Winlock Cuts District 4 1A Nets

Angel Sanchez, Tyler Hertz (#3), Nathan Booth (#21) Jordan Davis (#20) and rest of the District 1A Champions hold up the trophy on Friday night.

Winlock Cardinals basketball:

Effective, vigilant, astute, keen, brisk, striking, capable, athletic.

Ready for State.

Finding adjectives to describe the play of the Winlock Cardinals on Friday night was more difficult than the time they had dispatching Castle Rock 65-42 in the SWWA 1A District Championship game.

Winlock's floor leader Tyler Hertz (#3 in white) had 12 assists on the night.

Looking for THE source of success was almost as difficult. There was big Jake Brown who had 24 points, seven rebounds and several assists. There was the sparkling leadership of Tyler Hertz who scattered 12 assists. Finally, there was the lunch pail twins Nathan Booth and Jordan Davis. Booth accounted for 19 points, generally within the paint and 6 rebounds while Davis quietly produced a double-double with 10 rebounds and 11 points. He also had three assists.

Jake Brown (#24) and the rest of the Winlock defense held Rock big man Zack Gehring (#5) to just 10 points on the night.

A long paragraph only covered the offense. Winlock’s extended defense allowed only one Rocket three pointer and the inside game gave up only 10 points to Rocket big man Zack Gehring. The occasional Rocket score usually resulted from individual athleticism by Chris Tinnney, Steven Horsley, Kyle Karnofski and Dustin Hamilton.

“We came out hitting on all cylinders,” said a pleased Winlock Head Coach Gary Viggers Sr. about their start to finish domination. The Cardinals jumped out to a 9-2 lead and were never behind.

Only three times did the Rockets even score consecutive baskets to make up any ground on the Cards. Down 39-25 in the 3rd quarter . Gehring sank a 6 foot fade-away followed 30 seconds later by Steven Horsley drive through the key.

While Winlock was deliberate, Castle Rock frequently pushed the ball in transition, having only limited success.

It was Winlock that kept applying the pressure with run, after run. The most crushing was a 10-0 run in the 4th quarter that took the score to 63-38.

“You could tell that we wanted it”, said Viggers. “We packed a pair of scissors with us”

During the 1st quarter, Winlock scored 8 of its points when Hertz found Brown roaming the baseline without proper homage. In fact, much can be said about the play of Jake Brown; As a rebounder, a prolific scorer and a defender. It was the team that made Brown this evening.

“It was our best game as a team,” he said when asked if this was his best game of the year.

Perhaps no moment marked the night better than when Hertz found Brown with a perfectly executed ally-oop dunk that grabbed the loudest cheer and extended murmur. This wasn’t a lower echelon team that the boys could play with before the coach replaced them with subs. This was a rival and a good one at that. A team that blew them out in this same game a year ago, 52-32. This wasn’t about revenge. This was about momentum. Something to pack-up for a trip to Yakima.

Both teams now head to the WIAA State Tournament, but only one has a pair of nets and the District IV trophy.

Retiring Winlock Coach Gary Vigger's Sr. makes use of the scissors he brought to W.F. West on Friday night.

Cardinals 65 Rockets 42

CASTLE ROCK 42-Mike Murry 3, Chris Tinney 4, Zack Gehring 10, Steven Horsley 7, Kyle King 0, Travis Johnson 0, Brad Williamson 0, Kyle Karnofski 8, Dustin Hamilton 6, Cameron Erdlebrock 0, Sam Reebs 0

WINLOCK 65-Tyler Hertz 5, Collin Kuppers 0, Tyler Diamond 2, Mike Kent 4, Angel Sanchez 0, Jordan Davis 11, Nathan Booth 19, Nick Hoven 0, Tyler McCarthy 0, Jake Brown 24, Matt Hoven 0, Bryson Coleman 0

Castle Rock 12 10 13 7-42
Winlock 19 16 14 16-65