Toussaint helps lead West Valley to comeback

There are comebacks and then there are comebacks.

The West Valley High boys rallied from a 12-point third-quarter deficit to defeat host Gonzaga Prep 62-59 in overtime Tuesday night, in the process dropping the Bulldogs into a three-way tie for second in the Greater Spokane League.

But it was a personal comeback that may have made all the difference.

The Eagles’ Rashad Toussaint was dismissed from the team eight games ago after a violation of team rules according to coach Jamie Nilles. But, after a heart-to-heart discussion with Nilles last Friday and some intercession by teammates and assistant coach John Graham, Nilles reinstated the senior guard.

And Toussaint, whose younger brother Arton starts at the point, came through, hitting three key fourth-quarter free throws and sparking an Eagles defense that limited Prep to 16 points over the final 15 minutes, 32 seconds.

“It was a tough decision,” Nilles said of Rashad’s reinstatement. “It’s about a kid getting a second chance and putting him into position to become a better man. I feel he has a better chance of doing that being on the team and under my wing.

“He’s paid the consequences for his mistake and let’s give him some credit, after sitting out eight games, he could have just walked away.”

He didn’t and neither did the Eagles after an intial 20 minutes that earned them a Nilles time-out tongue-lashing. The reason: The Bullpups (12-6 overall and 8-3 in the GSL) were flying to the offensive glass, while the quicker Eagles stood and watched. Prep’s 12-point edge (43-31 with 3:29 left in the third) was built on 21 offensive rebounds.

“Our rebounding really stunk,” Nilles said. “To Prep’s credit, (it) crashed the boards from the wings. Plus, our defensive transition was poor as well so we gave up too many easy baskets.”

Both stopped late in the third, and so did the Prep offense.

“We just didn’t handle their pressure very well at that point,” said Bullpups coach Mike Haugen of the turnaround. “They did a great job of utilizing their speed and quickness down the stretch. We tried a variety of things, but nothing worked.”

The Eagles (ranked sixth in the state 3A at 15-3, 8-3 in the GSL) chipped away – a 24-footer by senior Landon Page as time ran out in the third added momentum – before finally taking a 47-46 lead when Rashad hit 1 of 2 free throws with 1:45 left in regulation.

They extended the lead to as much as four.