ACH boys begin tournament run with title game rematch
COULEE CITY — Neah Bay ended Almira/Coulee-Hartline’s 25-game winning streak in last year’s 1B boys state championship game. The No. 8 seeded Warriors would love nothing more than to return the favor in the 2017 regional round on Saturday at Mount Tahoma High School in Tacoma.
The defending champions go into the 1B tournament as the No. 1 seed with an 18-3 record. The Warriors (21-2) are on a roll. Despite a 20-game winning streak, they are the No. 8 seed.
“It’s a different feel this year. To be honest with you, being undefeated at this point last year was kind of unnerving,” said Warriors coach Graham Grindy said. “We were waiting for the other shoe to fall, which it did in the championship game. This year, we’re just going to take whatever we can get. They’re the No. 1 seed, we’re No. 8 — let’s go.”
The winner will move into the 1B quarterfinal game at the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena on Thursday. The loser will play the winner of the No. 9 Taholah-No. 16 Naselle game on Wednesday at 9 p.m.
The Warriors have been there before and this year’s bunch is playing like they have unfinished business to tend to. Payton Nielsen had 25 rebounds and 18 points in the district championship game.
The 6-root-4 junior is averaging a double-double with a team-high 13 rebounds to go along with 16.2 points.
Maguire Isaak, a 6-foot sophomore, is the primary ballhandler, averaging 18.6 and shooting guard Charles Hunt (11.1 ppg) adds another nice game from the perimeter.
“Mac has progressed in the area of being that vocal leader, that big leader by heart, and matured. He’s pretty fiery and that’s his personality. He’s the guy I want running the offense for me,” Grindy said. “Hunt is a great shooter from the outside. Gage Burchill is averaging 8.5 points a game. He’s a very pesky defender.”
The Warriors are averaging 60 points a game, so defense is critical to how deep their run will go at the Arena.
“Sixty points is enough to support the style of defense we like to play,” Grindy said. “Throughout the beginning of the year we focused on the full-court press. We’d like to press a lot, but once you get to this level teams have the ability to break presses. We’re definitely a defensive-minded team. This postseason I’d really like to defend well in the half court and make them work for their points.”
The size match-ups are pretty even. Neah Bay has three guys at 6-2, including Rweha Munyagi, who is averaging 12 points a game. Cameron Moore (5-11, guard) is the leading scorer, averaging 13 points per game. Kenrick Doherty (11.8) and Anthony Bitegeko (10.6) are also averaging in double figures.
“We have some guys coming in off the bench that are contributing,” Grindy said. “The thing I like about this group is that they’re all committed to playing. They know their roles. We can run, we can slow it down. I feel like we’re balanced in that way. Hopefully we get to the point where we can get out in transition, but I’d really just like to play good possession ball and make the best of each possession.”