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| Published January 19, 2004 :: Home |
Strait, Schoen combine to score 45 against No. 1 1A Bears
By
SCOTT
SPRUILL They delivered perfection. Coach Jim Berndt didn’t search for measured words. He just said it flat out. “That’s as well as I’ve ever seen a high school team execute that offense, period,” said the proud mentor of a team that had just handed Brewster its first loss in two years, 55-45, in the marquee game of the Tourneytown.com Shootout. “When we got into the flow of it in the second half, they couldn’t get us out it.” The “flow” was a selective, patient, clock-grinding halfcourt set that not only led to a breakaway 12-2 run in the third quarter but kept Brewster, winner of 38 straight games, from making a serious comeback. “I don’t think we can run our offense any better,” insisted Andrew Strait, who put up 24 points in his showdown with Gonzaga-recruit David Pendergraft, who finished with 17 points. “We got the lead and got control of the game. Sometimes we have a tendency to let our patience slip, but not tonight.” While the 6-foot-8 Montana-bound Strait was the center of West Valley’s offensive attack — he and Pendergraft never left the game — it was E.J. Schoen who broke Brewster’s back. The senior forward scored 21 points and was nearly unstoppable in the second half, hitting six of his last seven shots and scoring eight of West Valley’s 13 points in the final period. “I knew with Andrew going at Pendergraft he’d need help so I wanted to have a big game,” Schoen said. “I’ve never seen us run our offense better in the second half. The guys were moving the ball around, waiting for the open shots. We ran it perfectly.” Strait and Schoen scored 45 of West Valley’s 55 points, but there were plenty of crucial contributions from others. Like Corey Wehr’s eight rebounds, matching Strait’s total, and seven assists from point guard Jordan Jaeger’s. “Corey’s a big, physical player — a college-level player — and we needed that from him,” Berndt said. “And Jordan, wow, he should get a lot of credit. He’s running the show and he’s as knowledgeable as I am in calling the plays.” After West Valley’s third-quarter run, Brewster stayed close in the final period but could not put two defensive stops together. On three different occasions in the fourth quarter, West Valley ran 30 to 40 seconds off the clock with its crisp passing along the perimeter and got three back-cut layups. And each time the inlet-pass assist came from a different player — Jaeger, Schoen and Brian Swift. And for all of West Valley’s expertise on offense, the Rams were equally impressive on defense. Brewster, normally a sharp perimeter squad, made only one 3-pointer and that came from a reserve late in the game. And the 6-foot-6 Pendergraft, a two-time 1A player of the year, was held to only four points in the second game. “Our kids have been to state three years in a row so they’re used to playing teams with five guys who can all score,” Berndt pointed out. “That’s obviously a talented team and we kept them under 20 points in the second half.” West Valley bumped its record to 12-0 while Brewster, which opened the season with wins over 4A schools Snohomish and Auburn, moved to 10-1.
“It was a tough thing for our kids in a way,” Berndt
reflected. “If Brewster wins it’s one for the ages, but if we win, well,
we’re 3A and we should win. That’s why I’m so happy with how the kids
responded. It was like a state-caliber game playing in the SunDome with a
big crowd and we played our best game of the year.”
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