Freeman, Colfax split
Patience paid off.
The Freeman Scotties parlayed a ball-control offense into the District 7 1A boys basketball championship Friday, holding off Colfax 47-39 in the rubber match between the co-Northeast A League regular-season champions at Mead.
The teams finished the regular season with identical 8-2 league records, splitting their two two meetings with each winning on its home floor.
In the title game, Colfax managed the lead only once, coming back from a 3-0 deficit in the opening 2 minutes. The Scotties took over on an inside layin by 6-foot-5 post Christian Casto midway through the period and maintained a cushion the rest of the way.
“I tell the kids that the basketball is like gold and they have to treat it that way,” Freeman coach Mike Thacker said. “We went down to Yakima for a tournament over the Martin Luther King holiday to play Granger in the SunDome. We talked then that we were going to have to take care of the ball. Sometimes, to be a great team, you don’t have to run up and down the court and throw up 100 shots. Sometimes you slow it down, put up half that many and take care of the ball.”
The Scotties played tight defense on Colfax guards Ben Aune and Nathan Johnson, attacked the defensive boards effectively, and worked the ball on offense. Freeman regularly made 10 or more passes before taking a shot on its offensive possessions.
Freeman hosts the No. 4 seed from the North Central District tournament, either Chelan or Cashmere, in the regional opener Tuesday.
“When they said they wanted to give the higher seeds a home game in the first round, I jumped at it,” Thacker said. “The Big Nine and Greater Spokane League did that for years and the percentage of home teams winning those games has always been high.
“It’s tough for those teams to come over here and play at our place.”
Colfax must make the toughest turnaround of the year. The Bulldogs must regroup from losing the district championship game and play Lakeside (Nine Mile Falls) tonight at 8 at Mead to determine which team will be the No. 2 seed and play a home game to open the region and which will be No. 3 and play on the road.
Lakeside’s Eagles staged a dramatic fourth-quarter comeback to knock off Chewelah 47-41 at Mead.
Chewelah, which led by as many as 11 points late in the third quarter, must travel to Chelan today to play Cascade (Leavenworth) in a 4 p.m. winner-to-regional, loser-out game.
Girls
Defending State 1A champion Colfax started the girls title game with a 15-0 run on Freeman, then held off a late charge by the Scotties for a 40-34 victory.
Meagan Teade scored 11 points and Lauren Mellor added 10 to lead the Bulldogs, who completed an undefeated league season.
The Bulldogs host a first-round regional game Tuesday against the No. 4 seed from the North Central District.
Freeman plays Lakeside today at 6:30 at Mead to determine the district’s No. 2 and No. 3 seeds.
Lakeside outscored Chewelah 21-13 in the fourth quarter to pull out a 58-53 victory.
Like the school’s boys team, the Cougars travel to Chelan today to play Okanogan for the final regional berth. Game time is 2 p.m.