Zach Sybouts freely admits he’d rather be a guard. And with his size and quickness, the Zillah junior would probably make a fine one.

But with nobody taller than his 6-foot-2, the Leopards needed him elsewhere for his first varsity season. Like under the basket.

“Technically I am our tallest guy, but I didn’t like the idea of playing post at first,” he said. “Everybody would be taller than me and I thought, man, do I want this?”

Turns out the same qualities that would make him a quality guard come in handy as a post, even if an undersized one.

With his sturdy frame and the speed he used to place fourth in last year’s 1A state 100-meter dash, Sybouts tore through Cedar Park Christian’s interior defense for 22 points and led Zillah to a 57-41 victory in the first round of the state tournament Wednesday.

Sybouts connected on 10 of 12 shots and scored eight points in the third period, when the Leopards burst away with a 16-3 run.

“We felt all along that Zach would make a good post and, after all, he is the tallest we have,” smiled coach Doug Burge. “I know he’d probably like to play a little more outside, but he’s our guy in there. He’s so athletic and he’s got a long reach.”

Sybouts, who played on the junior varsity team last year, got a big boost of confidence after playing against Hanford’s 6-9 Steve Severn in December.

“He got only 11 points and I thought that was a pretty good job on a 6-9 guy,” he said. “After that I could see that, with quickness and position, I could handle himself in there.”

Despite the lopsided final margin, Burge needed to administer a kick in the shorts early in the game when the Leopards fell behind 7-1. It wasn’t the kind of start anyone in black and orange wanted to see, given that last year Zillah lost its opener before rallying for a fifth-place trophy.

“It was like our legs were in cement,” the coach said. “I took a timeout and said, ‘Hey guys, take a deep breath.’ We were a little out of sorts.”

Zillah then proceeded to effectively use its speed, attacking the basket for five straight layups. Starter Andy Jones picked up two quick fouls and had to sit, but junior Chase Marquis came off the bench to score 10 of his 15 points in the first half.

Once the Leopards established what they could do inside with Sybouts, they popped outside as Marquis canned two 3-pointers in the second quarter. Chris Gasseling made three treys in the game and finished with 13 points.

“This is my first state tournament so I was a little nervous,” said Marquis, who attended La Salle last season. “All I wanted to do was contribute something to the team, so I’m pretty happy with how I did.”

So was Sybouts.

“Chase really stepped up big,” he said. “With this being his first state tournament for us we weren’t sure how he’d handle it. He sure showed us.”

Sybouts got some nice inlet passes as Brian Ross collected four assists and Justin Rico and Marquis had three apiece.

In Thursday’s quarterfinals, Zillah (23-2) will take its 18-game win streak against Overlake (18-5) at 5:30 p.m. The Owls, who have a good deal more height than Cedar Park, defeated Burbank 56-49 in their opener.

“It wasn’t the prettiest game today, but we did have a nice third quarter,” Burge said. “I’ve been in enough of these to know that it’s not about how many points you score but just getting to the next day. We took care of that.”

Cedar Park Christian -- Bettinger 6-17 4-4 18, Potts 0-0 1-2 1, Ramos 3-15 0-0 8, Orrico 0-1 0-0 0, Raschick 2-6 0-0 5, Angell 0-1 0-0 0, Brown 1-5 1-1 3, Rappuhn 0-0 0-0 0, Springer 0-1 0-0 0, Bettinger 0-1 0-0 0, Craig 0-0 0-0 0, Pettigrew 3-4 0-1 6. Totals 15-51 6-8 41.
Zillah -- Mi. Winters 0-0 0-0 0, Ma. Winters 0-1 0-0 0, Gasseling 5-9 0-2 13, Ross 0-1 0-0 0, Friedrich 0-0 0-0 0, Z. Sybouts 10-12 2-5 22, Marquis 6-8 1-2 15, Rico 0-4 2-2 2, Jones 2-4 1-4 5, A. Sybouts 0-1 0-0 0, Collins 0-1 0-0 0, Gay 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 23-42 6-15 57.
Cedar Park Christian	10	7	13	11	--	41
Zillah	14	13	20	10	--	57
3-point goals--CPC 5-21 (Bettinger 2-7, Ramos 2-9, Raschick 1-3, Brown 0-1, Orrico 0-1), Z 5-10 (Gasseling 3-5, Marquis 2-4, Jones 0-1). Rebounds--CPC 29 (Pettigrew 8), Z 31 (Ross 6, Rico 6). Assists--CPC 5 (Bettinger 2), Z 12 (Ross 4). Steals--CPC 9 (Ramos 3), Z 5 (Marquis 2, Sybouts 2). Blocked shots--CPC 1, Z 4 (Jones 2). Fouled out--Bettinger. Total fouls--CPC 16, Z 9. Technical fouls--None. Turnovers--CPC 12, Z 12.