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| Updated November 19, 2004 :: Home |
Davis,
Eisenhower Take Rivalry to SunDome Court By JERREL SWENNING YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC Forget about any ticket crunch next year for the Davis-Eisenhower boys basketball game at Davis Gym. The matchup, which usually turns away fans when the Pirates get their turn to host, is the main event at the eight-game 2005 Tourneytown.com Shootout at the Yakima Valley SunDome on Jan. 17. Under the two-year agreement, Davis gives up the home court this time around. Eisenhower will do so in 2006. "We had 4,500 people in Ike Gym and had to turn away a bunch of people at Davis," Cadets coach Pat Fitterer said at Wednesday's news conference. "This way, all of Yakima can join in the fun." Said Davis coach Shag Williams, "I had the opportunity to go to last year's Shootout. Adding Davis and Ike is really going to bring the people in." The rivalry lived up to its billing last season. The Pirates pulled away in the first matchup 74-66 on Jan. 3 at Eisenhower after leading by just a point with 50 seconds left. Davis made it a sweep Feb. 10 with a 70-61 overtime victory at home. "They said it was one of the best Ike-Davis games -- I didn't feel that way," said a joking Fitterer. Cadet players are hardly disheartened with trading in a date in Davis' cozy confines for the spacious SunDome. "I'm really excited -- I've got goose bumps," said former Davis player and Ike senior-to-be Alex Johnson, who is still recovering from a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. "This year, we don't have to play in that hot gym." Johnson, along with Ike teammates Branden Johnson and Jerad Groth, are on the same traveling team as Davis standout Humberto Perez and the ribbing has already begun. Likewise, the Pirates aren't too disappointed in giving up a home date. "We know we have a Cracker Jack box (of a gym), but we love it," Williams said. "This takes away from our tradition but you get to play in a state setting in the dome with all the openness." Which could prove important for both the Pirates, who finished eighth at the Class 4A state tournament last March, and Ike, which returns several starters and should be among the Big Nine Conference favorites. "It may be even more intense than the state tournament," Fitterer said. "I don't have to do anything to motivate them for this.""
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