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closeCougs hoopsters proving themselves
Cascade Christian’s boys basketball team is proving their worth in summer league play against foes
Shaun Scott
It may be summertime, but the Cascade Christian boys basketball is already playing like a state title is on the line in March.
The Cougars flashed signs of greatness, earning first place in the Tahoma High School basketball summer tournament on June 15.
There were 16 teams competing in the tourney consisting of Auburn, Auburn-Mountainview, Auburn-Riverside, Capital, Emerald Ridge, Graham-Kapowsin, Hazen, Juanita, Kentlake, Liberty, River Ridge, Rogers, Tahoma, White River and Cascade Christian.
The majority of the teams compete in the 4A classification during their respective seasons. The Cougars nabbed victories against White River, Kentwood and River Ridge before defeating Kentlake 56-46 in the championship game. Cascade Christian players contributing to the championship included JT Layson, Austin Mulcahey, Ryan Read, Jonathan Felczak, Taylor Rozumny, Johnny Tveter, David Walters, Jonnie Washburn, Jake LeFrancois and Cody Shackett.
“We were the only 1A team in it,” Cougars coach Jerry Williams said. “We played so good. It was like we were in mid-season form. I couldn’t have asked for a better performance this early in the summer from these guys. It’s certainly a good sign for our team. We knew going in we had the ability to play well and we backed that up.”
Williams said while his team wasn’t at all surprised with their performance, other teams at the tournament might have felt differently.
“I think with us being a 1A team that we certainly surprised everyone else in the tournament,” Williams said. “We expect to play well. Summer is such an important time of the year for our basketball team. I think that our fundamentals helped us out a lot during the tourney. I don’t think a lot of teams play great fundamentals in the summer, but we do. That’s one of the reasons why we’ve came out and have been so successful early on and have played at a high level.”
Williams is planning on entering his squad into a slew of top tier tournaments this summer.
“We’re going to be in the Curtis shootout later this month. That tournament has some of the best teams in the whole state,” Williams said. “Our first game is against Burlington-Edison High School. They won the Class 2A state championship last year. It should be a good test for us and a fun game.”
Williams said there’s a reason why he schedules such tough opponents during the summer.
“I try to get us to play as many upper division teams as we can. I don’t like to schedule teams that we know we have a good chance of beating,” Williams said. “We want to prepare our kids for the regular season. The defending 1A state champion Charles Wright is in our league and they knocked us out of the playoffs last year. That shows you how close we are to getting over the hump. I’m confident in our teams’ chances of going far next year.”