Freeman, Colfax drop games
YAKIMA – Freeman basketball coach Mike Thacker was sure he had the right strategy in place to knock off top-ranked Brewster.
The veteran coach wanted to control the tempo by taking care of the ball and keep the Bears’ high-scoring offense as close to under wraps as possible.
Unfortunately for Thacker, a variable – foul problems – got in the way and the Scotties (15-11) dropped into the consolation bracket with a 72-30 loss Thursday to the Bears in the quarterfinals of the State 1A Tournament at the SunDome.
Freeman will play Overlake in a loser-out contest today at 2 p.m. A win would put the Scotties into the fourth/seventh game on Saturday.
The Scotties kept the pace slow – exactly as Thacker wanted – for half of the first period before Brewster broke loose with a 21-2 run to take control and advance to the semifinals today against Zillah.
Once Brewster took control, Freeman was forced to abandon a deliberate pace in an attempt to catch up but it didn’t work.
“Experience-wise, we’re not deep at all,” Thacker said. “When we got in foul trouble and had to go to our bench, that hurt us.”
Brewster guard Michael Taylor – headed to Eastern Washington University in the fall – had 20 points, seven rebounds and five assists for the Bears.
Michael Wittwer led Freeman with seven points.
Charles Wright 54, Colfax 38: Bulldogs coach Phil Hergert’s 23-year career, encompassing 324 wins, came to an end in a loser-out game.
For the second straight day the Northeast A League and district champion Bulldogs couldn’t find the basket, hitting just 13 of 52 field-goal attempts.
“It wasn’t just one kid, it was the whole team,” an emotional Hergert said after the game. “When they came out in a zone, I thought ‘Great’ “
Even with the Tarriers in a zone, the Bulldogs struggled, scoring just 15 points in the first half .
Hergert leaves the Bulldogs program within sight of its glory days in the 1970s. After a drought that Hergert said spanned 13 years, the Bulldogs won league and district titles and made a second straight state tournament appearance.
“We accomplished a lot but we obviously would have liked to have done better,” he said. “I think we can look back and say ‘Hey, we had a great season.’ “