[ t o u r n e y t o w n . c o m -- Nooksack Valley 59, Hoquiam 40]

Nooksack Valley -- Heutink 5-14 0-0 12, Ty Willemsen 1-3 0-0 2, Boon 2-4 0-0 6, Vermeulen 8-13 3-5 19, Tr. Willemsen 0-0 0-0 0, Venn 0-0 0-0 0, VanDyken 0-0 0-0 0, Silves 4-9 2-3 10, Weirauch 0-0 0-0 0, Mitchell 1-2 0-0 3, Vinkes 1-2 0-0 2, Wells 2-2 1-4 5. Totals 24-49 6-12 59.

Hoquiam -- Reed 4-8 4-8 15, Molinet 1-1 0-0 3, Parker 0-1 0-0 0, Hoffman 0-1 0-0 0, Jalo 0-0 0-0 0, Grun 2-3 0-1 4, McCaslin 0-1 0-0 0, Wayman 2-7 0-0 5, Anderson 1-2 0-0 2, Piffero 0-1 0-0 0, Brittinen 4-5 3-3 11, Niemi 0-4 0-0 0. Totals 14-34 7-12 40.

Nooksack Valley

Hoquiam

3-point goals--NV 5-14 (Boon 2-3, Heutink 2-6, Mitchell 1-2, Ty Willemsen 0-1, Vermeulen 0-1, Vinkes 0-1), H 5-8 (Reed 3-4, Molinet 1-1, Wayman 1-2, Niemi 0-1). Rebounds--NV 23 (Silves 8), H 24 (Wayman 6). Assists--NV 17 (Silves 10), H 6 (Wayman 2). Steals--NV 12 (Heutink 3, Silves 3), H 6 (Wayman 2). Blocked shots--NV 3 (Heutink 2), H 2. Fouled out--None. Total fouls--NV 17, H 13. Technical fouls--None. Turnovers--NV 10, H 19.

By SCOTT SANDSBERRY
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC

There’s really no way to explain how Nooksack Valley’s Kyle Vermeulen works his magic in among the trees, but he keeps doing it.

On Wednesday, he led the Class 2A boys tournament in offensive rebounds. On Thursday, in the No. 2-ranked Pioneers’ stunningly one-sided 59-40 thumping of top-ranked Hoquiam, he scored 18 points, and only one basket came on a shot longer than seven feet.

“They couldn’t handle him inside,” Nooksack Valley coach Bill Kelly said. “Our 6-foot-8 center, Kyle Vermeulen.”

Except, of course, he’s not 6-8. Not even remotely close. Look for him in a crowd of Pioneer players, and you might catch a glimpse of the top of his head.

But that was him, front and center, scoring 10 third-quarter points on 5-for-5 shooting inside the paint as the Pioneers (23-1) turned a 28-24 halftime lead into a 50-33 cruise as they moved into a semifinal showdown against Chewelah.

“They couldn’t stop him on the inside,” said Phil Silves, who followed up his 23-point, 15-rebound performance with a 10-assist night against Hoquiam, which lost for the first time in 25 games. “When he catches the ball inside of eight feet, he can’t be stopped, which is just amazing ... because he’s only 6-1.”

Vermeulen, of course, was quick to pass on some credit to Silves, saying, “He’s a great passer. He always gets me the ball at the right time.”

Jason Heutink, whose 12 points included the first five points in a game in which Nooksack Valley never trailed, echoed that sentiment. “He’s having an awesome tournament,” Heutink said of Silves, who also had 10 points and a team-high eight rebounds. “Yesterday it was Phil’s scoring, today it’s his passing. You wonder what he’s going to do tomorrow.”

On Thursday, though, the question was how the Pioneers would react when Silves headed to the bench after picking up his fourth foul midway through the third period. The answer was: Everybody else would fill in the gaps, and the Pioneers’ lead grew in his absence. Center Tim Wells swished a 14-footer. Kyle Boon canned one of his two 3-pointers in the period.

“We had a lot of role players who really came through,” Heutink said.

And they did it not just on offense, but on defense. Boon’s energetic man-to-man defense (with help at times from Ty and Trent Willemsen, Heutink and Vermeulen) on Hoquiam’s stellar senior point guard, Tim Grun, forced the
Grizzlies to pick up their offense closer to midcourt than to the top of the key, and Hoquiam never seemed to get into a rhythm.

Although the Grizzlies made three 3-pointers in their first four shot attempts, the statistic was misleading — because by the time they got off that fourth shot, they’d already committed eight turnovers.

“I don’t know if that’s one of our better games,” Kelly said, but it’s one of our better efforts. We got great efforts from a lot of guys who don’t usually play that long, like Trent Willemsen (a reserve guard and defensive ace). I told him, ‘Trent, that wasn’t like yesterday, yesterday you stunk.’ He just says to me, ‘Coach, could you smell me from there?’ ”

No, not quite. But the Pioneers are getting close enough to get a whiff of the finals.

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