Senior guard James Vela's 13.5 points per game tops Granview, which is hoping to improve on its third-place finish from last year. Yakima Herald-Republic file

By PAUL SHUGAR
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC

They come into the Class 2A state tournament in two distinctly different ways -- one is limping and the other strutting.

The team looking to fix the hitch in its gait is Grandview. The third-ranked Greyhounds, who finished the regular season undefeated in CWAC South play, dropped their first game to a league opponent when East Valley defeated them 74-68 in the second round of the district tournament.

The big win is the reason the Red Devils, who finished third in the CWAC South at the end of the season, have some extra pop in their step. They come back to the SunDome for the first time since 2004 at 14-9 overall and their last loss was a mere 67-65 setback against fourth-ranked Cashmere in the district tournament championship game.

Now, starting at the opposite sides of the bracket in their games Wednesday in the SunDome, these two squads want to get themselves going in the same direction toward a potential rematch in the state championship game. A scenario that seems probable with a balanced tourney giving all 16 teams a pretty equal opportunity at the finals.

Kevin Komstadius, shown here blocking a shot against Zillah earlier this season, leads East Valley with a 17.3 scoring average.   Yakima Herald-Republic file

"Even the No. 1 teams who are expected to do well are on opposite ends of the bracket," Grandview coach Scott Parrish said. "This year that's just the way it turned out. It's a good draw and should be a great tournament as a result."

The Greyhounds (20-4), which took home a third-place trophy last year, opens with Lakeside (15-7) at 9 a.m. Wednesday in the SunDome. Lakeside is team that Parrish knows quite well after the two teams met in the SunDome Shootout back at the end of December. Grandview won that contest 54-43, pulling away late thanks to its players knocking down their free throws.

The Eagles have a balanced scoring attack with senior guard Joel Noland the only player averaging in double figures with 11.6 points per game. But even though his team lost three starters from last year's third-place team at state, including leading scorer Chris Mejia (17.3 ppg), Parrish said there are a lot of similarities between this year's team, which has seven seniors, and that squad.

Grandview has a trio of dangerous guards in seniors James Vela (13.5 ppg) and Anthony Andrews (11.3 ppg) and junior A.J. Valencia (10.9 ppg). Vela also leads the speedy but diminutive -- the team has only two players 6-foot or taller -- squad in both rebounding and assists.

Still, for Parrish, the big thing for this team is getting it out of the late-season slide with a new postseason ready to start Wednesday.

"I think that was East Valley just playing well and they're a good team," said Parrish of the late loss, which was followed by another loss to Chelan in the last game before state. "It wasn't necessarily us not playing well; they are just the better team right now. Hopefully we'll get some things changed and play a little better. ...

"We're limping into the tournament and we're working at getting refocused in practice and that's the same thing we'll work on (Tuesday) so we'll be prepared."

Sustaining momentum will be what East Valley coach Steve Elder will look to do leading up to a 7:30 p.m. matchup Wednesday against Riverside (14-9) in the SunDome. The Red Devils went 7-3 to close out the season; the three losses were by an average of 2.3 points and all to teams with spots in this week's bracket.

Controlling the Rams inside and slowing down point guard Caleb Watt will be the main concerns for EV. Riverside has plenty of strength in 5-11 wing Adam Anderson, who earned a Division I football scholarship to play safety at Idaho next season. His twin brother, Aaron Anderson, who will try to walk on with the Vandals, also provides plenty of power at the post position.

The Red Devils do have size inside in 6-4 sophomore Kevin Komstadius and 6-1 senior Craig Harris. Komstadius leads the team averaging 17.3 ppg and gets help outside from senior guard Drew Edgerly and his 13.2 ppg.

The biggest key for Elder is keeping his team on the roll it has been on to close out the season. Even if he still can't put his finger on why all the success occurred.

"If I knew the answer, I'd be lying to you," Elder said. "I can't really tell you; we just got hot at the right time. We've just go some good kids who play hard. I really don't think we were playing bad at the beginning of the year. We just had some game where we lost and had the opportunity to win.

"We just were able to string some games together at the right time, and I'm thankful for that."