Scotties win opener, but Colfax falls

YAKIMA – The message board note Freeman coach Mike Thacker had for his boys team Wednesday morning was simple.

“If we win, we sleep in”

The Scotties obviously took that to heart, advancing from the State 1A Tournament’s opener into the quarterfinals with a 43-40 victory over Cascade Christian at the SunDome.

A loss would have meant a succession of 9 a.m. games for Thacker’s team for as long as it stayed alive.

Instead, Freeman (15-10) will play top-ranked Brewster at 4 p.m. today. The Bears, a state finalist each of the past three seasons, moved easily past Ilwaco 62-24.

The Scotties advanced into the quarterfinals for the sixth time in the last seven years with their trademark tenacious defense.

“It’s what we preach at Freeman and that’s what these kids did this morning,” a worn out Thacker said after the game. “I don’t know what their two big kids did, but I know we held them down.”

The aforementioned big kids – Cascade Christian’s Luke Breton VanGroll (10) and Jordan Williams (18) were kept to a collective five points below their average of 33, and a Cougar team that had scored more than 60 points 11 times coming into the tournament was held to 40.

Perhaps equally as important for the Scotties was their comfort level in close games. For the fourth straight game – the last three loser-out – Freeman was in a game decided by less than four points.

“It’s been that way all year for us,” assistant Greg Hannan said. “Our kids are used to it.”

Offensively the wealth was spread around for Freeman. Marc Solberg had 12 points to go with 11 rebounds, while Andrew Dresback, Luke Heinen and Michael Wittwer had eight each.

River View 43, Colfax 38

The Bulldogs lost their seventh straight state tournament game dating back to 1993, tumbling into the loser’s bracket against Charles Wright.

Colfax’s demise was of its own making. Coach Phil Hergert’s team made just one of its final 15 shots in falling into the 12:30 consolation match-up.

“I don’t know what the problem is,” Hergert said afterward, dismissing the issue of shooting in a domed venue. “We’ve been here enough that we should be okay.”

For the game, the Bulldogs were 13 of 46 on field goals – 28 percent. River View wasn’t a lot better, 15 of 42, but had enough to hold on as Colfax closed a 41-32 deficit with 33 seconds left to the final margin.