Dribblies: The best
awards EVER
 
Like the Grammys, but no acceptance-speech interruptions

By SCOTT SANDSBERRY
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC

OK, we know you've been sitting at home all week, catching up on those Oscar-nominated movies you missed last year instead of heading out to the SunDome for the week's Class 2A tournament. So we here at the Academy of Motion Offense, Hearts and Sidelines -- being all about public service -- would like to provide your mental DVR with some of the feature-film moments you missed.

For your eternal edification, we present the 2010 Class 2A Dribblies. The envelopes, please ...

BRAVEHEART: To the MOUNT BAKER boys, who opened their season 1-6, had to win their final six games of the regular season just to make it into the district tournament, won their only loser-goes-home district game and then, facing a 10-point deficit midway through the third quarter of their Thursday loser-out game against Hockinson, somehow came back to win. Not good enough? On Friday, they came from 13 down in yet another loser-out game to eliminate Clarkston and ultimately captured the fifth-place trophy.

A TOUCH OF CLASS: To CARMEN JENKINS and the rest of the BLACK HILLS girls. After their Thursday loser-out game, when officials presented Jenkins with the sportsmanship medal traditionally given to one member of each team after every game, she did something her team had two hours earlier unanimously voted to do -- she promptly gave the medal to Julie Hata, the young woman who for years has volunteered to sweep the court and carry water to the referees during timeouts. Julie, obviously touched by the gesture, continued to wear the medal for the rest of the tournament. At halftime of Saturday's fourth-place girls game, the referees themselves had a special ceremony at midcourt to acknowledge Julie's tireless efforts.

THE COMEBACK: To the KINGSTON girls, who found themselves 20 points down in a loser-out game to a much taller and far more talented Squalicum team. In a situation that all too often leads to desultory, lay-down-and-die slopfests, the Buccaneers played with the kind of emotion and fire often reserved for winners-bracket games or even championship contests and actually cut the Storm's lead to four points in the final minute. Even the jaded, old-troll-sportswriter Academy was inspired.

THE COMEBACK (THE SEQUEL): And in this rare case, the sequel was better than the original. For that matter, it would be come up with a better come-from-behind-to-ahead plot than ELLENSBURG's girls pulled off Saturday and have it still be believable, considering that the Bulldogs trailed Pullman 25-8 ... and won. The Academy's official response: Holy moly.

LOVE STORY: To AUDREY ARNESON, who recruited the entire BURLINGTON-EDISON student rooting section to help her make her Sadie Hawkins-worthy marriage proposal to John Fasso, who was on the air webcasting the Tiger boys' semifinal against Lynden for Internet broadcasting company WinNW.com. Seemingly the only person not in the know was Fasso, whose color analyst, Fred Lee, insisted that he turn around, saying "Somebody wants to say something to you."

Fasso was in the middle of a webcast and didn't want to turn around. When he finally did, the student section shouted out en masse, per Arneson's plan, "Will you marry me?" Fasso didn't understand it, and turned back around to continue his webcast. Lee convinced him to turn around again, and this time he saw Arneson, whom he'd been dating for five years, and was able make it out when the student section shouted out the question again. He said yes, the crowd went wild and Fasso, clearly flustered and emotional, went to a commercial.

DO THE RIGHT THING: To the CLARKSTON boys who, when they had a two-on-nobody break in the final 10 seconds of their consolation-bracket victory over Steilacoom in a game they already had won, didn't go in for some kind of silly, showboat dunk attempt or, for that matter, even another basket. It wasn't needed, and they chose not to pile on. Instead, TREY SOBOTTA and DUSTIN McCONNELL both cut away, simply dribbling out the final seconds.

BANG THE DRUM SLOWLY: Or quickly, as is the case with ELLENSBURG's drum corps, which did a riveting, almost mesmerizing rhythmic routine -- on "drums" that look suspiciously like trash cans -- at halftime of each Bulldog game Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Great stuff. Anybody who went to the concessions stand or the restroom and missed it was really missing out. If you don't believe us here at the Academy, you can watch it here.

IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER: To SQUALICUM senior guard DEREK DICKERSON, whose deluge of eight 3-pointers in the Storm's highly anticipated semifinal against Ephrata helped turn the game into a one-sided affair. Three of his treys came during an unbelievable string of 27 straight Squalicum points that erased an early 6-2 Tiger lead, turned the game into a 29-6 laugher and made Dickerson the real shining light of the tournament. Derek's dad, Tim, was a star at Bellingham High who never got to win a state championship but went on to set the 3-point record at Western Washington University. Well, Dad, your kid has one-upped you.

IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE: To MEL WALKER, a longtime bus driver in the PROSSER district and a retired police chief who celebrated his 86th birthday with some of his biggest fans -- the Mustang girls basketball team, of which he in turn has been as one of their biggest fans. He has followed faithfully the Mustangs for years, even traveling to road games to root them on. After Prosser's tremendous semifinal victory over unbeaten West Valley, Mustangs coach Mark Little reminded his players that celebrating their own triumph was no more important than celebrating the people who matter to them -- he invited Walker into the locker room, where the players sweetly serenaded him with a rousing rendition of "Happy Birthday," complete with happy hugs.

ALL THE RIGHT MOVES: To EAST VALLEY coach ROBI RAAB and ARCHBISHOP MURPHY coach JOHN BARHANOVICH, who had already pulled their starters with ATM's lead at eight in Saturday's fifth-place game and -- when the Red Devils cut the lead back to four in the final 20 seconds -- both left their reserves in the game. Those coaches rightly decided the game was going to be won or lost by those senior reserves who had earned it with years of hard work on the practice floor and the younger players who will be the future of both programs.

FIVE-STAR FINAL: To the girls from PROSSER and RIVER RIDGE, the class of a very strong girls' field that made Saturday's 9 p.m. championship game well worth the wait. Prosser's road to the finale was by far the toughest, with quarterfinal and semifinal victories over No. 3 Elma and No. 2 West Valley. And what did that get the Mustangs? A date with none other than the No. 1 Hawks. Talk about a tough row to hoe.

THE RIGHT STUFF: To the SQUALICUM boys, whose arsenal of weapons -- crisp passing, tremendous ballhandling, an unrelenting fast break and the best lineup of pure shooters in the state -- made them not only by far the best team in the Class 2A boys ranks, but an absolute pleasure to watch for anybody who loves basketball being played the right way. Man, those guys were good.