EVERETT — A heartbreaking, overtime loss to Jackson in the district semifinals could have derailed the Cascade boys basketball team’s playoff run.
Instead, it motivated the Bruins even more.
Cascade responded with three consecutive victories — all by double digits — to clinch the district’s second, and final, regional berth. The Bruins appear to be peaking at the right time, winning six of their last seven games, as they prepare to take on Woodinville Saturday in the regional round of the 4A state tournament.
“Personally, I was as focused as I’ve ever been to survive and advance,” said senior guard Brevin Brown. “I just really wanted to win. I was hungry to win.”
“The Jackson game, that’s a tough loss,” Cascade head coach Darrell McNeal said. “But I’m proud of the kids — I’m proud of the way we played — we didn’t roll over. We fought until the end. They saw how tough we are and that’s the toughness that we have and we’re capable of.”
After falling to Jackson 71-69 on a buzzer-beater in overtime, Cascade defeated Mariner and Kamiak, that latter for the third time in 10 days, to advance to a winner-to-regionals game against Monroe. The Bruins controlled the Bearcats almost the entire way in a 68-49 victory.
Brown, who averaged 17 points per game in the district tournament, netted 26 in the win over Monroe.
“Brevin takes care of the basketball, he brings it up the court for us, but he’s also a scorer,” McNeal said. “He shoots the ball really well. He brings a lot of versatility to our offense. He brings a lot to our team.”
Along with Brown, Bruins junior Isaiah Gotell had a strong tournament. The 6-foot-4 forward averaged 21.6 points per contest in districts with 28 in the semifinal game against Jackson to help Cascade keep pace with the Timberwolves.
“He was more focused than ever,” Brown said. “That’s the best I’ve ever seen him play.”
“Isaiah came through,” added junior Brennen Hancock. “I don’t know what got into him but it helped a lot.”
The loss to Jackson was part of an up-and-down year for the Bruins, who lost three of their first four games. Cascade (15-10 overall) never won — or lost — more than three games in a row during the season. The Bruins had non-conference wins over Curtis and O’Dea in a holiday tournament, and went 8-6 in Wesco 4A.
“It’s been up and down but we’ve got to keep a good head on our shoulders and not let those things get to you,” Brown said. “Then, just start winning. You get momentum and look where we are now.”
McNeal said a two-week break, from Dec. 23 to Jan. 6, hurt the Bruins, who headed into the winter break with some momentum after the Curtis Holiday Tournament.
“We played really well during that tournament,” McNeal said. “Things were starting to click, guys were playing harder. You saw their confidence go up and the momentum go up. Then we were off for two weeks and those two weeks kind of hurt us. We couldn’t stay in the rhythm we were in. It took us a little bit to get back into it.
“Going into districts we started to catch our second wind again. We started to get back in the groove and it started to click.”
And it clicked just in time.
With Brown, Gotell and Hancock (7.8 points per game in districts) leading the way, the Bruins returned to their early- season form with a big 67-53 win over Kamiak to open the district tournament.
“We definitely feed off each other,” Hancock said. “We’re the type of team where we start getting momentum and it just dominos to everyone else. When Isaiah plays hard, he gives our team a lift and Brevin feeds off of it, I feed off it, coach feeds off it — he gets a little hyped over there — and everyone feeds off it.”
Brown and Hancock agreed that as good as things were going, the Jackson game was as bad. But rather than stay down, the Bruins used the game as motivation.
“That was a tough one to take,” Brown said. “That night was pretty bad. After that, we came back in practice and started working harder and harder and told ourselves we weren’t done. We were going to make it through the back end.”
“I play baseball and football (too), and that was probably the hardest loss in sports I’ve ever taken,” Hancock said. “Just being a rivalry and everything, how close we were, and then to lose on that shot, was just rough.”
Now, the Bruins hope to continue their winning streak against Woodinville, which defeated third-ranked Issaquah to earn the District 2 No. 1 seed. The Falcons are led by 6-foot-6 junior Tony Miller, who led KingCo 4A with 23.7 points and 11.4 rebounds per game.
“Woodinville is a nice, solid team,” McNeal said. “They’ve got Tony, who’s a big presence for them. He’s going to be the biggest guy on the floor. We have our work cut out for us. They like to push the ball. We have to be really purposeful in what we do.”
McNeal, in his second season as the Cascade head coach, has the Bruins back to state for the first time since 2006. The coach has more wins this season (15) than Cascade has in its previous three seasons combined (8-15, 2-18, 4-18).
The Bruins are hoping to get a couple more before the season is over.
“It’s for our seniors,” Hancock said. “The past two years have been (rough). We owe it to them to hopefully get to the dome. That’s big for us. We owe it to our community. I’m proud of where we are. We’re not done yet.”
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