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| Published March 4, 2004 :: Home 
Roger |
Not too Bad a Break for
Brewster's David Pendergraft This Time The game offered no hint, given its slow pace and deliberate style. But something spectacular was about to happen during the Brewster-Cedar Park Christian game Wednesday night in the SunDome. “Broke my nose,” Bears senior David Pendergraft said afterward, removing an ice pack from his face and smiling a bit of a disjointed smile. “Guess that’s a pretty good story, huh?” Compared with Brewster’s 65-25 victory -- maybe. The good news is Pendergraft continued to play after his first-half mishap, in which the 6-foot-6 senior found himself on the business end of an elbow. A foul was called and Pendergraft, who didn’t realize the severity of the problem, made two free throws. “I thought something might be wrong when I started to bleed,” he said. “But I wanted to make my free throws, so I held it in.” Held it in? “If there are points to be had,” joked his coach, Tim Taylor, “David will find a way.” As did the Bears, who have faced all manner of gimmick defenses and let-the-air-out-of-the-ball offenses during a season in which they have defended last season’s Class 1A state championship convincingly and with class. Brewster will take a 24-1 record into Thursday’s quarterfinal matchup with University Prep, having lost only to West Valley 55-45 in January’s Tourneytown.com Shootout. And once again the Bears will be favored so heavily that a loss would be considered by many to be an indication that life as we know it will soon end. “Teams have really come after us all year, playing their hardest and a lot of times playing their best,” Pendergraft said. “That’s been good for us, actually. That’s made us better, whether teams hold the ball like (Cedar Park Christian did) tonight or just run their offense to death like West Valley did.” When Wednesday night’s game had concluded, Taylor kidded that he might lobby for a shot clock. Later, though, he explained that he’d probably try the same tactic were he on the other end of the competitive stick. “I’ve never been in their shoes,” he said. “I can’t really blame 'em, to be honest. I don’t like to play that way, but as a coach you try to figure out how to give your team a chance to win.” As Zillah’s Doug Burge did during a quarterfinal game against Brewster last year. The Bears won, 53-26, but there was one observer Wednesday night who has witnessed at least one major upset spawned by a slowdown. "My senior year at Creswell (Ore.) High School, we were ranked No. 1 and were in a state tournament for schools about the same size as these,” said Mark Few, head coach at Gonzaga University. “The other team came out, held the ball on us and we lost, I think, 26-25 in double overtime.” Of course, Few couldn’t publicly comment on who he was in town to watch -- NCAA rules, you know. But the Zags have had Pendergraft locked up for years, now, and it probably was not a coincidence that Few attended the 2 p.m. game in which 6-8 junior Artem Wallace totaled 21 points and 13 rebounds in Toledo’s 52-40 win over Life Christian. “It’s just fun to watch a tournament like this,” Few said while signing an autograph. “These kids play so hard. It’s a great experience for them.” An experience that will continue for David Pendergraft, despite his injury. “I’ll keep ice on it,” he said, “and I’ll just play the next three games with my nose the way it is. I’ll get it fixed when the tournament’s over.”
Meaning that contrary to the insistence of some, it isn’t yet.
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