Ferris’ depth too much for Shadle Park

Why are the Ferris Saxons undefeated and ranked second in state 4A? The reason became clear in Friday night’s District 8 boys basketball championship game, won by the Saxons 50-37 over Shadle Park.

Ferris just has more weapons than everyone else in the Greater Spokane League. At least more than the Highlanders could muster at University High School.

With both teams’ floor leaders held scoreless – the Saxons’ Shawn Stockton and Shadle’s Zack Humphrey – Ferris used a balanced attack and the inside presence of DeAngelo Casto to pull away in the third quarter and earn the district’s top seed in next week’s regional against the Columbia Basin League representatives.

In the early game to decide the third and fourth seeds, Mead was nearly perfect from the floor in routing Gonzaga Prep 60-40. Ferris and Shadle Park, as the 1 and 2 seeds, will host CBL schools Tuesday, while Mead and G-Prep will travel to CBL sites.

Ferris 50, Shadle 37: The Saxons (22-0) entered the game with the idea they needed to stop Humphrey, whose outside shooting has powered the Highlander (16-7) all season.

The junior guard took Shadle’s third shot of the game. His next shot came with 4 minutes, 14 seconds left to play and Ferris leading by 10. He had just four attempts.

“We came in wanting to try to keep Zack under control,” said Ferris guard Erick Cheadle, who finished with nine points. “We also wanted to keep Anthony (Brown, who had a game-high 17 points for Shadle) under control as well, but we didn’t do that too well.

“Zack’s the best shooter in the league and we knew we had to stop him.”

The Saxons’ matchup zone switched at every opportunity, never allowing Humphrey a look at the hoop. Brown took up a lot of the slack before fouling out, but was the only Highlander in double figures.

Ferris had three, including reserve guard Jeff Minnerly with 13; Casto with 12, 10 of those coming at the free-throw line; and Jared Karstetter with 10. The 6-foot-8 Casto also added 14 rebounds and five blocked shots.

“We wanted to be inside-out on offense,” said Stockton, a junior point guard. “We wanted to get it into ‘D’ and let him kick it out. When they fouled him, that works, too.”

Ferris led by three at the half, but Shadle scored the first four of the third period to take a 25-24 lead. When freshman Aaron Dunn scored on a post move with 3:46 left in the third, Shadle had a 29-28 lead. It would be its last.

The Saxons went on a 13-2 run spanning the end of the third and the early fourth to put away the game. Four different players scored in the stretch.

“What was most pleasing,” Ferris coach Don Van Lierop said, “was it was different guys at different times giving us a different lift. Like Tyler Lynn scoring those two big baskets near the end.”

The U-Hi gym was a little more than half full for the title game, but the two biggest celebrities in attendance were Washington State University coach Tony Bennett and his father Dick.

Mead 60, G-Prep 40: The Panthers (17-5) earned the third seed for next week’s regional by never missing from the floor. Well, nearly.

At one point in the third quarter, when they led 56-29, the Panthers were 23 of 29 from the floor, an astonishing 79 percent.

“I turned to (assistant) Pat (Clark) and said I wished we would save some of those for Tuesday night,” Mead coach Glenn Williams said. “Actually, I think we did. These kids can do that when they make the extra pass.

“We played more like a team: we were more willing to make that extra pass than we were against Shadle Park (in a first-round loss Thursday).”

Brendan Ingebritsen was the recipient of most of those extra passes, finishing with a game-high 21 points. Lucas Ashe added 14.

For the Bullpups (13-10), who turned the ball over eight times in the game’s first 6 minutes, Michael Alexander led with eight points.