The Sammamish Review - News, Sports, Classifieds in Sammamish, WA » Sports

Skyline basketball takes 8th at state

Christopher Huber — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 18:07:59 +0000

The 2009-2010 season was a season of firsts for the Skyline boys basketball team. The team brought home its first tournament trophy (Barlow Trails Classic), won its first KingCo 4A championship and placed at the state tournament for the first time.

And after placing eighth in state, the boys will get to hang their first banner on the wall in the gym, said coach J. Jay Davis.

Skyline went 2-2 in the state 4A tournament in Tacoma March 3-6 to finish its most successful season in the school’s 13-year history.

“Twenty-two wins and placing at state, it’s obviously the best season in school history and we’re very proud of that,” Davis said. “Our goal was just to build the best program we can.”

As is every team’s dream that enters the state tournament, Skyline had aimed at the state title. But the prospect was cut short when the Spartans lost its first-round bit against eventual runner-up Jackson 45-43.

Skyline led nearly the entire game March 3, but Jackson made a last-minute shot to win the game and stifle the KingCo-champ Spartans’ momentum.

Will Parker led Skyline scorers with 14 points. Cory Hutsen had 11 and Kasen Williams had 10.

“We were excited about playing well,” Davis said. “The hard thing about Wednesday, when you lose by two … was that you had to refocus.”

In the consolation rounds, Skyline managed to beat Davis 55-44 to stay alive. It trailed 20-13 at halftime March 4 and rallied with 15 points in the third and 26 in the fourth. Williams led all scorers with 19 points and Hutsen finished with 16.

Still in the consolation bracket, Skyline pulled off a 63-60 victory over Stanwood March 5. Hutsen led with 24 points and helped Skyline maintain a 26-23 lead at the break. Stanwood outscored the Spartans 19-13 in the third quarter, but a 24-point fourth sealed the deal. Parker and Connor Gacek each added nine points against Stanwood.

Mead brought plenty of challenges on both sides of the ball against Skyline March 6, Davis said. The two teams battled for the fifth-place spot and Mead came out on top 49-39. Mead’s tight defense forced Skyline to shoot from the perimeter and when that became ineffective, they tried to push it inside to Hutsen.

“They were just very focused and … it seemed like it was very important to them and they played that way,” Davis said. “We struggled. It wasn’t us, it was them. They played very physical and we struggled.”

The teams tied 8-8 to end the first quarter and Mead led 20-15 at halftime. Skyline scored just 20 points in the first three quarters. Hutsen finished with 10 points in the team’s final game. Miles Edwards had nine.

And when it was all said and done, Davis was named KingCo conference coach of the year, said Skyline athletic director Kevin Rohrich.

“In a week, in a month … when we think back we won’t remember the Mead game, the Jackson game, we’ll remember the journey,” Davis said.

Reporter Christopher Huber can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 242, or chuber@isspress.com.

Wolves finish season fearless

Christopher Huber — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 18:06:18 +0000

Although it didn’t go as far in the state tournament as coaches and players would have liked, members of the Eastlake boys basketball team seem to be feeling good about how far they’ve come in just one year.

After winning its first-round match-up against Lake Stevens, the Eastlake boys basketball team struggled to pull off a win against eventual-state-champ Kentwood and powerhouse Walla Walla. Eastlake finished the season 18-10 overall and 10-6 in KingCo.

The goal was to get to Tacoma for the first time since 2004, said head coach Pat Bangasser. Once there he wanted the boys “to play fear free.”

And they did. The Wolves’ first-round win March 3 turned out to be the last in a five-game winning streak, which had propelled the team to the state 4A tournament. The much-anticipated contest started out close. Eastlake led 29-24 at halftime, and with 25 points in the third, it ran away with the 69-48 win.

Michael Russo, 2010 4A KingCo MVP, scored 21 points and Dillon Pericin finished with 12. Anas Elkugia scored 10 points for Eastlake.

“This team, it was really fun to watch,” Bangasser said.

Going into the Kentwood game Eastlake knew it had to contain UCLA-bound big-man Joshua Smith, Bangasser said.

But as hot as the Wolves were, the Conqueror defense stifled much of its offensive effort.

Kentwood led 40-30 at the half and held Eastlake to nine points in the third and 18 in the fourth to win 78-57.

Smith dominated with 23 points against Eastlake. Russo and Pericin had 21 and seven respectively. Conner Iraola also scored seven points and Justin Lester and Ryan Sikma each had six points in the second-round game.

Just one win from elimination March 5, Eastlake had to come up big against Walla Walla, which had been ranked fourth in state for much of the season. The Wolves took a 17-14 lead into the second quarter.

“We felt like we were in it for the entire first half,” Russo said March 6. “As the game progressed, though, we were having a little tough time on defense.”

But Walla Walla came up big from then on out, hitting key shots on offense and holding Eastlake to eight points in the second, 10 in the third and just 14 points in the fourth.

“They shot lights out,” Bangasser said. “Big threes in third quarter and we never really recovered.”

Despite not placing at state, Russo and Bangasser acknowledged the improvement over 2009 — Eastlake went 3-17 overall. 2010 saw vast improvements on defense and strong leadership from its eight seniors, Bangasser said.

“It’s amazing what you can do with the old ‘offense creates defense’ mentality,” Bangasser said. “This was a tremendous group of seniors. One through eight, they were terrific. They are going to do some great things in their life.”

Reporter Christopher Huber can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 242, or chuber@isspress.com.

Casey Fithian to play on first 16U All-American team

Christopher Huber — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 18:05:16 +0000

It’s not often a 16-year-old gets to spend his summer playing baseball tournaments across the country for a Major League Baseball manager. But Eastlake sophomore Casey Fithian gets to this June and July.

The catcher from Sammamish recently was named to the 16U Bobby Valentine All-American Team, according to the All-American Foundation. In its first year, the team is comprised of 21 of the country’s most elite 16-year-olds. He earned a spot on the select roster after a weekend of tryouts Jan. 30 and 31 in Tucson, Ariz.

“I’m both honored and humbled being selected amongst the best 16U baseball players in the country,” Casey said in an e-mail. “There was some stiff competition in Tucson.”

The foundation has yet to announce the 2010 roster, but Casey will be among those mentioned on ESPN in late March to early April, said foundation assistant Joe Beninati.

Founded in 2009, the All-American Athletic Foundation created the 16U Bobby Valentine All-American Team to give youth around the country opportunities to further develop their passion, skill and devotion to baseball, according to the organization’s Web site. It also gives them an opportunity to work with seasoned professionals like Valentine, former manager of the New York Mets and gain exposure necessary to make it to the next level.

“I really wanna see what it’s like to play rookie ball,” Casey said.

The road to making a national youth baseball team began when Fithian was about four. Like most boys, he played T-ball and Little League, but by age nine, Casey found the spark.

He continued in Little League but left a year early and began playing select ball and practicing for most of the year. He could pitch harder than most boys his age, but ended up finding his niche behind the plate at age 13, as a catcher.

“I like baseball because most people don’t think it’s an active sport,” Casey said. “You really get a lot of chances. You have nine chances to get out and the rest of the field is yours.”

Since finding his passion, Casey has worked long and hard to develop his leadership and overall strength and conditioning, he said.

He’s trained year-round for the past seven years, and in elementary school, Casey played catch with his dad every day, Casey said.

He currently trains three to four days a week at Rijo Athletics in Woodinville, he said.

“It’s like a second home,” he said.

Former pro ball player Jose Rijo-Berger runs the facility and said, of the thousands of youth he’s instructed, Casey is one of the top all-around athletes.

“He understands the game,” Rijo-Berger said. “The intangibles are sometimes hard to teach, he knows them.”

Being a leader behind the plate is one of those intangibles. And it shows, said his father, Scott Fithian. Casey is one of the only players he knows that looks the umpire in the eye and shakes his hand before each game, Scott said.

He said Casey didn’t start out as a great athlete — Casey will be the first to admit it, too — but his dedication and focus has paid off. Rijo-Berger said playing with the national 16U team will give Casey a taste of the real world of baseball.

“It’s going to open up his eyes to outside the Northwest here,” he said. “He’s a great kid and a hard worker and the sky is the limit.”

Casey chose baseball on his own, Scott said. As parents, Scott and Barbara Fithian supported their children in their respective activities, as long as they committed fully and gave it their all.

“We never pushed him,” Scott said.

But, Scott said, he still isn’t sure where Casey got his devoted love for baseball. It didn’t come from him, he said. When he played baseball as a child, no one ever trained for it.

“It boils down to the love of the game and, again, I don’t know where it came from,” Scott said.

Casey is looking forward to playing for the Wolves this season, too.

“He shows leadership in the sophomore class and will be a competitive force on the team,” said Eastlake baseball coach Skip Hulet, a day after tryouts.

Casey still has things to work on. Speed is not his forte, he said.

“I still have to work on that today,” he said.

He said he thinks about the challenges of starting for a team like the All-American team, but is looking forward to the experience.

“You really have to work 100 percent all the time,” he said. “Baseball humbles you really quickly.”

Reporter Christopher Huber can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 242, or chuber@isspress.com.

Skyline cheer places 16th at national competition

Christopher Huber — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:45:42 +0000

The Skyline High School cheer squad is the 16th best small varsity co-ed team in the country.

The Spartans placed 16th of 38 schools after entering its first-ever national competition Feb. 11-15 in Orlando, Fla. The school’s non-tumbling team did not make the finals. Approximately 485 schools from around the United States participated in 18 categories at the UCA High School National Cheerleading Championships, which is televised on ESPN.

“We were proud about our first showing at nationals,” said Stephania Lemeshko, Skyline’s coach. “And we hope to improve for the future.”
Skyline sent two teams, the small co-ed and the non-tumbling groups, to nationals after they each placed second in their respective categories at the state competition in January.
Lemeshko said that although it faced tough, established teams from the South and East Coast, Skyline’s co-ed team performed some of the toughest routines at the competition. Group stunting is the team’s strength, she said.
“(They did) the most elite stunt series I saw in the whole nation,” Lemeshko said. “Just to make it to finals our first year is a pretty big accomplishment.”

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The small co-ed team consists of two to four male and 17 female athletes.
A challenge of competing at the national level, Lemeshko said, was the nerves and inexperience of the squad at that level.
“Just the first time being on the national stage and being on ESPN,” she said.
Washington schools tend to be about 10 years behind the national cheerleading trends, she said, so that’s part of the reason Skyline decided to step up its competition this school year. A handful of Skyline cheerleaders have received full-ride scholarships for college, and she said she hopes to see more reap the benefits of national attention.
“We’re trying to go to a more competitive environment,” Lemeshko said.

Reporter Christopher Huber can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 242, or chuber@isspress.com.

Eastlake girls 5 points short of moving on

Administrator — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 18:31:49 +0000

The Eastlake girls basketball team came within five points of advancing to the Sea-King district playoffs Feb. 25 at Juanita High School. It lost 52-48 to the peaking Issaquah Eagles.

Issaquah (20-4) beat Eastlake three of the four times they faced each other this season.

Despite leading efforts from Kendra Morrison and Alyssa Charlston, the Lady Wolves couldn’t overcome a 31-25 halftime deficit.

Morrison led all scorers with 21 points and Charlston finished with 16.

Issaquah’s Maddey Pflaumer led the Eagles with 17 points and Domi Mendoza and Mackenzie Schiltz each had 13.

Eastlake’s Katy Ainslie and Sam Naluai each finished with four points and Abby Carlson had 3.

Eastlake finished the season 14-10 overall and 8-8 in KingCo league play.

Kevin Penner still on the links

Administrator — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 18:31:08 +0000

Standout 2009 Eastlake graduate Kevin Penner is finding success on the golf course as a freshman at the University of Nevada Las Vegas.

The two-time Washington State Class 4A high school champion placed fifth overall and helped his team win the John A. Burns Intercollegiate tournament Feb. 19 in Schofield Barracks, Hawaii.

After tying through 54 holes at 28-under 836, UNLV beat defending national champion Texas A&M in a playoff, according to a UNLV press release.

Penner fired an 8-under 208 with rounds of 73, 69 and 66. He missed third place by one stroke.

His final-round 66 was the second lowest of the day, with the winner shooting a 65, according to his mother, Diane Penner.

Skyline boys win KingCo basketball title

Christopher Huber — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 06:54:08 +0000

Updated 10:27 a.m. March 2

Kasen Williams, one of the most sought-after football players in the country, continues to prove he’s not just good at catching a football or earning high-jump titles.

The junior is playing a huge part in Skyline’s basketball success, too.

Thanks, in part, to Williams’ high-flying, long-shooting antics, the Skyline boys basketball team is KingCo champ for the first time in school history. It’s the team’s second time to the state tournament.

In addition to Williams’ dominance in rebounding against the Kangaroos, he helped seal the deal with a three-pointer in the fourth.

The Spartans beat Lake Washington 52-42 in front of a packed house at Juanita High School Feb. 26. Skyline led the entire game after the first five minutes.

“Since we were all in the sixth grade, we dreamed of hanging a banner on the wall,” said senior forward Cory Hutsen as the team and fans celebrated on the court.

Williams said he knew they had to overpower Lake Washington, especially with 6-foot-10 sophomore center Darien Nelson-Henry under the basket.

“We knew if we didn’t come out as hard as we could, they would jump all over it,” Williams said.

The Spartans opened the game with a 13-8 first-quarter lead. Lake Washington led 8-5 early on, but Skyline took control with a 13-0 scoring run into the early second quarter. The streak included Williams executing a soaring tip-dunk.

“They couldn’t jump with him,” Hutsen said. “I feel like we can play with anyone in the state.”

Although Skyline moved the ball well, the Kangaroos thwarted effective movement down low.

Both teams committed costly turnovers, but Skyline led 25-16 at the break. It never looked back, holding Lake Washington to 10 points in the third quarter.

The Kangaroos got more aggressive, forced Skyline turnovers and pulled to within six points in the fourth, feeding on the energy from its student section. But it wasn’t enough.

Williams likened the team’s energy this season, to that of the Spartan immensely successful football team.

“Something we really needed on the team was that football energy,” he said.

Williams finished with a game-high 13 points.

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“That kid, he just kind of senses his surroundings,” said head coach J. Jay Davis. “When the lights come on, he’s big time.”

Hutsen had 12 points. Connor Gacek also scored 12, including seven in the third quarter.

Davis attributed the team’s success in the playoffs to a deep roster and dedicated players.

“It’s about talent, obviously. We have talent … but there’s not one guy on the bench that didn’t give his all,” Davis said.

Skyline plays Jackson in the first round of the state tournament, March 3 at 2 p.m. at the Tacoma Dome.

Reporter Christopher Huber can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 242 or chuber@isspress.com.

Skyline beats Woodinville, advances to KingCo final

Christopher Huber — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 18:00:32 +0000

Before the second-round KingCo tournament match against Woodinville, Skyline Spartans head coach J. Jay Davis laid out his game plan: win.

That was all that mattered, he said, and the plan was for his players to do whatever they needed to do to fend off the 10-5 (conference) Falcons to advance to the KingCo 4A Championship against Lake Washington.

The straight-forward strategy worked, and the Crest-Division-leading Spartans took it to a physical and scrappy Woodinville, winning 46-28 at Juanita High School Feb. 19.

“(We had to) be more physical than they are,” said senior forward Miles Edwards. We valued our possessions.”

It didn’t quite start out that way, though. The first half saw a combined 28 points scored and the players spent most of the time in-bounding the ball or shooting free-throws.

Defense was the name of the game this night and it made for a low-scoring contest.

“We didn’t come out as hard as we needed to,” said senior forward Cory Hutsen. There were no easy baskets. We weren’t going hard, and in the second half we readjusted and went as hard as we could.”

Skyline led 16-12 at halftime after scoring just seven points in the second quarter. Woodinville failed to post a double-digit score in any single quarter.

Edwards attributed the lackluster first half to losing focus after watching the high-scoring, high-energy Garfield-Lake Washington game just before their game.

Skyline came out in the second half fired up but with more control offensively. It extended the four-point halftime lead to 13 points to end the third.

Woodinville needed a new energy down low on offense, but a tall and physical Spartan defense pressured the Falcons to take hasty shots from the perimeter. It scored nine in the third, its highest scoring quarter of the night.

It was a rough and tumble second half, but the refs let them play, despite numerous crowd objections.

“Defense, that’s our backbone,” said Davis. “It was physical and the refs let us play. Our kids adjusted and played really well in the second half.”

To Woodinville’s credit, it took away just about every other Skyline possession early on.

Skyline picked up the scoring pace in the third and fourth quarters and managed to keep the lead between 10 and 19 points.

Hutsen finished with 16 points, while Edwards scored 10, going 4-for-4 from the free-throw line. Will Parker had seven points, including making 4-of-4 free throw attempts. Woodinville’s Taylor Tarabochia led Falcon scorers with six points.

Skyline plays Lake Washington Feb. 26 for the KingCo 4A Championship.

Reporter Christopher Huber can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 242, or chuber@isspress.com.

Eastlake tops Ballard, still alive in playoffs

Christopher Huber — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 17:58:44 +0000

The Eastlake boys basketball team likes to mix things up on defense, according to senior forward Michael Russo. Usually it works, but not always the way they’d like.

But when the Wolves needed it to work, it did just the trick against Ballard Feb. 19.

Eastlake’s defense held strong on the inside most of the night and forced the Beavers to take off-balance shots from the perimeter.

The Wolves won 63-46 to stay alive in the consolation round of the KingCo 4A tournament at Juanita High School.

“We like to switch up our defense a lot. We mixed it up well,” said Russo after the contest. “One of our goals … is to push it down their throats the whole game.”

And Eastlake did, to the point where the Beavers almost choked in the first quarter.

Eastlake got out to a commanding 16-2 lead in the first five minutes.

Russo and teammates Dillon Pericin and Conner Iraola each drained 3-pointers. Pericin hit two. Ballard managed to catch up a bit, after Seth Berger scored seven late in the quarter. But Eastlake led 19-13 and never looked back.

Eastlake outscored Ballard 16-7 in the second, partly because the Wolves defense continued its full-court press and fleshed out the middle of the key. Ballard worked the perimeter, but missed too many shots to be effective.

“It’s tough to play from behind,” said Ballard coach Billy Rogers. “They defended us well.”

The Wolves went into the break with a comfortable 35-20 lead.

Berger led the Beavers with 11 points at the half. Russo had 16 for Eastlake. Pericin had 13 and Kyle Hanson scored 11 in the first half.

As the game progressed, both teams moved the ball well. Ballard opened the second half with a 6-0 scoring run, but it could not cut the deficit to less than 10 points.

Eastlake pushed Ballard’s buttons with scrappy pressure, which led to some sloppy play in the late third and early fourth quarters.

Russo finished with 20 points. Pericin had 14 and Hanson scored 11.

On offense, the key was Eastlake’s depth, Russo said after the game. The Wolves rely on nine well-rounded players to spread the scoring around and contribute on both sides of the ball.

Although it was a consolation game, a win’s a win, and the team still has a chance to advance to state.

“We clicked on all cylinders,” Russo said. “I don’t feel too bad about our position.”

Reporter Christopher Huber can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 242, or chuber@isspress.com.

3 wrestle to top 10

Administrator — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 17:57:04 +0000

The four Skyline and Eastlake grapplers who made it to the state tournament put on respectable matches Feb. 19-20 in Tacoma, and two came close to winning. Skyline placed 25th overall with 18 points. Eastlake placed 56th of 69 teams.

The Spartans’ Alexis Willcher took second place again in 2010 in the 145-pound bracket. It was her third time placing at state. She pinned her first-round opponent, Maya Howard, of Foss, in 37 seconds and went on to win 6-3 and 10-5 in the second and third rounds. Willcher lost her finals bid when Sedro Woolley’s Alysia Pohren pinned her in 5:31.

“I came in here not too anxious, and what was going to happen was going to happen,” she said.

Skyline’s Anthony DeMatteo nearly attained top-three status, but placed fourth in the 215-pound competition. He pinned Lake Stevens’ Brandon Johnson in 41 seconds in the first round and beat David Stenger, of Wilson,13-1 in the second. But his third-round fall to Brian Chamberlain, of Moses Lake, led him to the consolation round. There he won one bout before falling to Mead’s Jacob Trotter in the third-place match.

“I expected more,” DeMatteo said. “I had a better season than that.”

Danny Christianson, of Skyline, placed eighth in state in the 152-pound bracket after he fell 6-3 to Dylan Evanger, of Graham-Kapowsin, in the consolation round.

“It feels really good because my goal at the starting the year was to get top eight,” Christianson said. “I would have liked to win that last one, but you can’t always do that.”

Eastlake’s Trevor McKinnon lost both of his 160-pound matches at the tournament.