Top-ranked Vikings face Brewster in title game

By ROGER UNDERWOOD
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC

They had a good plan, a good crowd and good motto to follow the previous night’s “Why not us, why not now?” mantra that had played out so dramatically.

White Swan's Drew Washines, center, goes up for a first-half offensive rebound against Bellevue Christian's Mike Dean, left, and Jeffrey Downs, right.   GORDON KING/Yakima Herald-Republic View all photos for this story.

The problem for White Swan’s Cougars in Friday night’s Class 1A state tournament semifinal was, they also had a really good opponent.

“I think there’s a reason they’re ranked No. 1 in the state,” White Swan coach Ray Funk said of Bellevue Christian after the Vikings’ 55-38 victory in the SunDome. “Tomorrow night’s game should be a great one.”

Meaning the 9 p.m. title showdown between No. 1-ranked BC, 23-2 and riding a 19-game winning streak, and No. 5 Brewster, which will seek an unprecedented third consecutive championship.

For the Cougars, meanwhile, their season didn’t end with Friday night’s defeat, nor did their feeling of accomplishment over Thursday’s rout of No. 2 Freeman.

White Swan, 18-8, will oppose Seattle Christian in a 5 p.m. game Saturday for third and sixth places. So regardless the outcome, the Cougars will take home a trophy.

“We have nothing to be ashamed of,” Funk said, “at all.”

Especially given the show Bellevue Christian staged in this one.

During the formative stages of the first half, the Vikings were all but flawless while building leads of 19-6 and 29-12.

They shot 57 percent during the first half and committed only seven turnovers while attacking a White Swan press that had caused Freeman to come apart at the seams.

“I have three scorers in Nate Hendricks, Bryan Egly and Jeff Downs,” Downs said. “What we wanted to do was attack the press, because if you give me a three-on-one with those kids, I’m going to take it. I thought we did a very good job attacking their press, and I think that’s the key word — attack.”

And after spreading out Freeman’s 2-3 zone defense in an effective divide-and-conquer approach, the Cougars had little success either with BC’s man-to-man or 1-3-1 zone alignments.

“Our opponents’ field goal percentage for the season is under 30 percent, I believe,” Michael Downs said. “We play what I call scouting report defense, meaning we play design our defenses according to what the opponent challenges us with.”

Kenneth Fiander, White Swan’s outstanding 6-foot-1 senior, led all scorers with 20 points despite playing his second consecutive game on a badly sprained left ankle. Fellow senior Chris Jones added nine points, but no other Cougar had more than two.

Hampered by the lanky likes of the 6-4 Jeffrey Downs, the 6-2 Hendricks and 6-5 junior Ryan Park, among others, White Swan shot only 31 percent.

The Cougars didn’t score more than three unanswered points until the end of the third quarter and they scored no more than nine points in any period until the fourth.

“They were very aggressive and very good with both their man-to-man and zones,” Funk said, “and my guys forced the issue on occasion. But that’s OK. They played hard and it’s difficult to fault that.”

Hendricks led Bellevue Christian with 18 points while Egly and Jeffrey Downs added 12 each. Downs grabbed 11 rebounds and Hendricks had nine as the Viks outboarded White Swan 31-19.

“I’m happy for Mike,” Funk said of Michael Downs. “He’s a great guy and he’s been there a long time. They deserve this.”

To be sure, Saturdays’s championship game appearance will be BC’s first in eight tournament appearances.

“It’s funny,” Michael Downs said. “Brewster’s been No. 1 forever, it seems, and then we beat them over at Seattle Pacific (60-58 in BC’s second game of the season), and since then we’ve been No. 1. And we’ve learned that when you’ve got that target, everybody comes after you.

“And I’m sure Brewster would like to knock us off tomorrow night.”

Oh yes, White Swan’s motto for Friday night. Funk said it was “Seize the moment.”

At least Saturday the Cougars will seize a trophy.