TACOMA – Nalin Sood doesn’t want to think about where his team would be without the Hammond family.
The Mountlake Terrace boys basketball coach has relied on three members of that family this season, most notably during the second half of Wednesday’s 55-52 loss to South Kitsap in the first round of the 4A state tournament.
“We wouldn’t be as good without any of them,” Sood said. ” … You saw us out on the fast break. They know where each other is going to be. They play good basketball together.”
Luke Hammond was the Hawks’ leading scorer during the regular season, but a diamond-and-one defense Wednesday kept the junior under wraps. His cousins, Christiaan and Justynn, came to the rescue, combining for 24 points.
The Hammonds, who are all separated in age by about a year, have grown up playing basketball together. Luke’s father, Len, credits their success to the Hammond who never got to play at Mountlake Terrace.
Rex Hammond, Luke’s older brother, passed away in 1997 at the age of 14 after a battle with cancer.
Rex, four years older than Luke, used to play basketball with his younger brother and cousins, toughening them up in the process.
“Rex didn’t give Luke an inch,” Len Hammond said. “The younger guys all benefited from the way Rex played with them. Luke is as good as he is because Rex never gave him a break.
” … If Rex was still here, all of them would be even better.”
Len played at Everett High School in the early 1970s after growing up playing basketball in a family that included five brothers. A sister, Ava, had three sons: Terrance, Christiaan and Justynn. Terrance, now 29, played football at Lake Sammamish High School.
The two younger brothers, along with their cousin, helped lead Mountlake Terrace to the state tournament.
“It’s a tremendous feeling,” Christiaan said. “We get in arguments and all that, but when it comes to it, we’re all together. We’ve always dreamed about this, me and my brother and my cousin. We’ve always dreamed about playing together and making it this far.”
Said Ava: “It’s fun to watch. It really is. It reminds me of the days when I watched my brothers play together.”
No freebies: She waited for nearly two years for another chance in the state playoffs, but it wasn’t supposed to begin the way it did. Port Angeles was charged a technical foul for reporting an incorrect jersey number before Wednesday’s game began, sending Snohomish’s Tara Angell to the line for a pair of free throws before the clock started.
All alone, a nervous Angell missed both shots.
“It was kind of weird and even worse that I missed them,” Angell laughed. “The first game at state and you have to shoot two free throws by yourself.”
After the misses, Snohomish was awarded the ball out of bounds in lieu of the typical jump ball. The start put the Panthers a bit out of sync. Snohomish coach Ken Roberts liked the play the team planned to use to open the game. The play worked to perfection, with the exception of the ball not going in when a wide-open lay-up rolled off target.
“I think the (technical free throws) hurt us more than helped us,” Roberts said.
Oh, there it is: Monroe coach Alan Dickson spent much of Wednesday’s loss to Prairie wondering what happened to a Bearcats’ offense that averaged 64 points per game heading into the state playoffs. As his team scored the final 12 points of the game, he wished he’d seen some of the shots falling earlier. Though Prairie left several starters in the game until the end, Monroe made its last five shots in a 60-45 loss. Marjani Muhammad scored six points down the stretch while sophomore Joanna Tona scored the first six points of her varsity career.
“I’m glad we hit a few at the end,” Dickson said. ” … Hopefully we can win three in a row and get fifth.”
Almost a record: At the time, it seemed insignificant when Prairie’s Kaela Zarkovich missed a free throw with 13.4 seconds remaining in the first quarter with her team beating Monroe 13-4. The miss, however, kept the Falcons out of the record book. Prairie made 21 of 22 free throws. The record for free throw perfection was set in 1987 by Kamiakin (11-for-11). As bad as Monroe felt about being down by 28 points in the fourth quarter, the margin would not have been the worst in state history. That distinction belongs to Mount Rainier, which lost by 44 points (80-36) to Clover Park in 1979.
Looking ahead: Meadowdale girls basketball coach Karen Blair sat in the Tacoma Dome stands next to University of Washington women’s coach June Daughterty during the first two games of Wednesday’s first round. Both may have been looking toward the future. Blair, whose team won the Class 3A title on Wednesday, will coach the Mavericks at the 4A level next season. Daugherty was likely taking a good look at Monroe 6-foot-6 center Kirsten Thompson.
Tough task: The Mountlake Terrace boys team won’t get much of a rest in today’s consolation game.
After losing to South Kitsap and 6-foot-8 center Jacob Beitinger on Wednesday, the Hawks have another tough task in 6-foot-6 Central Kitsap senior Brice Brooks.
Brooks, a one-time Division I prospect who has yet to decide on a college, scored 23 points in the Cougars’ 49-48 loss to Walla Walla.
Central Kitsap led that game almost the entire way, but a questionable foul call on a half-court heave at the buzzer allowed Walla Walla’s Ryan Mitchell to hit the game-winning free throw after time had expired.
Brooks did everything he could in that game, using both post moves and a smooth outside shot to lead Central Kitsap to a 40-35 lead through three quarters. Brooks also brings the ball up the floor for the Cougars (18-7).
“Brooks is a good basketball player, and they have to step up to the challenge,” Sood said of his Hawks. “It’s not going to get any easier.”
Beitinger, who will play at Eastern Washington University next season, had 25 points and 11 rebounds in a win over Mountlake Terrace.
“Beitinger looks like he’s been in this state tournament four times already,” Sood said. “He was the difference in that basketball game.”
Davis boots two players: Two starters have been kicked off the No. 7 Davis High School team on the eve of the tournament over a reported theft.
The team’s leading scorer also was disciplined but is expected to play and a fourth student who is not on the team has been disciplined as well, school officials confirmed Tuesday.
Eddie Pola, a senior and the Pirates’ third-leading scorer, and Curtis Gomez-Trimble, a junior, were kicked off the team and barred from making the trip to Tacoma for the tournament, Davis athletic director Bob Stanley said.
Stanley would not specify the discipline for Jeremy Mangum, the Big Nine Conference co-player of the year, or for the non-player student, whose identity was described as unclear by the Yakima Herald-Republic.
Mangum was allowed to remain on the team because any involvement he might have had in the reported theft would have been minor, Stanley said, refusing to elaborate.
Coach Shag Williams could not be reached by the newspaper for comment Tuesday night.
The disciplinary action stems from the reported theft of a rifle, a fifth of tequila, a camera, a replica .54-caliber muzzle-loading rifle and a large pickle jar containing about $120 in coins from the home of a 14-year-old girl who attends Davis.
The father of the girl said she invited the players to the house Thursday after he and his wife left for work, and when he returned home that night he immediately saw his hunting rifle, a .270-caliber Remington 700, was gone.
The girl initially blamed the loss on a “Moses from Mabton,” then fingered Pola after police were summoned, investigators said.
It was unclear whether any of the items were recovered, the newspaper reported.
Prosecutors have yet to receive an investigation report, but theft charges “almost certainly will be filed,” police Lt. Greg Copeland said.
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