Haugstad's journey to state started young

When Nate DuChesne and his family moved to Camano Island in 2000, DuChesne noticed a young boy in the neighborhood who seemed addicted to shooting basketballs.

DuChesne, at the time Stanwood High School's head boys basketball coach, watched the kid hoist shot after shot on an outdoor court in their cul-de-sac. The diminutive youngster practiced for hours at a time, often continuing until 10 or 11 p.m., DuChesne said.

Eventually DuChesne joined the boy and demonstrated a few shooting drills that could help him improve. The eager boy, Drew Haugstad, ate up the tips. After all, Haugstad desperately hoped to one day wear a Stanwood uniform and play for DuChesne.

“It was really big because he was always the high school coach when I was little,” Haugstad said.

Every once in awhile Haugstad's hero, Stanwood guard Ryan Appleby, would join DuChesne and Haugstad on the court. During those moments, when all three of them took shots, Haugstad brimmed with exhilaration.

“I always wanted to be able to shoot like him and play like him,” Haugstad said of Appleby, a 2003 Stanwood High grad who starred for the Spartans and went on to play for the University of Florida and, most notably, the University of Washington.

Now a senior at Stanwood High, Haugstad hasn't garnered the acclaim Appleby got. But in many ways Haugstad is following in his idol's footsteps.

Haugstad, a 5-foot-11 starting shooting guard on Stanwood's boys basketball team, helped the Spartans qualify for the 2010 Class 4A state boys basketball championships, which begin Wednesday at the Tacoma Dome. It is the program's first trip to state since 2002, when Appleby helped Stanwood place sixth. Stanwood (16-7), the District 1 No. 2 seed, plays a first-round game against defending champion Federal Way (23-2) at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday.

Complementing Stanwood's all-league first team duo Zack Johnson (17.4 points and 11.5 rebounds per game) and Kale Schmidt (16.6 ppg, 4.0 rpg), Haugstad has made vital contributions the second half of the season. He was up and down in the first 11 games, like his team. But Haugstad exploded with a career-high 32 points, including 7 of 10 3-point shooting, Jan. 13 in a 23-point win at Cascade.

Since then Stanwood has been on a roll (13 wins in its past 14 games) and Haugstad has mostly been locked on from long range. The senior has made 52 3s over his past 12 games, scoring at least 10 points each game. His season scoring average is up to 14.5.

“I think it helps all of us,” Haugstad said of his emergence, “because it's harder for other teams to guard us when you have three scoring options.”

Following an outstanding summer and fall, Haugstad struggled when the current season began. He was too passive, Stanwood coach Zach Ward said. During Christmas break Ward urged Haugstad to be aggressive and contribute more. Soon after that Haugstad broke through.

“He's erupted since then. He just has so much confidence,” said Ward.

This season Haugstad has made 70 of 169 3-point attempts (41.4 percent). All those hours he spent shooting late into the night as a child have clearly paid off.

“He's put a lot of time in. That young man shot thousands and thousands of shots,” said DuChesne, the former Stanwood coach who currently is an assistant coach with the Portland State University men's basketball team.

The formula hasn't changed for Haugstad, who earned All-Wesco North second team honors last week. “It's a lot of repetition, repetition, repetition,” he said.

Rubbing off a teammate's screen to get open, the quick, fluid catch-and-release motion, the elevation and confident follow-through — for Haugstad it's all second nature.

“He's a shooter,” DuChesne said. “That's what he does.”

Mike Cane: mcane@heraldnet.com. Check out the prep sports blog Double Team at www.heraldnet.com/doubleteam.