At this time of the season, Webber says, the value of experience is immeasurable.
“You can talk all you want about what it’s like to be at state,” he said, “but it makes a huge difference when you’ve lived it. And in our league, if you don’t have veterans coming back, you’re going to have a hard time succeeding.
“The way the GSL is set up really makes for added excitement at the finish,” he said. “It’s a great situation to play in a league where you don’t have to win it all to get into the playoffs. The kids know our situation. Our goal all season is continual improvement to get ready for right now.
“We know you can’t count on the kind of finish we had last season year in and year out. There are no guarantees.”
That’s a fact of life that the Indians acknowledge, but as Butler says when asked if it can happen again, “We’ll just have to see about that.”