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Washington State
University-bound Patrick Simon
is back for No. 2 Ephrata after missing
last season with a foot injury.
ANDY SAWYER/Yakima Herald-Republic
file |
The Storm from Bellingham won its four state games by
an average of 21 points and had just one senior on the roster.
Get ready for title two.
But wait, not so fast. Squalicum was dealt a major blow
when state-tournament MVP Keith Stackhouse had two shoulder surgeries late
last year, his entire senior season apparently lost. And the Storm looked
vulnerable at times, edging 1A foes Nooksack Valley (64-60) and Meridian
(68-66) and needing a last-second shot to beat Burlington-Edison 66-64 in
February.
All of that, it appears now, was simply wishful
thinking.
Not only has Stackhouse reappeared for the postseason,
but the Storm geared up for its return to Yakima with a 92-65 trouncing of
third-ranked Burlington-Edison in Saturday's district final.
Derek Dickerson scored a career-high 32 points,
Stackhouse contributed 16 points in just his third game back and the Storm
poured in 16 shots from 3-point distance in the rematch of last year's state
final.
"Burlington is a very good team so for us to win by
that much shows how well we played," said Squalicum coach David Dickson. "We
shot well, shared the ball, defended well -- it was as good as we've played
all season."
So, intended or not, there's your message, folks.
Squalicum is ready to defend.
Not that there aren't some major obstacles standing in
the way of the Storm becoming the first back-to-back 2A state champion since
Luke Ridnour's Blaine teams did it in 1999 and 2000.
Ephrata, a possible semifinal opponent for Squalicum,
is 20-2 with the return of WSU-bound Patrick Simon, who led the Tigers to
the 2008 state title and then missed all of last season with a foot injury.
There's also the possibly of a championship rematch
with Burlington-Edison, which is 19-4 with two losses to 3A teams and two to
Squalicum. But Saturday's district score raises some questions about how
competitive that rematch would be.
The primary difference between the Storm's two-point
thriller over B-E and the 27-point rout just 18 days later may well have
been the return of Stackhouse.
"It's just been a blessing and a bonus," Dickson said.
"We didn't expect him back, but a month ago he came to me and said he
thought he could do it. It's been a challenge for him to get back in at this
time of season, but Keith has done a nice job of contributing in ways that
have allowed the team to stay in a flow."
Stackhouse had 12 assists in his first two games, then
picked up his offense in the district final with 16 points in Squalicum's
92-point outburst.
With Stackhouse back, the Storm won district games by
46, 23 and 27 points.
"Keith found ways to help us defensively right away,"
the coach added. "That's been a focus of ours. In order to be as good as we
can be, our defense needs to catch up to our offense and it's getting there.
That's one of the big reasons we played so well Saturday and throughout
district."
