Saturday, Jan. 31, 2009

One good run all Sunnyside needs

By Kevin Anthony, Herald staff writer

KENNEWICK -- This current crop of Sunnyside basketball players weren't even diaper dandies the last time the Grizzlies played in a state tournament game.

And while no one is punching their ticket to Tacoma just yet, the Griz have shown with rugged wins like Friday's 65-49 victory at Southridge that they're not just a wrestling school anymore.

"We poke fun at it as a school," junior Jordan Esqueda said of the program's lack of state experience, dating all the way back to 1990. "We had an assembly, and someone played Coach (Ron) Rowe from the last time we went.

"You have to laugh."

There wasn't much to laugh about in Friday's game except for the incredible lack of continuity. The two squads combined for 54 team fouls, 70 free throws and 32 turnovers -- and the coaches took advantage of nearly every whistle to run players in and out of the lineup. Twenty-two played in all, all but two for significant minutes.

Still, the Grizzlies (8-7, 5-4 CBBN Columbia) pieced together 3 1/2 good minutes to start the third quarter, using their quickness to run off 11 straight points and take the lead for good at 36-27.

Esqueda scored on back-to-back baskets and later dropped in a pair of free throws before drawing a key charge on Andrew Mendenhall, who scored a game-high 20 points for the Suns (6-10, 2-6) but was constantly under duress, going 5-for-22 from the floor.

"We like to make our presses effective, and we got it right a couple of times that quarter," said Rowe, who was in his first stint with the Grizzlies when they last made it to state.

The key to the decisive quarter was that the points came from everywhere -- Esqueda with six, Alfredo De La Barrera and James Sanchez with four each, freshman Israel Manzo with five of his 10 off the bench.

"We don't have any stars," Esqueda said. "Everybody has a job to do."

The stop-and-start pace of the game, combined with Southridge's arctic shooting (15-for-48, 31 percent), meant that the only rhythm to the Suns' game down the stretch came while chanting their offensive philosophy: Get the ball to Mendenhall.

"That's not how we want to play," said Suns coach Jason DeVere. "There was no flow, absolutely no flow. Sometimes you get in a game like that and it's a grinder, and unfortunately we couldn't find a basket."

Sunnyside found all the baskets it needed at the foul line, sinking 15 of 20 in the fourth quarter and 24 of 31 in the second half.

De La Barrera led the Grizzlies with 15 points, Esqueda had 12 and Pedro Vargas 11 while providing a nice presence in the middle.

Clayton Homme added 11 points for the Suns and Jeff Mickelsen had seven.

SUNNYSIDE (65)
Alfredo De La Barrera 15, Sanchez 7, Esqueda 12, Leija 6, Vargas 11, Bermudez, Manzo 10, Steckler, Daley, Johnson, Graff 2, Abbott 2. Totals 17-38 30-43 65.
SOUTHRIDGE (49)
Andrew Mendenhall 20, McCollom, Mickelsen 7, Homme 11, Munns, M. Mendenhall 2, McClintock, Whitney 3, Stollie 4, Porter 2. Totals 15-48 17-27 49.
Sunnyside 14 11 21 19 -- 65
Southridge 13 14 13 9 -- 49