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| Published March 7, 2004 :: Home 
Roger |
Brewster
Clamps Down to Repeat It is not the glamour part of the game. It is not attention-getting, not sexy, not even that much fun, truth be told. It is, however, the reason the best teams win the biggest games and take home the bulkiest trophies, as Brewster’s boys have done for the second successive year. For all their star power and for all their firepower, the Bears are back-to-back Class 1A state champions because they make it extremely difficult for opponents to score. They are one of the best teams in Class 1A state history not because they rip and run and shoot the lights out, but because they defend as few ever have. And the Bears had to defend Saturday night to win. Northwest Christian gave them no choice. “Every time we turned the ball over, it seemed like they hit a three,” Brewster coach Tim Taylor said, having changed out of sweat-soaked clothes following his team’s 59-52 victory in the SunDome. “They hit some awfully big shots, some awfully tough shots.” In doing so, the Crusaders from Colbert, just north of Spokane, clearly surprised and impressed the world, even if they didn’t shock it. They took Brewster’s best shot, a brutally-efficient 18-2 start punctuated by David Pendergraft’s pull-up 3-pointer, and insisted on making a game of it. Possession by possession NWC crept back until with only 2:56 to play it was a one-possession game, with the Bears up 48-45. Key to the Crusaders’ comeback was Joel Ryman, a slender 6-foot senior who was effective both from the perimeter and gliding to the basket. Ryman scored 19 points. But with a state championship on the line and Brewster’s man-to-man defense elevated a notch, he got none in the final 6:30. “We had Michael (6-2 sophomore Taylor) on him and we’d change up with Hawkins (6-1 junior Gebbers) to give him a little different look,” Tim Taylor said. “And we did a better job late in the game of dealing with their high screens.” Enough so that on at least two occasions during the fourth quarter, Ryman lifted off for jumpers only to find Michael Taylor or Gebbers in his face. He gave the ball up in mid-air both times. “I’d get up there and find I had nowhere to go,” Ryman said later. “Tim Taylor ... their team is just really well coached.” A fact that was not lost on Northwest Christian’s Ray Ricks, who himself had done an exemplary job with a team that had never before played at state. “Brewster has great athletes, their guards are extremely quick and fast and Pendergraft and (Tyler) Evans are huge,” Ricks said. “That’s where it starts. But they work at it, obviously, and the reality is their numbers would be a lot more impressive if their own offense wasn’t so good. When you run and push the ball like they do and are scoring 80 points most nights, the other team will automatically get a lot of possessions.” It’s true that Pendergraft will be remembered as Brewster’s career scoring leader, two-time state tournament MVP and high-profile Gonzaga recruit. But the 6-6 senior will remember long winter afternoons in which the Bears worked their tails off on defense with no one but their coaches watching. “We’ve spent the majority of our practice time on defense,” he said. “We do a lot of defensive drills where the guys who win the drills don’t have to run. And nobody likes to run.” Few truly enjoy the sweat that goes into playing defense, either. But the smart players and great teams know it’s a sacrifice that’s needed to win. The Brewster Bears proved it Saturday night. Northwest Christian gave them no other choice.
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