EVERETT — Trailing by nine points with less than three minutes to play in the third quarter of Thursday’s 4A District 1 Championship game against Kamiak, the Cascade Bruins needed someone to step up.
Senior guard Drew Magaoay did that and then some.
Magaoay scored 18 of his team’s 24 fourth-quarter points and finished with 45 points to lead the Bruins to a 76-69 come-from-behind win.
“He was in a zone tonight,” Cascade coach Darrell McNeal said. “Credit to him. We’ve been getting on him and he’s been trying to be a part of the team. You know it’s always hard, but we believed in him and we knew what he’s capable of. Drew turned it on at the right time. There was never a doubt in my mind that he couldn’t play… Tonight he wanted it and he took over.”
Magaoay scored the final five points of the third quarter to cut the deficit to four points. He scored the Bruins’ first seven points of the fourth quarter to tie the game at 59.
“I’ve always been a player that showed up for bigger games, usually,” Magaoay said. “I just wanted to win that bad.”
In last Thursday’s semifinal victory over Mariner, Magaoay finished with just seven points while senior guard Cameron McGrath had 28 points and seven 3-pointers.
In the championship it was Magaoay’s turn.
“There has been games throughout the season where someone has the hot hand and we look for them,” Magaoay said. “The other night it was (Cameron McGrath). Isaiah (Gotell) has had a few of those. We trust each other. If one person’s hitting we just keep looking to get it to him. It’s all love. I would have done the same thing if anyone else was scoring all the points.”
McNeal said his team’s unselfishness is what makes coaching the Bruins so fun.
“That’s the best part about this team,” McNeal said. “We said a while ago that anybody on our team could score. Any one of our guys can lead us there. Just having that depth and having the guys believe in each other and believe in their teammates and knowing that on any given night anyone can step up and make it happen, that’s the beauty of it for us. The kids were cheering him on. They were telling him let’s go run another set for him and run another screen to him.”
Kamiak played well throughout the game, but there wasn’t much the Knights could do about Magaoay.
“There’s not much you can do,” West said. “He wouldn’t miss. I’d be interested to see what he shot from the field. He played. He’s a gamer. He came to play and he doesn’t want his season to be over. … Everybody has to play like that. He doesn’t want it to finish.”
Whether it was behind the 3-point line, penetrating to the basket, or shooting from the free-throw line, Magaoay didn’t miss much.
“I thought the guys that were guarding Drew did a good job, he just hit some tough shots,” West said. “We had guys in the paint and he’s dipsy doo around them. What can you do?”
West and the Knights will face Jackson on Saturday in a loser-out game for the district’s final berth to regionals.
The Bruins’ victory not only gives them the district championship, but earns them a berth in the regional round of the state playoffs and puts them one win away from the Hardwood Classic in the Tacoma Dome.
“We got to that state regional game (last year) and we want more than that,” McNeal said. “We came up short last year of getting to the Dome and that’s still our goal and our dream. We still have work to put in and trying to overcome next week when we play, whoever we play.”
Aaron Lommers covers prep sports for The Herald. Follow him on Twitter at @aaronlommers and contact him at alommers@heraldnet.com.
At Everett Community College
Kamiak 16 20 20 13 —69
Cascade 17 18 17 24 —76
Kamiak—Carson Tuttle 14, Christian Clausen 12, Jase Wiley, Trevor Gray 0, Hunter Watkins 0, Coleman Grayson 13, Gavin Patrick 8, Daniel Sharpe 9, Nathan Shubert 7, Isaiah Jeannot 3. Cascade—Trevon Blackmon 6, Drew Magaoay 45, Cameron McGrath 5, Muhammed Kolly 0, Kevin Burns 0, Brennen Hancock 10, Isaiah Gotell 10. Records—Kamiak 16-6 overall. Cascade 21-1.
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