State B tourneys tough ones to call

In addition to the typical state B draw line of “We’re just happy to be here”, there were a couple of interesting observations Sunday.

Most agree the boys’ tournament should be markedly improved from last year and the girls’ tournament is extremely wide-open, with no favorite to take home the gold ball from the Spokane Arena.

For the boys, most of the tension at the draw, which was held at the Ridpath Hotel, centered on which No. 1 seed would be saddled with the 25-2 Republic Tigers, a No. 2 seed courtesy of their third-place finish at the Northeast District Tournament.

DeSales of Walla Walla (22-1), the top seed out of the Southeast District, drew the Tigers at 7:30 on Wednesday night, setting up the first day’s marquee matchup.

“To me, having the late game was more important than who we play,” Republic head coach John Gianukakis said. “I haven’t seen them very much. They’ve got baseball and football figured out, and now they have basketball, too. They’re probably as fast as anybody we’ve played.”

Everyone’s second selection for worst luck of the draw was LaCrosse-Washtucna (20-5), which drew undefeated Willapa Valley for the 9 a.m. game. The Tigercats finished second to DeSales in the Southeast District.

“To me, there are four outstanding teams in the tournament,” L-W head coach Brian Koller said. “They are one of them. They’re extremely big, which might be a problem for us. The time kind of fits the style we play, though. We like to get after it. Hopefully, we can jump on them before they wake up.”

Lind-Ritzville (24-2), second out of the Northeast District, will play at 4 p.m. against Riverside Christian.

“We’re starting out with probably, besides Republic, the best No. 2 seed,” L-R head coach Dwight Pflugrath said. “They have two kids that are seniors and all-state players. There aren’t any easy games up there.”

Pflugrath was told by a coach over on the west side of the state that this tournament might be the toughest in recent memory.

“He had won a state championship with a team,” Pflugrath said. “And he didn’t think they could get in the semis of this tournament.”

Selkirk (17-10), fourth in the Northeast District, plays Neah Bay (18-6), second from the Tri-District at 10:30 a.m. The Rangers are making their second straight state appearance after a 31-year drought.

At 12:30 p.m., Northwest Christian (24-3), Northeast District champions, play Clallam Bay (18-4), third from the Tri-District.

“I like it,” NWC head coach Ray Ricks said. “I think it’s a good draw. Everyone’s good, so you just have to come out and play.”

Briefly allowing himself to look ahead, Ricks saw a potential semifinal matchup with Willapa.

“They’re big and tough,” Ricks said. “Republic’s still the favorite, though.”

Pateros (20-4) plays Wahkiakum (20-4) in the final game of the morning session. L-R against Riverside Christian kicks off the evening session, with Toutle Lake (17-7) against King’s West of Bremerton (22-3) at 5:30 p.m.

After Republic and DeSales, Tacoma Baptist (17-10) takes on Central Regional champ Sunnyside Christian (22-1) in the nightcap.

On the girls side, the pre-tourney favorite is a toss-up between several teams.

“I don’t think there’s a clear-cut favorite,” Garfield-Palouse head coach Steve Swinney said. “Curlew is playing well, Cusick’s good, ACH is playing well, on any given night, anybody can win.”

Curlew, fourth out of the Northeast District, opens up the girls’ tournament at 9 a.m. against Tri-District runner-up Evergreen Lutheran (20-4). The winner of that game gets the winner of DeSales (18-7) and Central Regional champion La Salle (20-2), the 10:30 a.m. game.

Sunnyside Christian and Toutle Lake square off at 12:30 p.m., with Northeast District champion Almira/Coulee-Hartline (24-2), winners of 19 straight – the longest streak in the girls tournament – taking on King’s West (19-7) at 2 p.m.

“I like being in the afternoon. That’s where we’ve been the past five years,” ACH head coach Mike Correia said.

ACH is making its fifth straight state appearance, the first with Correia as head coach.

Gar-Pal (22-2) opens up the bottom half of the bracket against Southwest District runner-up Mossyrock (21-3) at 4 p.m. Following that game is Cusick (24-2), making its first girls appearance at state, against Darrington (14-15). The Loggers are the only sub-.500 team in the tournament.

Possibly the best first-round matchup starts at 7:30 p.m., with Raymond (22-3) taking on Kittitas (22-3).

Sprague-Harrington (22-5), third out of the Northeast District, wraps up the first day of girls games against Shoreline Christian (22-3), winners of 16 straight.

“For us, it’s a good draw,” S-H head coach Ed Shields said.