Published: Tuesday, February 14, 2012
2A District 1 boys basketball: Sultan tops Granite Falls 64-61
MOUNT VERNON -- The Sultan boys basketball team lost its final three games of the regular season, putting the Turks in the unenviable position of needing a win just to make it into the 2A District 1 tournament.
That victory -- 64-61 over Burlington-Edison in the district play-in game -- may have been just the tonic to turning around the Turks' season.
Riding the confidence from that win, Sultan trounced Granite Falls, a team it lost to twice this season, 65-52 in a loser-out 2A District 1 playoff game Tuesday night at Skagit Valley College.
The triumph leaves the Turks one victory shy of a state berth. Sultan plays Anacortes on Thursday at 8 p.m. at Mount Vernon High School for a spot in the consolation final and a berth into the Class 2A state tournament.
"The win against Burlington-Edison kind of put us over the echelon and made the guys believe that, yeah, we are a good team," Sultan head coach Nate Trichler said of his team, which started the season 0-4 and lost six of its first eight games.
"They really started believing at that point that we can play with anyone."
The back-and-forth first quarter was played at a breakneck pace with seven lead changes and 32 points scored between the two teams.
Sultan settled into a zone defense in the second quarter and made its move. While holding Granite Falls to 1-for-5 shooting and forcing a pair of big turnovers, Sultan outscored the Tigers 11-2 early in the quarter to open up a 27-20 lead. The Turks never looked back after that as Granite Falls could not get closer than five points the rest of the game.
"We went from a man-pressure to a zone-pressure defense and that really forced the tempo," Trichler said. "That got us in the flow and we got some easy buckets."
Brock VandenEkart scored 21 points to pace the Turks and Cooper Beucherie added 18. Both players were instrumental in the second-quarter surge, scoring a combined 15 of Sultan's 23 points in the key period.
VandenEkart was especially big for Sultan, coming up with a number of steals and rebounds in key spots.
"He's maturing so much," Trichler said of VandenEkart. "He's so much more patient than he was at the beginning of the season. He used to force things down people's throat but now he's waiting for the right opportunities to do it.
"He's a great rebounder and he becoming a real team leader for us now."
Granite Falls, which came into the tournament as the Cascade Conference No. 2 seed, looked as good as advertised early on. Behind the strong play of Shawn Madigan, the Tigers traded the lead with the Turks before grabbing a 16-14 advantage on a Jeff Benson basket with 9 seconds to play in the first quarter. But Sultan's Steven Branham answered with a basket at the buzzer to knot the score at 16 entering the second quarter.
The final score would have been more lopsided if not for the play of Madigan. With a quick first step, the senior forward continually beat Sultan defenders to the basket, ringing up a game-high 33 points in the loss.
At Skagit Valley College
Sultan 16 23 13 13 -- 65
Granite Falls 16 14 7 15 -- 52
Sultan--Rappuhn 2, Branham 11, Reilly 6, Torres 2, VandenEckart 21, Beucherie, 18, Rivas 5. Granite Falls--Leitzke 2, Larsen 2, D. Benson 9, Madigan 33, J. Benson 4, Van Beek 2. 3-point goals--Branham 1, Rivas 1, Reilly 1. Records--Sultan 11-12. Granite Falls 13-9.
That victory -- 64-61 over Burlington-Edison in the district play-in game -- may have been just the tonic to turning around the Turks' season.
Riding the confidence from that win, Sultan trounced Granite Falls, a team it lost to twice this season, 65-52 in a loser-out 2A District 1 playoff game Tuesday night at Skagit Valley College.
The triumph leaves the Turks one victory shy of a state berth. Sultan plays Anacortes on Thursday at 8 p.m. at Mount Vernon High School for a spot in the consolation final and a berth into the Class 2A state tournament.
"The win against Burlington-Edison kind of put us over the echelon and made the guys believe that, yeah, we are a good team," Sultan head coach Nate Trichler said of his team, which started the season 0-4 and lost six of its first eight games.
"They really started believing at that point that we can play with anyone."
The back-and-forth first quarter was played at a breakneck pace with seven lead changes and 32 points scored between the two teams.
Sultan settled into a zone defense in the second quarter and made its move. While holding Granite Falls to 1-for-5 shooting and forcing a pair of big turnovers, Sultan outscored the Tigers 11-2 early in the quarter to open up a 27-20 lead. The Turks never looked back after that as Granite Falls could not get closer than five points the rest of the game.
"We went from a man-pressure to a zone-pressure defense and that really forced the tempo," Trichler said. "That got us in the flow and we got some easy buckets."
Brock VandenEkart scored 21 points to pace the Turks and Cooper Beucherie added 18. Both players were instrumental in the second-quarter surge, scoring a combined 15 of Sultan's 23 points in the key period.
VandenEkart was especially big for Sultan, coming up with a number of steals and rebounds in key spots.
"He's maturing so much," Trichler said of VandenEkart. "He's so much more patient than he was at the beginning of the season. He used to force things down people's throat but now he's waiting for the right opportunities to do it.
"He's a great rebounder and he becoming a real team leader for us now."
Granite Falls, which came into the tournament as the Cascade Conference No. 2 seed, looked as good as advertised early on. Behind the strong play of Shawn Madigan, the Tigers traded the lead with the Turks before grabbing a 16-14 advantage on a Jeff Benson basket with 9 seconds to play in the first quarter. But Sultan's Steven Branham answered with a basket at the buzzer to knot the score at 16 entering the second quarter.
The final score would have been more lopsided if not for the play of Madigan. With a quick first step, the senior forward continually beat Sultan defenders to the basket, ringing up a game-high 33 points in the loss.
At Skagit Valley College
Sultan 16 23 13 13 -- 65
Granite Falls 16 14 7 15 -- 52
Sultan--Rappuhn 2, Branham 11, Reilly 6, Torres 2, VandenEckart 21, Beucherie, 18, Rivas 5. Granite Falls--Leitzke 2, Larsen 2, D. Benson 9, Madigan 33, J. Benson 4, Van Beek 2. 3-point goals--Branham 1, Rivas 1, Reilly 1. Records--Sultan 11-12. Granite Falls 13-9.
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