BY GERARDO BOLONG
Contributing Writer
PUYALLUP - The high school regular season closed in dramatic style at the jam-packed Cascade Christian High School gym on Feb. 6.
A belated fourth quarter surge by the Seattle Christian boys basketball team just missed reaching the lead before Cascade Christian surged away to a Cougar Nisqually 1A 67-60 win that eliminated the Warriors from playoff action when Vashon Island defeated Bellevue Christian to claim their third and last spot to district at 4-4.
The Warriors concluded their season at 3-5 and 11-9. The Cougars (6-2, 12-8) head to district at Bremerton High School as the No. 1 Nisqually seed.
Leading only 58-57 as 2:18 remained in the fourth quarter, Nathan Larsen ducked inside for a field goal.
A player controlled foul on the Warrior possession preceded five consecutive Cougar points and a 65-60 SC deficit at the 12 second mark.
During this time, Seattle Christian was hoisting threes and was forced to foul.
With 5.9 seconds left, Jared Cattell drilled a 3-pointer for the Warriors and Cooley notched two concluding free throws.
"It was the little things that hurt us," said Seattle Christian head coach Micheal Watts. "We battled the entire game, but you just can't shoot 19 percent (4-for-21) from outside (3-point range)."
Answering each other's baskets, the teams played to a virtual standstill until CCHS answered Zac VanderLey's basket and ensuing free throw with a 6-0 rush into a 25-22 halftime edge after Jared Cattell's 3-point goal near the buzzer was waived off by the officials.
The Warriors kept close for much of the third quarter and trailed by only four twice until Cascade led 46-37 late in the third quarter en route to a 48-41 lead after three quarters.
Harry Hohimer's lay up had Seattle Christian within 51-47 and Spencer Howell, who was saddled with early fouls, later added two free throws to keep Seattle Christian close at 53-49 midway through the fourth quarter.
This promising comeback was cut off by Cooley's 3-point play, but VanderLey scored ahead of a 3-second call against the Cougars.
It was VanderLey with a put back basket from. the baseline with a foul shot that had SC in the thick of it, again, at 56-54 with 2:47 left.
Corbin Nohr converted a pair Cascade of free throws ahead of VanderLey's way beyond the arc 3-point rocket that brought SC within 58-57 as the final scenes beckoned.
"The ups and downs of the season put us in a bad place." concluded Watts.
VanderLey ended his high school career on a 23-point, nine rebound night. Jared Cattell was good for 16 points while Spencer Howell ended at 12.
Cooley paced three double figures scorers for CCHS at 25. Larsen put in 15 points and Nohr finished with 12.
