A 'Surreal' Night as Warriors Win State 2A Championship

Mel Ninnis is a man of his word.

Just as he had promised, he took his team to the state tournament. And just as he had hoped, the Clover Park Warriors won their first 2A basketball title in school history on Saturday night with a 69-54 win over the Squalicum Storm in Yakima at the SunDome.

“It really hasn’t set in yet,” Ninnis said, sounding a bit stunned as his team prepared to leave Eastern Washington. “I’m just going to have to go home, sit down and reflect, but right now, the state championship trophy is being put on the bus. It’s very surreal.”

But not unexpected.                      

Before the season started, Ninnis said that this group, anchored by senior forward Tana Pritchard and seemingly unstoppable freshmen guards David Crisp and Ahmaad Rorie, could very well be better than the 1997-98 team that finished seventh in the 3A state tournament.

“We had a tremendous run,” he said back then. “I’m hoping all the stars and planets will line up and we’ll have another opportunity to be successful like that.”

Saturday, they did just that, as Clover Park rolled into the books with the victory over two-time defending 2A state champion Squalicum – the same team that prevented it from being the No. 1 seed into the state tourney just eight days earlier.

Rorie scored a game-high 21 points and was named to the all-tournament second team, while Pritchard, who scored 13 points and had a team-high nine rebounds, was selected as tournament MVP.

“It’s very rewarding,” Ninnis said. “It’s kind of a career culminating project. There are people who coach their whole lives and never win a state championship.”

And there are kids who never even see the playoffs in four years on the court.

“This is something you dream of as a little kid, and even as a high-school student,” Pritchard said. “Now that we’ve done it, you can’t describe the feeling. It’s amazing.”

The Warriors jumped on the Storm early and kept on them with Rorie and Crisp hitting 3-pointers in the first quarter and Pritchard hitting several power shots.

 “Right at the beginning, we kind of broke their will,” Ninnis said.

That resulted in what Ninnis called “a little breakdown” for the Storm in the second half. In a span of six minutes, Clover Park went on a 13-0 run that combined Rorie’s outside-shooting prowess and Pritchard’s interior play.  

Clover Park’s four-point advantage at the beginning of the third quarter turned into a 43-26 lead with just under two minutes left in the period.

Squalicum was repeatedly unable to score, and after nine consecutive empty possessions, junior guard Joseph Chunphakvenn finally hit a 3-pointer. He finished with a team-high 20 points.

In the final period, Squalicum went on an 8-2 run to cut the deficit to 56-47, but was unable to close the gap.

Sophomore forward Isom Brown, who had a pair of steals, said that beating Squalicum, which defeated Clover Park by a mere two points (54-52) in the regional round, was especially satisfying.

“It’s kind of surreal and it hasn’t set in yet,” he said. “But it was a great way to get some payback.”

Clover Park outrebounded Squalicum 39-28 and had four turnovers to their opponent’s 12.

“It feels great after teaching for so long and having such good kids come through, and finally winning it all,” Ninnis said. “It’s just a culmination of a lot of years and a lot of work and dedication and desire.

“These kids really took us over the top.”

Pritchard agreed, calling the win a true team effort.

“There’s not a different group of guys I’d want to spend this with,” he said. “We came out and gave it our all.”

Clover Park – 15 15 17 22 – 69
Squalicum 17 9 6 22 – 54

Scoring summary:

Clover Park – Sheppard 7, Rorie 21, M. Brown 2, Crisp 15, Pritchard 13, Crawford 10, I. Brown 1.
Squalicum – King 7, Csolti 6, Pierce 4, Chunphakvenn 20, Qualls 17.