[ t o u r n e y t o w n . c o m -- Brewster 69, Seattle Christian 44]

Brewster -- Phillips 1-3 0-0 3, M. Gebbers 1-2 3-4 5, H. Gebbers 1-5 4-4 6, Brown 1-1 0-0 2, Rios 0-0 0-0 0, Hill 3-6 3-4 9, Michel 0-0 0-0 0, Hobart 1-1 0-0 2, Pendergraft 12-18 1-1 26, Vallance 0-0 0-0 0, Evans 4-4 0-2 8, Taylor 3-8 1-2 8. Totals 27-48 12-17 69.

Seattle Christian -- Cook 0-0 0-0 0, T. Peterson 1-1 0-0 2, Standley 1-1 0-0 2, Lindseth 7-17 2-4 17, R. Peterson 2-3 1-4 5, Finn 0-3 0-1 0, Collier 3-10 1-2 8, B. Peterson 0-0 0-0 0, Park 0-0 0-0 0, Jansen 0-0 0-0 0, Hoover 0-0 0-0 0, Duby 3-10 3-3 10. Totals 17-45 7-14 44.

Brewster

Seattle Christian

3-point goals--B 3-12 (Pendergraft 1-3, Phillips 1-3, Taylor 1-4, H. Gebbers 0-2), SC 3-12 (Lindseth 1-2, Collier 1-4, Duby 1-6). Rebounds--B 36 (Pendergraft 17), SC 16 (Finn 4). Assists--B 14 (M. Gebbers 5), SC 8 (Collier 5). Steals--B 8 (Phillips 2, M. Gebbers 2, Pendergraft 2), SC 10 (Finn 4). Blocked shots--B 0, SC 1. Fouled out--Duby. Total fouls--B 18, SC 20. Technical fouls--None. Turnovers--B 17, SC 16.

By SCOTT SANDSBERRY
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC

So, in the pantheon of great Class 1A boys teams, where does this Brewster bunch fit?

They have a future Division 1 star and tournament MVP at center. They play ferocious defense, and can stick with it all night, and tomorrow night, and the night after that. They outrebound everybody by a ton. They have two victories over an outstanding Seattle Christian team that nobody else in the 1A ranks could even touch.

They have — oh, yeah — the 2003 state championship, courtesy of a 69-44 victory over the Warriors in a title game that was fiercely contested but never really a contest.

And, scariest of all, they’re young.

“I’m 39, and I’ve been to 37 of these (1A state tournaments),” said Seattle Christian coach Roger DeBoer, “and I’ll tell you: They show the same type of fundamentals as that ’77 Cashmere team. The Lyndens and the Grandviews and the LaCenters, those teams had great athletes, but I don’t know if they had the depth, the defense and the fundamentals that this team have. “Hey, they probably have four or five kids on their bench that would start for anybody else.”

And the ones that start aren’t bad either, especially 6-5 junior center David Pendergraft — the no-brainer choice for MVP even before his 26-point, 17-rebound, 12-for-18 shooting, three-assist and two-steal night. He scored
nine points over the first 4 1/2 minutes as the Bears jumped out to a 12-4 lead, which stretched to 24-7 by the third minute of the second quarter.

“I was getting focused long before the game started, because I knew that I had to step up,” Pendergraft said. “That was a great team that we played tonight. Those guys are very talented.”

The Warriors (25-2) were playing in their fourth straight championship game and fifth in six years, while Brewster (28-0) had arrived at the state tourney undefeated for the second consecutive year. Last year, though, Pendergraft was out with a broken wrist. This time, the Bears had everything going and did nothing wrong, outrebounding the Warriors 36-16, shooting 56.3 percent from the field while holding the Warriors to 37.8 percent accuracy.

“When we came in, Coach (Tim Taylor) told us two things: Block out and play defense. The rest will take care of itself,” said senior guard Mac Gebbers, whose five assists tied SC’s Jordan Collier for game high. “This feels so
good. We’ve been waiting for this. I’ve been here four years, and something always happens, somebody gets hurt or we don’t play good. Thank goodness ... it finally happened.”

Seattle Christian made a couple of runs in the second and third quarters, even cutting the margin to seven points at 31-24 behind all-tournament forward Nick Lindseth (who would finish with 17 points). But two inside baskets by 6-6 reserve post Tyler Evans, a 3-pointer by precocious freshman guard Michael Taylor and back-to-back scores by Pendergraft bumped the lead back up to 43-27. It was all over.

“Our kids really stepped up tonight,” Tim Taylor said. “We knew Seattle Christian would come out physical and we were a little careless with the ball in the third quarter. We knew they would make a run at us, but we were able to weather it.”

And, of course, the key meteorologist was Pendergraft.

“He is amazing,” Taylor said. “And the great thing is, I get to play with him for another year.”

So do starting guard Ryne Phillips ... and Evans ... and reserves Hawkins Gebbers, Keith Hobart and Ross Brown, who combined for 10 points.

Yes, the Bears are that young.

And, yes, that’s scary.

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