SEQUIM — Forget about style points. Clallam Bay senior forward Jesse Chartraw just wants to get to the Class 1B state tournament.
After the Bruins survived Friday night’s sloppy tri-district playoff game against Highland Christian, winning 56-44 on the strength of Chartraw’s 22 points and 15 rebounds, he’s only one win away.
“It’s everything to me,” Chartraw said of possibly earning Clallam Bay’s first trip to state since 2005.
“I watched my brother do it. My dad did it. It’s just tradition.”
The Bruins (12-3 overall) can ensure that it lives on by beating the Northwest League champion Tulalip Heritage Hawks (14-2) on Tuesday at Mountlake Terrace High School at 5 p.m.
A win would clinch a state berth and send the Bruins to the tri-district championship game.
“Tulalip, they are tough. They are super fast,” Clallam Bay coach John Wilson said. “We better play 1,000 times better against them.”
Indeed, there was nothing pretty about the way Clallam Bay beat Highland Christian in Friday’s physical first round tri-district tilt at Sequim High School.
A total of 46 fouls were called on the night, the visiting Knights accounting for 28 of them with several of their players fouling out.
Yet while the Bruins were drawing most of the whistles, their inability to sink free throws (19-of-42) kept them from running away with the game.
“[The Knights] were physical,” Wilson said.
“I told my kids just get them in the air because they are going to fly all over the place. And it got down to if we hit our free throws we wouldn’t have to worry about anything.”
As it was, Clallam Bay held on to a comfortable lead most of the game, due largely to a 13-2 second quarter that saw Highland go without a field goal.
That gave the Bruins a 29-12 halftime lead, and the Knights spent the rest of the game trying to close within single digits. The closest they got would be 10 on two different occasions in the fourth quarter.
“This is a tough place to play,” Knights coach Guy Kennedy said. “You’ve got to bring your best game and we didn’t.
“[Clallam Bay]’s a blue collar team. They are going to go a long way in this tournament.”
Zak Greene dropped in 11 points for the Bruins and dished out five assists, including a couple to Stephen Richardson in the fourth that kept the Knights at bay.
Richardson scored six of his seven points in the final quarter, leaking open for three straight lay-ins.
“I think they were trying to double Jesse, Mario [Smith] and Zak all the time,” Wilson said. “And they found [Richardson].”
Smith had nine points and eight rebounds for the Bruins, while Ruben Angulo added seven points and 10 rebounds.
Highland Christian’s Caleb Brown led the Knights with 19 points, but shot just 1-of-11 from the field in the first half as Clallam Bay built its lead.
Fellow guard Craig Crawford had 16 points.
“We just put them in foul trouble right away and got them where we want them,” Chartraw said.
“It just played out from there. We beat them on fast breaks and played good D.
“[Highland Christian] played good. They just lost their head, or else they would have come back.”
Clallam Bay 56, H. Christ. 44
Highland Christ. 10 2 16 16 — 44
Clallam Bay 16 13 15 12 — 56
Individual Scoring
Highland Christian (44)
Brown 19, Crawford 16, Miles 3, Wold 4, Simmons 2.
Clallam Bay (56)
Richardson 7, Chartraw 22, Smith 9, Angulo 7, Greene 11.
Girls Basketball Neah Bay 64, Tulalip 42
SEQUIM — The Red Devils got the blowout win they wanted in Friday night’s first round tri-district game.
Now it’s time to avenge a beat down the Red Devils were on the other side of, a 74-34 loss suffered at the hands of Lummi in last year’s tri-district title game.
Neah Bay gets the Blackhawks in a winner-to-state tri-district semifinal on Tuesday at North Sound Christian at 6:30 p.m.
“The girls are real excited to play Lummi,” Neah Bay coach Lisa Halttunen said.
“They are looking for a [win], especially after what happened last year.”
All but one of the 11 Red Devils in uniform scored on Friday night, with Shayla Nagel netting a team-high 15 points to go along with nine rebounds.
She was one of four Red Devils in double figures scoring, as Courtney Winck had 12 points, Kelli Shuffelen 10 and Stephanie Greene 10.
“The girls played really good team basketball,” Halttunen said. “Everybody that came in was fresh and ready to play.”
Neah Bay out-rebounded the smaller Tulalip squad 57-34 for the game, with 30 boards coming on the offensive end.
“That’s one of the things we’ve been working on in practice, is boxing out and going after the boards,” Halttunen said.
“Now that we’re into the postseason, everybody is going to want to get the ball.”
The Red Devils jumped out to a 18-10 lead after one quarter.
Tulalip managed to get within five at 19-14 early on in the second, but Neah Bay responded with a 13-2 run capped by a 3-pointer and free throw from Nagel, for a 32-16 lead.
The North Olympic League champs poured it on from there, despite the hot shooting of Tulalip’s Shawnee Enick, who led all scorers with 20 points.
“We played with a lot of intensity,” Nagel said.
Next up for the Red Devils: a date with the Lummi Blackhawks, the Northwest 1B League champs, and a shot at revenge.
“We got killed [last year]. I don’t know why. We just sort of gave up,” Nagel said.
“We’re very anxious [to play them again].”
Neah Bay 64, Tulalip 42
Tulalip 10 9 13 10 — 42
Neah Bay 18 16 24 6 — 64
Individual Scoring
Tulalip (42)
R. Jones 4, Velazquez 7, Martin 6, Enick 20, M. Fryberg 5.
Neah Bay (64)
Kallappa 2, Smith 2, Thompson 2, Shuffelen 10, Winck 12, Greene 10, Nagel 15, Moss 6, Allen 3, Sones 2.
