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| Updated November 19, 2004 :: Home |
At Home
in the Shootout Tourneytown.com event gives local teams a holiday tradition
By
SCOTT SANDSBERRY December's Les Schwab Hoop Challenge at Seattle Pacific? Sorry. King Holiday Hoopfest in January? No can do. Noted Berndt, "We obviously don't have that West Coast-Seattle thing working for us." All of which makes January's tourneytown.com Shootout a godsend for the Rams -- and for an entire lineup of other teams looking for top-level competition in a state-tournament type of atmosphere. "This (the Shootout) really solved a problem for us in that sense," Berndt said Wednesday at a news conference hyping the 2005 Shootout, set for Jan. 17 at the SunDome. "It's a nice arena, a huge crowd, and of course a dome is a tough place to play in so it's good to get a chance to get that experience during the season." Clearly, Berndt -- whose team will face state-tournament regular Enumclaw in the Shootout -- isn't the only coach to recognize the value of playing in a highly-competitive, one-day event like the Shootout. Davis' boys gave up a home game in the friendly, if cramped, confines of their own gym to play their crosstown rivals in it. Toledo revamped its league schedule -- which would have had the Indian boys playing White Pass on the same day -- for a chance to play two-time defending 1A champ Brewster in it. Enumclaw's boys and girls, Chelan's boys, Brewster's boys and girls, Napavine's girls and, of course, Toledo's boys will all travel long hours to play in it. All for the chance to play in a tourney-type atmosphere against, in most cases, a tournament-level opponent. "To play a team of their (the Bears') caliber," Toledo coach Scott Merzoian said, "kind of gives you a measuring stick of where you're going to be." "It gives us a good high-quality game," said West Valley girls coach Jason Rubright, whose team -- like the Ram boys -- will face Enumclaw. "Being able to play in a bigger building helps us a bunch, and I think playing against stronger competition at that time of year really helps us." In last year's Shootout, the Rams faced Central Valley, which had played in the last three Class 4A title games, winning two of them. West Valley lost a thriller in double overtime. "I like playing in front of a bunch of people in a big arena," said Rams guard Cassidy Murillo, one of three starters among the 10 West Valley returners with varsity experience. "That (Shootout game with Central Valley) was probably one of the biggest crowds we had all year ... really exciting." Next year's eight-game smorgasbord of Martin Luther King holiday hoops will open with a showdown of top-level, small-school girls teams (Kittitas against Riverside Christian) and close with a duel of premier boys programs. That Davis-Eisenhower finale will almost certainly fill the SunDome ... and it'll be loud in there. "It's a great opportunity for us," Ike forward Branden Johnson said. "And we're both state-caliber teams next year." That was also the case in last year's finale, when Berndt's Rams handed Brewster its only defeat of the season before a raucous crowd of about 3,600. This year, West Valley will face Enumclaw just before the Davis-Ike matchup, and that's just fine with Berndt. "I'm glad the format is the way it is, that Davis
and Ike play after us," Berndt said. "It'll be a great event. And it'll be
great for Yakima."
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