Knights' quick study delivers big

In just second year of prep basketball,
Cole Van de Graaf stands tall for Sunnyside Chr.

By PAUL SHUGAR
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC

Nudge, whack, slap and Cole Van de Graaf already sports a bloody knee early in the first half.

Sunnyside Christian's Cole Van de Graaf goes up for a shot against Odessa's James Glenn during Wednesday's first-round Class 1B state tournament contest at the Yakima Valley SunDome..   SARA GETTYS/Yakima Herald-Republic

The Sunnyside Christian forward doesn't grimace, and no complaints come out of his mouth. He just spins around more Odessa defenders in the lane and throws his 205 pounds around whenever an opposing player tries to drive the lane.

"You've got to play through it," said Van de Graaf of the little mites always swatting at his 6-foot-4 frame. "You have to learn as a big kid to play through it.

"It gets annoying, but my dad taught me to be tough."

Most of those lessons took place on the driveway at home when basketball was just a hobby for a boy in love with America's so-called favorite pastime, baseball. He looked little like a pitcher or a catcher Wednesday in the SunDome and nothing like a second-year basketball player.

Despite travails from the foul line and some foul trouble himself, Van de Graaf did little wrong against Odessa as the Knights opened the Class 1B state tournament with a 49-29 win. The senior finished 5 of 9 from the field for 11 points and grabbed four rebounds in only 18 minutes of action after spending most of the second half on the bench with four fouls.

The first half is when he did most of his damage for top-ranked Sunnyside Christian with nine points on 4-for-5 shooting. His lone weakness was a 1-for-6 day from the free-throw line, keeping him from chasing down cousin Aaron Van de Graaf's team-high 19 points.

Aaron Van de Graaf, who led all Valley Class B scorers this season with 20.6 points per game, is quite aware of how his cousin's expedited maturation aids him along the perimeter or slashing to the basket. He helped convince his former elementary school and middle school basketball teammate to give the sport another try in high school after two years of playing only on the school's baseball team.

"He just didn't enjoy (basketball) as much as we did," Aaron Van de Graaf said. "Then we got him out there and we started getting him the ball inside and he just enjoyed mixing it up.

"It's a lot easier when we are out there together."

The two cousins filled the scoring vacuum left when Chad Den Boer and his 22 ppg graduated after winning a seventh-place trophy last year at state. Cole Van de Graaf averaged only two points as a junior that season, mastering his footwork inside wearing the football pads that SC coach Dean Wagenaar makes his big men don to learn how to spin off defenders.

All the hard work started to click during summer basketball as this year's now 23-0 team meshed together as well. Cole Van de Graaf tempered his toughness just enough to find the control and agility needed to lead a frontcourt with 10.6 ppg this year as senior. A group that has plenty of
depth with 6-0 Nick De Jong and the 6-2 Brandon De Vries keeping defenders from doubling down too much on him.

"He used to take everybody out on the way to the hoop," SC coach Dean Wagenaar said. "He's learned to play within himself."

Wagenaar doesn't take all the credit for those crafty spin moves or deceptively quick feet on defense. There's still a natural rough edge built into Cole Van de Graaf along with his ability to play with his back to the basket that is much better than only two years of high school basketball.

Something he got from being the smaller guy in all those one-on-one matchups with his father, who is 6-4 himself and has a few more pounds than his son.

That forced Cole Van de Graaf to nudge, whack and slap a little to hold his own under the hoop with the old man.

"(Dad) was an animal in high school, ..." Cole Van de Graaf said. "He roughs me up quite a bit."

At least there is only one person hacking on him in that situation.