ACH takes second at state tournament

SPOKANE - The Almira/Coulee-Hartline boys basketball team took second place in the WIAA boys 1B state tournament at the Spokane Arena.

“The name on our jersey, Warrior, that's what we are. We’re warriors and warriors lose in battle. It just happens. But there'll be a new group, there will be a new batch, there'll be a new group of Warriors. And we will reload and we will do everything we can to get right back here so we can compete,” said ACH head coach Graham Grindy.

ACH played their first opponent in the state tournament on March 3 after being automatically seeded to day two because they won their regional matchup against DeSales.

ACH was ranked No. 1 going into the tournament, and took on No. 7 Lummi Nation in their first state game.

Lummi Nation got the possession from the tip-off and scored the first points at just over seven minutes left in the first quarter. Lummi Nation was able to get five points before the Warriors were able to get on the board. ACH was not going down without a fight and quickly bounced back to take the lead. The end of the first quarter saw ACH leading with 6, Lummi Nation at 5.

The warriors spent the second quarter keeping the lead from Lummi Nation. ACH started getting a decent lead of 23-19 before Lummi Nation made a three-pointer just before the buzzer. The halftime score was ACH 23, Lummi Nation 22.

The Warriors got to work during the third quarter, sinking baskets and holding Lummi Nation back. ACH managed to hold the Blackhawks back enough that they were only able to make seven points that quarter. As they found their groove, ACH got their largest lead during the game (14 points) and ended the third quarter with 40 points on the board, Lummi Nation at 29.

Fourth quarter got a little messier as each team was running out of time to secure the lead. Back and forth the two teams battled. The Warriors were not going to let the Blackhawks close enough to take the game from them. ACH senior Reece Isaac ended up fouling out with 26.3 seconds left on the clock, but losing Isaak wasn’t enough for Lummi Nation to take the lead.

The Warriors took the game 52-44.

ACH then went up against the No. 3 ranked Northwest Yeshiva Lions on March 4. Northwest Yeshiva got the possession from the tip off and made quick work to get a basket in. ACH senior Grady Murray made a three pointer to return the favor. ACH got to 10 points, with the Lions at 2, when the first timeout was called by Northwest Yeshiva at 5:15 left in the quarter.

The end of the first quarter saw ACH doubling Northwest Yeshiva’s standing with a score of 16-8.

ACH continued to put baskets on the board and by half-time, the Warriors were up 28-13.

Through the third quarter, ACH kept the pace, keeping their more-than-10-point lead to end the third quarter up 35-21.

By the end, ACH was victorious, 52-43.

Finally, the Warriors played the Cusick Panthers in the championship round Saturday night where they fell 48-61.

Cusick managed to get the ball from tip-off, which seemed to set the precedent for the rest of the game. Despite this, ACH would show they represented the name on their jerseys, Warriors, and not go down without a fight. They fought and got possession of the ball within 15 seconds of the start of the game.

Cusick did not back down either and got the first layup at 6:10 left in the first quarter. The Panthers continued their roll and got a small lead of 7-0 over ACH.

With 4:20 left in the quarter, ACH senior Grady Murray brought in points for the Warriors with a three-pointer. It got down to 1:25 left and Cusick was ahead with 12 points over ACH’s 5. Both teams added two points to end the quarter, Cusick 14, ACH 7.

ACH pushed back and was able to bring the score to a tie of 14 at six minutes left in the second quarter. However, Cusick wasn’t letting up and took the lead back. By half time, the Panthers had a 28-18 lead over ACH..

ACH saw a surge in the first half of the third quarter that brought them up to 26 points with Cusick still at 28. While they were just within reach of taking the lead, they couldn't quite make it and ended the quarter behind Cusick, 30-37.

The fourth quarter was the highest-scoring quarter for both teams, adding 18 points for ACH and 24 for Cusick. The final quarter saw several fouls, particularly from ACH as they tried to desperately get their hands on the ball. Throughout the game, as soon as ACH would make a basket or pull a small streak, Cusick would respond and match it. ACH stayed steadily at about 10 points behind Cusick during the final quarter.

The final score was Cusick 61, ACH 48, resulting in the Warriors taking the second place trophy.

The Warriors finish the season with an overall record of 20-4 and hold the South District 7 league and District 7 titles.

“I'm so excited to get to coach my boys (Grindy’s sons who are coming up) but I'm so excited that they get to see the end result (of this team’s season) and the emotion because it wouldn't mean anything if there wasn't that. And the boys that are on this basketball team, these guys (pointing to his sons) want to be just like them. It has less to do with their basketball skill and more to do with their character and who they are. They're already great basketball players, we know that, but when you add their character and what kind of young men they are, it just makes it complete.” said Grindy. “And so I told them, I said ‘I'd rather be here with you losing than be anywhere else on the planet tonight’.”

Warrior facts:

• Senior Reece Isaak led ACH in rebounds and points each game for all three state games the Warriors played
• The team scored a total of 152 points throughout the tournament
• They had an 87.5% free throw percentage in the game against Cusick
• ACH made about half the number of fouls compared to their Lummi Nation and Northwest Yeshiva opponents

Box Scores:

ACH - 6 17 17 12 - 52

Lummi Nation - 5 17 7 15 - 44

ACH - 16 12 7 17 - 52

Northwest Yeshiva - 8 5 8 22 - 43

ACH - 7 11 12 18 - 48

Cusick - 14 14 9 24 - 61