Selah Downs Cheney Undermanned Blackhawks Eliminated From Tournament
Few could argue with Steve Berry’s assessment Thursday when he said his Selah team can’t play basketball.
Yet Selah will play its strange brand of roundball at least one more day, which is more than Cheney can say.
Berry’s 14 points and eight rebounds topped the Vikings (19-7) during an artless 44-32 loser-out win over Cheney (14-13) at the boys State AA high school basketball tournament in the Tacoma Dome.
Selah won despite shooting 32 percent from the floor and suffering through a 6-minute scoring drought against the undermanned Blackhawks.
“We don’t have much talent,” said Berry, a 6-foot-2 junior forward and the lone Vikings player to average in double figures. “We can’t run, shoot or anything, but we like to work hard.”
More work is scheduled at 9 this morning, in a winner-to-trophy-round game against Ballard (20-8). Selah has never placed better than sixth at state.
Cheney left Tacoma believing its stay would have been longer if leading scorer Rick DeMulling hadn’t dislocated his left ankle during Monday’s practice.
“I’ll try not to think that way, but it’ll be hard,” said Blackhawks coach Denny Humphrey. “But now that it’s over and it’s sunk in, we know worse things could have happened (to DeMulling).”
Even without DeMulling, Cheney led 29-28 on Jeff Reiman’s basket with 6 minutes, 34 seconds left. After a Selah rally, Chad Randall’s hoop with 4:05 remaining cut the Vikings lead to 35-32. Cheney didn’t score again.
“We wanted to keep it a halfcourt game and let the defense do the work,” said Selah coach Scott Berry, father of Steve. “Cheney was willing to do that.”
Cheney’s first-half problem wasn’t inside, where DeMulling was conspicuously absent, but outside. Guards Chad Randall and Tucker Urdahl, who averaged a combined 18 points per game this year, hit halftime with zero.
Cheney shot slighty better than Selah (35 percent) but was outrebounded 33-26. Selah registered a crucial 16-5 scoring edge at the free-throw line. No Cheney player scored more than seven.
Still, Humphrey recalled the manner in which Cheney salvaged its season after a 4-10 start. The low point was a 64-49 non-league loss to visiting Lake City of Coeur d’Alene, which, like Cheney at state, competed without its best player.
“We had a sinking ship and they changed their minds about what direction they wanted to take,” Humphrey said. “They changed their approach to practices and how they wanted to play games.”
Selah 44, Cheney 32
Selah 9 6 13 16 -44
Cheney 8 4 15 5 -32
SELAH Mesplie 0, DeGrood 8, Cuevas 5, Nichols 0, Weaver 0, Amos 0, Herrud 0, Kline 10, Worby 2, Berry 14, Otto 5, Rockwell 0. CHENEY Randall 6, Stiffler 0, Battien 2, Urdahl 2, Sobotta 0, Stewart 0, Parker 7, Malisani 4, Reiman 6, Olson 5. , DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo