Faidley goes out on top

There was no doubt the record was going to fall. It was simply a matter of when and how Chris Faidley would overtake La Center’s Dustin Van Weerdhuizen as the all-time Class 1A state tournament scoring leader.

Heading into the semifinals of last week’s state championships at the Yakima SunDome, a mere four points was all Faidley needed to break Van Weerdhuizen’s six-year-old mark of 252 points.

It wound up taking the King’s High School senior most of the night to track those points down.

Faidley’s first nine field goal attempts of the March 5 matchup with Northeast League champion Northwest Christian all rimmed off or rattled out. His first points were a pair of free throws 1:39 into the second half.

Then, at the 6:49 mark of the fourth quarter, Faidley converted a steal into a layup and the record finally was his.

“The crowd just went nuts and I realized that was the fourth point and I needed three to tie (the record). It was special how the fans were into it,” said Faidley, who was given the game ball and posed for pictures with his family at midcourt during a postgame presentation.

“It was an awesome experience and something I’ll never forget. It was cool how my parents were brought on the floor. It was really special to me.”

Faidley finished with 10 points on 2-for-17 shooting in a losing effort, then scored a game-high 23 the next night in a victory over Freeman to push his career total to 282 points in 16 games.

“To average 17 points a game and play in 16 state tournament games is pretty incredible,” King’s coach Marv Morris said. “Lots of teams go to state but don’t get to play in four games every year. It takes a lot of breaks and hard work.”

During Faidley’s four years at King’s, the Knights compiled a 14-2 record in Yakima. King’s captured back-to-back state titles in 2001 and 2002 and placed fourth and third the past two seasons.

“It’s a tribute to my coach and a tribute to the program and how we work hard to get (to state) every year,” Faidley said.

As a sophomore, Faidley received tournament MVP honors when the Knights became the sixth team to claim consecutive Class 1A championships.

But it was an extremely productive performance at last year’s 1A tournament that brought Faidley within striking distance of the milestone.

He averaged 27 points over four games and flirted with two other records on the final day. His eight 3-pointers in a win over Freeman matched a tournament record for most 3-point goals in a game and his 42 points fell five short of tying the single-game scoring record.

The offensive outburst left Faidley 71 points behind Van Weerdhuizen, who played in 15 state tournament games from 1995-98.

“You don’t play for those kind of records,” Faidley said. “I had no idea until someone said something that I was even in contention of it. It was awesome it worked out like that. Hopefully it will stand for awhile.”