2A STATE TOURNAMENT NOTEBOOK

Published 9:49 pm Thursday, March 12, 2009

YAKIMA — Sultan senior Jordan Nicholes’ season ended in disappointment on Thursday with a 62-46 loss to the North Mason Bulldogs, but Nicholes said his basketball career isn’t over.

Sultan coach Nate Trichler said after Wednesday’s loss to Wapato that several college teams want Nicholes to walk on and that Northwest University is interested in Nicholes as a scholarship player.

Nicholes said after the loss to North Mason that he wasn’t thinking about it much before the state tournament and that he will start to consider his future now that the season is over.

“I know I am going to be playing college basketball, I just don’t know where,” Nicholes said.

Level Playing Field

When the 2A state tournament kicked off on Wednesday most people who felt inclined to pick a favorite on the boys side were picking either Squalicum or Mark Morris.

A funny thing happened, Mark Morris was sent home early on Thursday, losing to Pullman, after an opening-round defeat at the hands of Toppenish.

Quincy was the District 5 champion, defeating Wapato for the district championship. But their state championship hopes were washed away in the first round by the Anacortes Seahawks, who were just the fourth seed from District 1.

Then, Wapato came out and handed it to Sultan in the first round on Wednesday with a 56-39 victory. Sultan had defeated Anacortes for the third seed from District 1.

Go Figure.