Cruiser Boys Give First Year Head Coach Cotterill His First Victory

Behind the hot shooting of seniors Shay Brannon and Walker Bruun, the Cruisers were able to put last week's season-opening loss to Morton-White Pass behind them and take down the defending SWW1A district champions, the Castle Rock Rockets, 70-57 this past Thursday night at Rainier Connect Arena to give first-year Head Coach TJ Cotterill his first victory at Eatonville.

"I really appreciated so many who reached out to me afterwards," Head Coach TJ Cotterill said after notching his first win at Eatonville.

"It's so rewarding to get to spend every day trying to be a positive influence on players through basketball and help them create a meaningful and memorable experience".

Following their 103-61 thrashing by the Morton-White Pass Wolves last week, a few questions were raised about this year's team….…is MWP that dominant, or has this Eatonville team taken a step back from last year's successes?

We have some answers to those questions. The Wolves are that talented; after all, they are coming off a 5th-place finish at state last season and return most of their starters, and currently are ranked in the top 5 in the state in most rankings. Regarding the Cruisers, it doesn't look like they have taken a step back from last year's squad, they have just re-tooled.

"We wanted to respond with excellent skill, toughness, and togetherness. Games like that MWP game can define your season — either positively or negatively," Cotterill said.

"It was great to see us play so much tougher and together and to see so much of what we've emphasized in practices start to show. And it was great to see all that pay off against a skilled team like Castle Rock".

With the defending district champs in the house, the Cruisers were looking to get revenge following the 44-42 loss the Rockets handed them last season in the district title game.

After trailing by 5 at the half, the Cruisers were able to tie the game up late in the 3rd quarter and then outscore the Rockets in the final frame 25-13, with Brannon and Bruun scoring 9 each, to push the Cruisers over the edge to pick up the 70-57 win.

"It's all about putting players in the best situations to be successful, and we saw, in the second half, in particular, guys start to understand the attack mindset we need to play with to be successful. That's a fearless, relentless mindset we're trying to instill in this program, and it was great to see us take a step toward making that our identity," Cotterill said about his team and their second-half surge.

Box Score

EATONVILLE 70, CASTLE ROCK 57

Eatonville: 14 14 17 25 - 70

Castle Rock: 19 13 12 13 - 57

Eatonville: Shay Brannon 24, Walker Bruun 16, Griffin Clevenger 12, Kyle Cox 8, Shane Taylor 6, Hunter Klumpar 3, Mark Nueva 1

Castle Rock: Trystin Martin 19, Lane Partridge 12, Trevor Rogen 9, James Montgomery 8, Owen Langdon 4, David Garcia 1.

The Cruisers didn't have much time to revel in that victory as they had a short turnaround before they hosted the Cascade Christian Cougars a few days later.

Eatonville trailed for the first two and a half quarters by as many as 10 points. However, they closed the gap on the Cougars to trail by only 3 as they entered the final quarter.

The Cruisers opened up the final quarter with Griffin Clevenger nailing a three-pointer to tie the game at 52-52. From that point on, the two teams would trade buckets and the lead would change hands numerous times as the game would stay close the rest of the way.

With 1:46 left in the game and trailing by two, Eatonville took a 1-point lead at 67-66 on a Hunter Klumpar three-pointer, but the Cougars would fight back and ultimately take a 73-70 win.

Shay Brannon led the Cruisers with 24 points, hitting 10 of his 16 attempts, with three from beyond three-point range. Kyle Cox followed Brannon up with 15 points and pulled down seven rebounds.

Box Score

CASCADE CHRISTIAN 73, EATONVILLE 70

Eatonville: 19 7 23 21 - 70

C. Christian: 19 13 20 21 - 73

Eatonville: Shay Brannon 24, Kyle Cox 15, Hunter Klumpar 11, Shane Taylor 7, Griffin Clevenger 7, Walker Bruun 6.

Cascade Christian: Jacob Janho 27, Cole Theiste 12, Carson Frost 9, Andrew Howells 8, Josiah Gopaul 7, Josiah Lewis 6, Cade Sando 4.

The loss drops Eatonville to 1-2 in the early season and they will look to rebound when they travel to Morton-White Pass to avenge their earlier loss to the Wolves before hosting their longtime rivals, the Orting Cardinals on Wednesday.