Heart Break State

Written by Shona Shaw

From the start of the season, most Quakers can agree there was never a doubt whether our not our boys varsity basketball team would make it to the State Tournament. Finishing our regular season with a 21-2 record and the title of KingCo 4a District Champions, we kicked off the tournament with a rally in the gym the day before the first game. The purpose of the hour long rally was to get the Quakers pumped for the tournament and encourage attendance. Sophomore Ariana Jones said “It was poppin' off B! [laughs] The cheerleaders did good and our boys looked nice as a team!” She was definitely pumped for the games.
           
On Wednesday, February 28th, 2007 the State Tournament kicked off. The Quakers faced Mariner (14-9). Though the game appeared to be a simple win, some hearts were still racing. “Going into the State Tournament I was very nervous and scared,” says Varsity freshman, Vionte Reid. I'm sure in the end Vionte's nerves were wiped away after our 78-50 victory. To start the easy victory, one of our starting guards, Peyton Siva, stole the ball and with a fast break, went up for the dunk. However, the dunk was missed and Siva landed on his back. I think everyone, Siva included, got a laugh out of it. The missed dunk helped what became a relaxed game. You could even say the game was over at half time when our Quakers led the Mariners 40-17. The Quakers hit 13 of 15 from the foul line that night and Siva came out on top with 28 points, 5 assists, and 4 rebounds.

Thursday night we went up against Eisenhower who came into the game 20-9 and left 20-10. Our defense was definitely the highlight of the night. The boys were able to force 24 turnovers out of their opponents. Even Eisenhower's lead scorer, Harris' 28 points couldn't keep up with our Quaker defense.

Though there was no rooter bus, our Friday night game had the largest crowd. Way to show spirit Quakes! Or could our fans have jinxed them? Just playing. The Ferris Saxons, our opponents, came into the game with an outstanding 27-0 record and were the League Champs of Greater Spokane. This may have been one of the toughest games our Quakers have ever played. The fast-pace and emotion began early in the first quarter and finished through the end of the game. This was definitely a game where we could have used our percentage at the free throw line in the game vs. Mariner. Ferris hit 37 of 43 free throws where we weren't even 50% percent, which had a big effect on the game.  We were also outscored in every quarter which was definitely something we weren't used to. During the fourth quarter many of the fans and players still had hope. As Ferris began to raise the score even more, Coach Kerr picked up a technical, which definitely did not help the Quaker momentum. Kerr chose not to comment for the Franklin Tolo but said in the Seattle Times :

" As a coach, it's your job to step up in the middle for your kids when things get a little frustrating, so they can continue to focus on their game and continue to be classy. I was communicating with [the officials] probably what the kids wanted to communicate."

His reaction was neither classy nor did it allow the team to focus anymore than before. With Overton fouling out with about seven minutes left in the game, the game was left up to Siva and the rest f the squad. However, the Quakers suffered a painful loss for both the team and the fans with the score being 79-100 at the final buzzer. Ferris broke the 1989 record of most winning points. Senior Johnnie Stroud says, “Everything in life ain't fair and there is just some things in life we can't control. But you would lose too if you played a game 8 on  5. But life goes on,” about their loss.

Although the Quakers played their hearts out, many can agree that it was hard playing a game when so many calls were made against us.

The last game of the tournament we played for third. Twenty-six turnovers didn't stop us from taking the trophy. With a score of 65-55 third place was granted ours as Pasco was given fourth. Throughout a very emotional and heartbreaking tournament, our Quakers still managed to stay strong and bring a trophy home. “I feel good about how we finished strong,” Sophomore Sterling Carter says about the season. And finish strong we did. “Safe to say, say that then,” way to stay strong Quakes!

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