PUYALLUP - Defense spoke strongly in a Seattle Christian 45-32 boys basketball victory at Class 1A two-time defending state champion Cascade Christian on Friday, Feb. 3 in the nightcap of a boys and girls doubleheader that had Nisqually League first place designations on the line.
In a showdown of once-beaten league leaders in a jam packed gym, the Warriors (10-1 league, 15-3 overall) grabbed the inside track to the league regular season championship and avenged a 44-30 home loss to CCHS with outings at Charles Wright and Orting remaining on their schedule.
Cascade Christian (9-2, 13-6) rests in second place with no chance of dropping below this spot.
"They just came out and and played their guts all over," said a pleased SCS head coach Shaun DeYager. "We haven't talked about the stakes, but they knew. In this game, we knew there would be runs. They redeemed themselves tonight. Our goal was to focus on keeping the runs short. That's why we called the timeouts."
Cascade Christian's Cougars made their final run to close within 36-30 as 2:19 showed in the fourth quarter. Richard Jensen nailed a three-pointer followed by Chaise DeVries' two free throws to give the Warriors a 41-30 lead with 1:35 left for breathing room.
CCHS began the game with an 8-0 run before the Warriors settled down on both ends of the court to trail only 8-4 ahead of a quarter ending Cougar basket.
Harassing Cascade Christian shooter with quick, in your face defense, Seattle Christian kept its opponent from having players solidly squaring up to the basket, resulting in rushed shots to the tune of 4-of-15 shooting from standard field goal range and 1-of-9 from three-point land. The Warriors were more efficient with 8-of-17 from regular range and 1-of-4 from beyond the arc.
After the Cougars increased their margin to 12-4 in second quarter opening action, the Warriors exacted vengeance in a big way. Jensen's short range jump shot with 7:12 in the first half ignited a 16-point Seattle Christian charge into a 20-12 halftime lead.
SCS began settling for long range shots in contrast to its cutting to open territory drives and short range jumpers of the first half and CCHS closed within 22-20 midway through the third quarter.
It was time for Joey Grachek to make his presence felt.
Gracheck downed a three-pointer, grabbed an offensive rebound and fed Jensen for a driving lay in to create a 27-20 lead. From this point, the Warriors kept the Cougars in their rear view mirror, building its former eight-point lead back up to 31-23 going into the fourth quarter.
"We stayed calm," said Jensen, who finished with 15 points. "When we moved without the ball, our teammates got us the ball. They are great shooters, too."
Cascade Christian's smallest deficit the rest of the way was at 33-28 with all players having key roles when needed for SCS.
"We played solid defense as a team and took the shots our opponents gave us," said Cody Miller, who earned 11 points with eight rebounds and three blocked shots.
Chaise DeVries finished with six points , but also corralled seven rebounds. Shawn Abe, Tyler Stein and Kyle Pierrotti put in key minutes.
Six-foot, nine-inch Shawn Spencer led Cascade Christain with 10 points and seven rebounds.
