Story Photos
 Photo by Bill Wagner Scott Pisapia, left, an R.A. Long basketball player, hugs Jeray Kay after Kay's Monarchs won their fourth consecutive district championship game Saturday night in Kelso. |
Monarchs know teams will try to knock of their unbeaten squad
Monday, March 5, 2007 6:59 AM PST
By Cathy Zimmerman
Printable version
E-mail this articleMark Morris fought through one of the toughest districts in the state to qualify for the Class 2A Boys Basketball Championships.
The Monarchs may have to knock off the best teams from another top district to deliver head coach Bill Bakamus his first-ever state championship.
Mark Morris (23-0) faces Clarkston (12-12) on Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. in the Tacoma Dome in the opening round. If the Monarchs win, they will face either Fife or Anacortes, the No. 2 seed from the powerful Northwest 2A District, in the quarterfinals. A semifinal matchup against Burlington-Edison (the No. 3 seed from the Northwest) could await.
And then, who knows?
It might just come down to Mark Morris vs. Lynden, the Northwest district champion, for the Gold Ball.
MM head coach Bill Bakamus came away from the 2A draw at WIAA headquarters in Renton on Sunday with a more immediate focus.
"We are opposite Lynden," he said ---- the only mention Bakamus made of the northern powerhouse. "There are teams in the upper bracket, with us, who are playing very well at this time. All our effort and concentration is on playing Clarkston. We're not going to look at their record and think any less of them. They earned their trip, just like us."
Message board posters and other assorted basketball geeks were surely pleased to see that Lynden and Mark Morris ---- or "No. 1 and 1a," as W.F. West coach Ryan Robertson called them on Saturday ---- drew opposite sides of the bracket.
The co-tourney favorites were originally together in the lower bracket, Bakamus said, but were split up after a re-draw to accommodate the eight schools that are sending boys and girls teams to the 2A tournament.
The only teams to be ranked in the top two by the Associated Press this season ---- Lynden held the No. 1 spot early on before swapping spots with previously-No. 2 Mark Morris ---- the Lions and Monarchs are widely considered the favorites to win the championship.
When asked if the Monarchs will be considered tournament favorites on Saturday, MM senior Matt Argyropoulos said, "I think so. I don't know how we're not. It's us and Lynden."
Junior Jeray Key agreed that MM would be a "marked team at state."
"But so will Lynden," he added.
Bakamus did not go beyond acknowledging that Lynden was in the bottom half of the bracket and MM in the top.
"You get up here, all the records are clean," he said. "Everyone is playing with the same incentive and enthusiasm. We need to have two good days of preparation and play our brand of basketball on Wednesday."
Clarkston (12-12) is the No. 2 seed from the Northeast 2A District. The Bantams, River Ridge (12-12) and Fife (9-16) are the only teams with .500 or poorer records in the 16-team state field. But Clarkston went 7-2 down the stretch, nipping Pullman 55-53 to clinch a tourney berth.
"They are probably a team that underachieved a little bit early in the season, but is playing better now," Bakamus said. "They have two 6-foot-5 kids (juniors Cary Conklin and Drew Hansen) and a kid (senior Sean Bernier) that can shoot it pretty well."
Mark Morris dodged the infamous, 9 a.m. "Egg McMuffin special" only to land in the 10:30 "Brunch" time slot.
"I can generally feed my face in high style at 10:30 a.m.," said Bakamus, "but this is not what I would have preferred. I don't think that when we play has any affect on our kids at all. We'll be ready, regardless."
While the hype will surround Mark Morris and Lynden as tourney time approaches, there will be a general sense of intrigue attached to the Class 2A field. Only four of the 16 teams placed at state last season: Lynden (third, Class 3A), Mark Morris (seventh, 3A), West Valley-Spokane (eighth, 3A), and Grandview (sixth, 2A).
Class 2A will be the lone state tourney out of Washington's six classifications that will not include at least one team that played for a state title in 2006. The defending state 2A champion, Lynden Christian, dropped down to Class 1A this season and was eliminated in the district playoffs. Defending state 3A champion Seattle Prep stayed 3A after reclassification.
Notes: Mark Morris is seeking its first state title since the 1986-87 season. ...The Monarchs also won state in 1978 and '85. Mark Morris needs three victories to set a school record for wins in a season. The 2001-02 Monarchs won 25 games.
Class 2A Boys Basketball State
Championships
Tacoma Dome
Round 1, Wednesday
Fife (9-16) vs. Anacortes (16-9), 9 a.m.
Clarkston (12-12) vs. Mark Morris (23-0), 10:30 a.m.
Burlington-Edison (19-6) vs. Sequim (13-9), 12 p.m.
River Ridge (12-12) vs. East Valley-Yakima (16-7), 2 p.m.
Foster (15-6) vs. Lynden (21-2), 3:30 p.m.
Wapato (20-4) vs. W.F. West (18-5), 5 p.m.
Mount Baker (16-8) vs. West Valley-Spokane (19-3), 7 p.m.
Centralia (17-7) vs. Grandview (21-3), 8:30 p.m.
Pre-tourney "standings" by overall record:
1. Mark Morris (23-0, 1.000)
2. Lynden (21-2, .913)
3. Grandview (21-3, .875)
4. West Valley-Spokane (19-3, .863)
5. Wapato (20-4, .833)
6. W.F. West (18-5, .782)
7. Burlington-Edison (19-6, .760)
8. Foster (15-6, .714)
9. Centralia (17-7, .708)
10. East Valley-Yakima (16-7)
11. Mount Baker (16-8, .666)
12. Anacortes (16-9, .640)
13. Sequim (13-9, .590)
(tie) 14. Clarkston (12-12, .500)
tie 14. River Ridge (12-12, .500)
16. Fife (9-16, .360)
free spirit wrote on Feb 7, 2008 1:19 AM:
Past Month's Most Commented Stories