Bearcats bound for district
Published 12:01 am Tuesday, February 1, 2011
MONROE — After many years of hovering lower than they wanted, the Monroe Bearcats are finally experiencing life near the top.
Earlier this month the senior-loaded Monroe High School boys basketball team clinched the program’s first-ever Class 4A playoff berth. Even though Monroe h
ad never advanced to the 4A postseason before this winter, it certainly had high hopes and plenty of talent, so the Bearcats’ rise isn’t exactly a surprise.
Going into the season, Western Conference 4A North Division coaches picked Monroe to finish second in the league behind Arlington. Monroe, which had a record of 6-14 last season and 7-13 in 2008-2009, is still getting used to its new outlook.
“It’s a change for us,” third-year Monroe head boys basketball coach Nick Wold said. “We’ve always been a middle-of-the-pack program, and now we’re expecting success.”
Going into this week, Monroe was 10-3 in leagues games (second place in the North), including a win at division-leading Arlington on Dec. 21. However, after clinching a berth in this month’s 4A District 1 tournament with a victory over Marysville-Pilchuck on Jan. 21, Monroe stumbled a week ago, losing by one point in overtime at home versus Snohomish, which entered this week tied for last place in the division.
Monroe didn’t panic. In fact, the Bearcats bounced back with arguably their best game of the season on Friday in a thoroughly dominating 75-40 win over Stanwood.
“We’re expecting that if we have a tough situation, we’re going to persevere,” Wold said a few weeks ago. “That’s been the difference for us this year: We have a group of guys — not one or two, but 10 seniors — who believe in our system. They believe in what we’re doing both offensively and defensively.”
Monroe’s starting lineup features half of those 10 seniors: Point guard Joey Roppo, guards Slava Ulanovskiy and Luke Drivstuen, and posts Cole Parker and Tom Meeus. All five of them started together the majority of last season, and most of the 10 seniors have played together since fifth grade.
After a disappointing 2009-2010 season, the turning point, Parker said, came during a tiring but productive summer.
“We worked as hard as we could,” said the 6-foot-7 Parker, who met with teammates at 7:30 a.m. most weekdays for weightlifting and conditioning. “We busted every morning, just sweating buckets. Every single guy was there.”
The hard work and daily bonding translated into success onto the court. Monroe won the Mountlake Terrace summer league and reached the quarterfinals at Gonzaga University’s team camp.
“It gave us a lot of confidence,” Roppo said.
Added Ulanovskiy: “We kind of pulled some things together and got our mindset on, ‘This is what we’ve got to do and this is how we do it.’ The summer kickstarted it.”
Monroe is a balanced team that features three players — Roppo, Parker and Meeus — who average at least nine points per game. Roppo (11.7 ppg, 5-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio), a productive football quarterback, deftly guides the Bearcats’ offense on the court. He also provides inspiring intensity when the other team has the ball.
“One thing I’ve been really kind of surprised with (Roppo) this year is his leadership on defense, his defensive effort,” said Ulanovskiy. “We put him on our opponent’s best offensive player and he always comes to play.”
Meanwhile, the 6-7 Parker (13.5 ppg, 10.0 rebounds per game, 3.0 blocks per game) and 6-6 Meeus (9.9 ppg, 6.0 rpg) are an effective interior duo. They are capable scorers and tenacious rebounders.
“They make the guards’ jobs a lot easier,” Ulanovskiy said. “There’s not as much pressure on us to fling shots every possession. They definitely put the work in and it’s paying off this year.”
That latter sentence seems to describe Monroe’s entire team.
After playing a home game against Arlington on Wednesday, Monroe moves on to the 4A district tournament — uncharted territory for the Bearcats. Regardless of how his team fares, Monroe’s coach savors every minute with this special group.
“We may not win the conference championship, but I’ll tell you what: It’s fun playing basketball when guys believe in what you do and do it with a smile on their faces,” Wold said.
“That’s when you really feel,” he added, “like we’re accomplishing things that are different than just basketball.”
Mike Cane: mcane@heraldnet.com. Check out the prep sports blog Double Team at cmg-northwest2.go-vip.net/heraldnet/doubleteam and follow Cane on Twitter at MikeCaneHerald.
