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Rematch with Bulldogs first playoff test for Jacks
Wade Petersen couldn't recall an instance in his coaching career when a team of his had played the same opponent two contests in a row.
His Quincy High School boys basketball squad will take on Ellensburg in a Central Washington Athletic Conference district tournament second-round game tonight at QHS. If that match-up sounds familiar, it should; the Jackrabbits knocked off the Bulldogs 40-35 last Friday in both teams' regular-season finale.
Ellensburg beat Prosser 56-46 on Tuesday in a loser-out first round game to earn a rematch with Quincy. Obviously the Jacks and Bulldogs are going to be fresh in each other's minds, having played just seven days ago, but Petersen doesn't think an advantage lies with one team or the other, necessarily.
"It has its pros and cons, I guess," he said about playing Ellensburg for the second straight week. "The bad thing is they have a pretty good idea of what we want to do. They know most of our plays and sets now because we just saw them a few days ago. The advantage is obviously we know something about them, too. We know who they are and what kind of things they're going to try to do against our zone. It probably balances out in the end."
Perhaps one of the most critical things about the Bulldogs that the Jacks learned from last Friday's contest was that they shouldn't leave Garrett Harris uncovered behind the 3-point stripe just because he's a 6-foot-4 post player. Last Friday, Harris almost single-handedly brought Ellensburg back from a double-digit deficit by draining three 3-pointers in the fourth-quarter.
The Jacks eventually pulled away late in the fourth quarter for the win, but Harris' long-ball barrage reinforced the concept that Ellensburg is definitely a team that relies on the outside shot despite being one of the tallest teams in the conference.
"We had a pretty good idea (about them) before we played them last week," Petersen said. "They pretty much did what we thought they would do. Harris stepped out from the basket a little bit and shot some 3s there at the end, and we knew that he could shoot 3s, but I guess we didn't realize that he could be such a big threat. He caught fire, and we'll make sure that doesn't happen again (tonight)."
So did Harris continue his hot shooting against Prosser?
"He shot one (3-pointer), an air ball," Petersen said, grinning. "All the kids turned to me and said, 'What is that all about?' We'd seen him take them in the past; I've seen them play Squlicum in the Sun Dome and he had stepped out and shot three or four of those, so I knew that was a possibility. The problem for us with Ellensburg is they've got so many guys that can shoot the 3-ball. The other three perimeter guys can also shoot well, and (Harris) is a fourth guy, which makes it extra tough to try to get out and defend.
"They're more perimeter-based. They have some size, especially with their guards; their guards are tall, 6-foot-2, 6-3 guys. Most of them are outside shooters. They don't post up much. That's kind of how they go. They live and die by the 3-ball."
Fortunately for the Jacks, defending is something they've done extremely well this season. For the season, Quincy allowed just 47 points per game, and was the only team in the CWAC to allow less than 1,000 points on the season.
"That's a good number," Petersen said. "We always look at for the season (allowing) 1,000 points. If we can keep our total opponents under 1,000, that's pretty good defense. But on the same token, we're not scoring a whole lot. We're only scoring 52, 53 points per game. There's not that much room for error there. Other teams in our league are scoring 55, 60."
In order to win in the playoffs, Quincy is obviously going to have to continue to play excellent defense. Senior forward Eric Martin has been a consistent offensive threat for the Jacks this season, but they don't feature another double-digit scorer and sometimes struggle to score points as a result.
Fortunately, Petersen thinks his team's style of play is ideally suited for postseason competition.
"I think if we're going to have any success, the scores are going to have to be low," he said. "If the score gets pretty high, you're probably going to see us on the back side of things. I have no problem with (tonight's) game being in the 40s or somewhere in that area. If it gets too high for us, we're not going to have a lot of success.
"I found that most teams, when districts come, and especially state, the scores really start to drop. Teams aren't relying just on freelance basketball and run-and-gun and shooting 3s. Most teams are trying to get (into) their sets, so that really plays to our advantage because we already do that."
Quincy has beaten Ellensburg twice already this season, first prevailing over the Bulldogs 41-40 in overtime in January. A sports cliché says that it can be hard to beat the same team three times in one season, but obviously Petersen and the Jacks are hoping to do just that.
"Well, I don't know," he said. "Sometimes I think it can work the other way. They know that they've lost twice to us, and so when we start to get rolling (tonight), in the back of their minds, they're going to be saying, 'Here we go again. We've already lost to these guys twice. This is happening all over again.' I think it's a confidence-booster for our kids to have that advantage.
"But it's hard to beat somebody over and over and over again. Eventually the (losing) team should make some adjustments and fix the things that weren't working the first two times. But both teams are going to try to tweak things and make things a little different so it works best for them. We have a few tricks up our sleeve. We'll see if they work."
The Jacks should go into the playoffs as a confident group; they're currently on their longest winning streak of the season and know they can beat anybody still standing; they sport an 8-2 record against the other five remaining playoff teams.
"We have a three-game win streak right now, so hopefully we can keep that up," said senior guard Cory Keller. "That's a good way to go into districts."
If Quincy wins tonight, it'll face Grandview, the tournament's second seed, on Saturday at East Valley High School. The Jacks beat the Greyhounds twice this season, once in overtime and the once in a blowout.
If Quincy manages to get by Grandview, it'll clinch a state berth and play for the district championship on March 7.
"We haven't been in this spot in a while," Martin said, "and we're definitely excited. We're looking to do some damage."
Petersen said, "These kids dreamed, when they were young, of making the state tournament. Every Quincy Jack player wants to do that. Now they've got the chance. They've got the chance of a lifetime. It's pretty special to go to state."
Contact Doug Flanagan at reporter@qvpr.com or through Facebook:
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COMMENTS
Dustin:
Great job with this blog! keep it up! Go Jacks!
