He makes it look easy

To understand Malcolm Soelberg’s importance to the Freeman boys basketball team, one need only look at the final 2 minutes and 16 seconds of the first half of Friday night’s game against Colfax at West Valley – the game to determine seeding into the State 1A boys basketball tournament that began Wednesday.

The Scotties, the second-ranked team in the state, were struggling against the Bulldogs, who finished third in the four-team Northeast A League during the regular season and reached state by upsetting Kettle Falls. The offense coughed and sputtered and allowed Colfax to stay in the game.

Then Soelberg, a 6-foot senior guard, took a pass from point guard Jason Bailey, faked a drive to back off his defender, then rose up and stroked a 3-pointer, drawing a foul in the process to make it a four-point play.

After interrupting a Colfax pass in the Bulldogs’ backcourt, Soelberg drilled a second 3-pointer from the very same spot and, a possession later, drilled a third from the opposite side with his heels up against the sideline.

Just like that: A 10-point run that put Freeman up by 16 points, a lead the Scotties never surrendered in the second half.

“We hadn’t been playing that well and I wanted to see if I could make something happen,” Soelberg said. “I was hoping that, if I hit a couple shots we could go into halftime with a little bit bigger lead and, maybe, build on that in the second half.”

Making something happen is something of Soelberg’s specialty.

“It is so cool to see Malcolm do something like that,” Bailey said. “He’s just that kind of a shooter. If he gets it in his head, he can take over a game like that.”

With this year’s senior-dominated team, Soelberg has been the offensive constant for a team with so many weapons. Bailey and Soelberg are in their third state tournament as starters. With only a few exceptions, the whole Freeman varsity was at last year’s state tournament.

“It helps a lot to have those (state) games under your belt,” Soelberg said. “As a shooter, I’ve already had that adjustment period, getting used to the shooting background in the Sun Dome.

“More than that, you know that anything can happen at state. And it usually does.”

For most of his basketball career, Soelberg has been an offensive force – the kind of shooter who can take over a game like the one with Colfax.

But that’s not all that makes Soelberg a vital cog on one of the pre-tournament favorites.

“Malcolm has really worked hard on his defense,” Bailey said. “I’ve played with Malcolm since the fourth grade. He’s always been that offensive catalyst, and for a long time, that was his game. But he’s worked hard on his defense the last few years. He’s the kind of defender who can take on their best guy, their top scorer, and hold him to four or five points in a game.”

But the thing is, Soelberg makes it all look so easy.

“That’s something we’re always kidding him about,” Bailey laughed. “He makes it all look so effortless. He never seems to sweat. The rest of us are out there, drenched in sweat, and at the end of the game, Malcolm’s jersey is still dry and he doesn’t look like he even needs a shower.”

Just don’t be fooled.

“It never gets easier,” Soelberg said. “If anything, it gets harder. You just try to get better every year. You work harder and your expectations are higher.”

The expectations are high for Freeman. Winning 21 of 23 games going into the state tournament will do that to a team. So will returning all but one player from a team that reached last year’s semifinal game, where the Scotties lost to eventual state champion Brewster.

“This senior class has been playing together forever,” Soelberg said. “We just decided that this was our time and we were going to go out and play our hearts out. Having that state experience is a big difference for us. We’ve been there before. We know what it’s like. And we know what it takes to be successful there. It’s not so nerve-wracking; you know what to expect.”

And, as a program that has been to state seven consecutive years, Freeman has a routine it follows during the state tournament – a time-tested routine that includes a walk through during the day at Yakima Valley College and team meals.

“That (structure) really helps,” Soelberg said. “That helps us get our focus – the walk through, the team meal, the routine. We have our fun when were there, but once it comes to game time, we’re all about basketball.”

This is a team that has a lot of weapons, Soelberg said. The pressure to score isn’t on the senior guard, averaging 16 points per game. Coach Mike Thacker regularly used 10 players per game, any of whom is capable of stepping up and scoring big in any game.

But the team’s core belief is in Soelberg.

“Sometimes I think our team has more confidence in Malcolm’s shot than Malcolm has,” Bailey said. “Even on nights when he struggling, we’ll still feed him the ball because we know they’re going to start to drop.”

And they do.