Rough road looms for SCAC's Granger, Zillah

By SCOTT SANDSBERRY
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC

In sizing up who faces the toughest challenges in today's Class 1A boys basketball quarterfinals, you could make a strong argument for the SCAC's three representatives.

SCAC East champ Mabton (20-5) drew the short straw and will have to face top-ranked Cascade Christian (22-2), the defending champion. SCAC West champion Zillah (21-5) opens against Onalaska (23-1), which ran roughshod through the Southwest District this year and proved itself six weeks ago with a 60-56 victory over Granger, which went on to capture the SCAC district title.

And the Spartans (17-7) must face the most explosive scorer in the state in Nooksack Valley (17-9) and Kyle Impero, a 6-foot-3 sharpshooter (27.4 points per game) already named the Class 1A player of the year by the state coaches association.

"That kid's the real McCoy," Granger coach Miguel Bazaldua said of Impero, who coincidentally happens to be the nephew of Zillah coach Doug Burge. "Impero's going to get his points, but if we can shut down their role players, we're no slouches when it comes to scoring. We can put up points.

"Nooksack, though -- I think we've faced teams like Nooksack, we just haven't seen a kid of (Impero's) quality."

Granger has four double-digit scorers, led by Brandon Oswalt (18.7 ppg), but all of that talent wasn't enough in the Spartans' loss to Onalaska in January's SunDome Showdown. And that game, perhaps more than any other, shows just how tough Zillah's first-round foe can be.

Onalaska coach Dennis Bower calls that Martin Luther King Day victory over Granger the "turning point" of his team's season.

"I think that showed our kids that, hey, we can go over there and beat a good team on what's almost their second home court," Bower said. "That was a real confidence-builder for us."

Onalaska is similar size-wise to Zillah, each with one taller player among the scoring leaders -- the Loggers' 6-4 Taylor Majors (14.3 ppg) and the Leopards' 6-3 Joel Yellow Owl (18.2) -- and each with a standout guard that can take over a game. For Onalaska, that player is three-sport standout Dalton Ritchey (14.9), while Zillah's Mitchell Zapien averages 19.7 points and, at 6-1, is athletic enough that he was called for goaltending during the Leopards' round-of-16 victory over Lakeside.

"They're pretty senior-dominated, a well-coached team, and have kids that have been there before," Burge said of Onalaska, which was 25-0 last year when it was upended by eventual champion Cascade Christian in the quarterfinals. "We're a lot alike in some ways, especially size-wise. And anybody you play at this point of the season is going to be good."

None, perhaps, as good as the defending champs Mabton must face today. Vikings coach Brock Ledgerwood, though, said the timing could be good for his team.

"If you're planning on going all the way through, you're going to play a Cascade Christian at some point," Ledgerwood said. "It might as well be on opening day before they have a chance to get comfortable, get into their flow."

Limiting the output of Cody Shackett, a 24-point scorer who earned tournament MVP honors last year, could be a critical factor for Mabton.

"Shackett is going to get his points. He's that good," Ledgerwood said. "You just try to limit what he does, not let him have 35 or 40. He's going to get his 20 points, probably, but you want to make him take as many shots as possible to get it."