Year of the Indians

Give North Central a high five.

After a 55-year wait, the Indians became the fifth best 3A boys basketball team at state by winning their fifth meeting with West Valley.

NC completed a 23-6 season by winning three of four games in Tacoma to bring home the plaque. The loss, to eventual second-place finishing O’Dea, was by a single point.

“I’m very, very happy for the kids,” said coach Jay Webber. “They put in a lot of hours – not only this year – and are a very deserving team.”

NC’s last trophy, a fourth-place finish in 1951, came well before Webber and his players – and most of their parents – were born. Between then and now, basketball success at North Central could be measured on one hand.

There were some break-even league seasons, but this was just the team’s fifth winning season since then. It missed state by a game in 1954 and shared the GSL title, qualifying for the Class 4A regional in 1992.

Eric Beal and Damal Neil, mainstays for the Indians for the past three years, were members of the previous two winning seasons, the 4A regional qualifiers in 2004 and this year’s state 3A placers.

At state, Beal wound up the tournament’s fifth leading scorer with 84 points, and 18.5 per game average, led with 91 percent free throw shooting (22 for 24), was second in assists with 16 and a second-team all-tournament selection.

Neil was the tourney’s sixth-leading scorer with 68 points, 17.0 per game and got all-tournament votes.

“I appreciate everything Eric has done, and he will sorely be missed,” said Webber. “Both have worked extremely hard to get to the level they’re at. To me this couldn’t have happened to two better people. You don’t replace those guys.”

But as vital as the two scoring, rebound and assists leaders were to NC’s success this year, the state trophy wouldn’t have happened without contributions from virtually every player.

Nathan Hood, despite playing with a broken pinky finger on his right hand, twice scored 10 points, including three 3-point baskets in NC’s near-miss 65-64 loss to O’Dea. He and Doug Swanson hit from long range to spark the Indians’ rally from a 41-27 third-quarter deficit.

“They got the crowd and kids involved again,” Webber said about the comeback. “You can sit and be frustrated as a coach (about missing a win by one point), but geez, the kids put their hearts on the floor. They were diehards all the way to the end.”

It was also one of two successive games in which substitute Brett Richardson came in and immediately hit 3-point shots to help bring NC from behind.

“I thought a huge lift for us was our bench play,” said Webber after a game-two win over Squalicum. “Andrew Johnson and Brett gave us a big lift early when Damal was in foul trouble.”

In game three, a thrilling 63-60 win over Mount Rainier, substitute Justin Anderson’s rebounding provided a turning point.

Starter Cody Hauenstein, a typically dependable scorer and rebounder, struggled for two games then scored nine points, including two 3-pointers.

Sixth-man sophomore Nick Rijon and junior Javier Grigsby, playing at 80 percent with a sprained ankle, also provided reserve energy.

“You can’t measure it when you get play off the bench like that,” said Webber.

The Indians capped their trophy run with a 60-52 win over WV, their third victory in five games.

“This one means more,” said Beal. “And we got the tiebreaker. It was a perfect way to end it, almost.”

Also making memories as members of the eighth team in eight NC state tournament appearances to trophy were Zach Saugen, one of seven seniors, and junior Boone Plager.

“Because we’d never been to state before, there’s always a seed of doubt in your mind if it’s ever going to happen,” said Webber. “Anytime you place at the tournament, you’ve had a successful year.”