Updated
November 19, 2004
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Shootout Matches Up
Class 1A Powers
Two-time
defending champion Brewster will meet Toledo and 6-foot-8 University of
Washington recruit Artem Wallace
By
SCOTT SANDSBERRY
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC
Michael Taylor is an old hand at big basketball doings in the SunDome,
having started on both of Brewster's back-to-back 1A state championship
teams and played in last year's Tourneytown.com Shootout.
He knows, though: Next January's Shootout will be like nothing he's dealt
with before.
"Gonna be a little different this year," the Bears' junior-to-be said at
Wednesday's news conference. "Might have to guard him."
He cocked his head in the direction of Artem Wallace, Toledo's 6-foot-8
manchild who figures to replace Brewster-to-Gonzaga phenom David Pendergraft
as the 1A's prominent player.
Uh, Michael ... you? At 6-foot-2, maybe 6-3 with a good stretch? Covering
arguably the West Coast's top senior power-forward prospect?
Taylor grinned and shrugged. "Don't know who else will. We'll be about like
our girls' team was when they were freshmen (in 2000, when they won the
first of three titles in four years) -- a bunch of little players."
That very thing is what makes next year's Brewster-Toledo game one of the
more intriguing matchups in the 2005 Tourneytown.com Shootout. It's a
showdown of title contenders in a season without an odds-on championship
favorite, like Brewster was for the last two years. With 6-6 Pendergraft and
6-6 Tyler Evans graduated, Taylor and 6-3 Chase LaMoreaux figure to be the
Bears' tallest regulars.
"The cupboard won't be bare," Brewster coach Tim Taylor said with a glance
at his son and at Wallace. "We just don't have that 6-6 guy with an 8-foot
wingspan that can get the rebound and put the ball back up and in in about a
second flat."
Toledo coach Scott Merzoian, whose team finished fourth in March's 1A state
tourney, had the perfect retort.
"We have a player. They have a program," he said, noting how tough it will
be to slow down the Bears' well-oiled fast break. "They really get up and
down the floor. It'll be exciting to watch."
So will Wallace, though he took the excitement out of what figured to be a
high-wire recruiting campaign -- including such heavyweights as Stanford,
Kansas, UCLA and Michigan State -- by committing early to the University of
Washington. His visit two weeks ago to the UW campus was the only official
recruiting visit he took.
"Just everything" led to his decision, Wallace said. "The coach, the
players, good chemistry ... close to home."
Did Wallace relish the prospect of taking advantage of the 6-3 Taylor inside
come next January?
"Yeah, I can post him up," the Russian-born 17-year-old said. "But can I
guard him? On the outside?"
Good question. Next Jan. 17, the answer should be interesting.
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2005 Tourneytown.com
Shootout schedule
Riverside Christian girls
vs. Kittitas girls, 9 a.m.
Eisenhower girls
vs. Davis girls, 10:30 a.m.
Brewster girls
vs. Napavine girls, noon
West Valley girls
vs. Enumclaw girls, 1:30 p.m.
Brewster boys
vs. Toledo boys, 3:15 p.m.
West Valley boys
vs. Enumclaw boys, 5 p.m.
Grandview boys
vs. Chelan boys, 7 p.m.
Eisenhower boys
vs. Davis boys, 8:30 p.m.
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