When Issaquah basketball coach Jason Griffith watches his squad, he can’t help but get a little nostalgic.
This year’s seniors were the first class the fourth-year leader of the Eagles has seen all the way through his program, and includes a group he described as equal parts talent and selflessness.
But for the team’s core of upperclassmen, the memories go back even further.
“I remember being new to the team,” senior Cory Nevin said of a fourth grade AAU squad he played on with current teammates Jake Henke, Brian Watson and Ty Gibson, among others. “I had just moved to the area, didn’t know anybody. All the guys were pretty cool and we became friends fast.”
Those friendships have strengthened throughout the years for a group that also includes David Van Halm and Addison McIrvin, and are paying dividends on the court for a team one game from a KingCo tournament title.
“We’ve been looking forward to this year for a while now,” said Gibson, who is a junior but played a year above his age throughout youth basketball. “We’ve been friends since elementary school, so it has definitely been fun.”
The experience and cohesion of this year’s group has taken the Eagles to new heights, with a return trip to the 4A Regional round assured by virtue of their 4A KingCo tournament semi-final win over Roosevelt last week. After tonight’s conference tournament title game, Issaquah, which has not lost a game in nearly a month, will be one of 16 teams left vying for a Class 4A state championship when the Regional round begins next week.
Perhaps the biggest key to all that success has been the lack of ego, something that has kept the scoring balanced and the game plan unpredictable for opponents.
Only two players, Gibson (15.5) and freshman standout Trevon Ary-Turner (10.2), average double figures scoring. But three other players in Henke, Nevin and Watson are around nine points per game, and have kept defenses spread thin and unable to concentrate on shutting down a single threat.
“They understand our goal is to be as efficient as possible on offense,” Griffith said of his team. “They see the success not only on the scoreboard, but in the win column.”
As Gibson and Watson recalled legendary and sometimes heated pickup games in the basement from their elementary school years, they also echoed their coach’s sentiment about winning trumping any statistic or individual accolade.
“We’re much deeper this year and we have a lot of trust in bench guys to give us a boost,” Gibson said. “We have six or seven guys that on any night, can give us a big boost.”
That adage proved itself true once again in the 78-68 Regional clinching win over Roosevelt, when Ary-Turner scored a career high 32 points on 11 of 14 shooting after scoring only 33 points in the previous three games combined.
The youngster on a squad dominated by juniors and seniors, Ary-Turner said the experience and leadership of his teammates has been constant.
“All of the seniors and Ty are always talking to me, especially about defense,” he said. “They are constantly helping me out.”
The win over then-unbeaten and top-ranked Garfield, in Seattle no less, bolstered the confidence of an Issaquah team that believes it belongs among the state’s elite.
After losing to Mount Rainier in the Regional round and barely missing out on a trip to the 4A state tournament two years ago with many of these same players in prominent roles, the Eagles believe their time has arrived.
“Ever since me and Brian (Watson) were little kids, we’ve been going to the Tacoma Dome to watch the state tournament,” Gibson said. “Now, we’re getting that chance, and we really want to capitalize.”
(Left to right) Watson, Gibson, Ary-Turner, McIrvin and Nevin hope to take their run through the postseason all the way to the Tacoma Dome. DON BORIN, STOP ACTION PHOTOGRAPHY
