Call it a once-in-a-generation accomplishment.

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It’s been 22 years since the Naches Valley boys basketball team won a trophy at the Class 1A state tournament.
But Friday’s 48-34 win over Castle Rock at the SunDome vanquished a two-decade-long dry spell.

How sweet it is.

“This means a lot to us and our school,” said senior Brandon Gillespie, who scored 11 points on 5 of 7 shooting. “We were picked fifth in our league and now we’re playing for fifth place in the state. That’s pretty cool.”

The Rangers face Winlock at 10 a.m. Saturday, with the winner taking fifth place and the loser eighth.

Either way, Naches Valley is ecstatic to reach the final day of the tournament for the first time since winning the 1987 state championship.

“No matter what happens, this is a huge boost for our program,” said fourth-year head coach Jon Eldridge. “This is one of our best seasons ever, and we owe a lot to our five seniors. This is a nice way for them to go out.”

Adam Ranger, Thomas Wilcox, Ethan Flory, Austin Alexander and Gillespie each played key roles in Friday’s victory.

Most notably, Ranger scored a game-high 16 points, including three 3-pointers. He also pulled down four rebounds and made three steals.

Juniors Weston Parker (six points) and Justen Weigel (four points, six rebounds) also contributed to the effort.

“We haven’t played to our full potential the past two days, but we really stepped it up and did a good job for all four quarters,” said Ranger, whose two 3s to open the second quarter gave Naches a 19-10 advantage.

“We also played really well on defense and held onto the ball better than we have been. When we’re not turning it over, we have more chances to score.”

Naches led 22-15 at halftime and outscored the Rockets 9-2 to open the second half, building a 34-21 lead through three quarters.

Castle Rock raised its defensive intensity to open the final stanza, but Naches managed the press and took a 44-26 lead with 3:05 to play. The Rockets couldn’t answer and opted to sub out their entire starting lineup with 1:35 left.

“We knew we had to come out in the second half and make everything click on both sides of the ball,” Gillespie said. “That’s exactly what we did.”

The Rangers managed to keep the Rockets’ leading scorer, Zack Gehring, in check after he scored six points in the first quarter.

The senior post, who averages 16 points per game, made only two field goals the rest of the way, finishing with 11 points and 11 rebounds.

As a team, Castle Rock shot only 27 percent from the field, including a 6-for-24 clip in the second half.

Naches, meanwhile, connected on 51 percent of its shots, going 19 of 37 for the game. The Rangers made 5 of 16 long-range attempts (31 percent), compared with the Rockets’ 1-for-9 effort (11 percent).

“I thought we were really solid all around,” Eldridge said. “We shot well, defended well and held onto the ball. This was probably one of our top three games all season.”

The Rangers committed only nine turnovers, compared with 16 in Thursday’s win over Kalama and 13 in an opening-round loss to Chelan.

Next up for Naches is Winlock, which boasts a 6-foot-5 average height in its starting five. The Rangers know they will be tested, but they believe the momentum from Friday’s win will carry over.

“Our shot selection will have to be better against their big guys,” Ranger said, “but I think we got a spark from (Friday) and we’re going to take it to ‘em.”