Caribou Chatter
Doug Flanagan
Cascade boys in position to improve
By Doug Flanagan
Jan. 28, 2011
The Cascade High School boys basketball team has lost three games in a row after starting the Caribou Trail League season with four straight victories.
According to Kodiaks coach Paul Fraker, there's two reasons for this. First of all, Cascade's losses have come against three good teams - unbeaten Chelan, as well as contenders Okanogan and Cashmere.
"Who you play has a lot to do with it," Fraker said. "When Okanogan got (Ryan) Price back, that made them a different team. They're a lot better. We hadn't played Chelan (during our winning streak). They're a good team; we haven't beaten them since I've been here. We also had to play at Cashmere. A lot of (winning and losing) has to do with who you're playing and where you're playing. It's not like we played three slouches.
"Considering we've lost three games in a row, though, I'm still optimistic. To be honest, I'm proud of my team. We got down big against Chelan and cut the lead to three in the second half; against Okanogan, we had a chance in the fourth quarter to win that game on the road; and we almost won the game in regulation at Cashmere. Any of those three games could have gone a little differently, and we could have pulled out a couple of victories. We never gave up and kept fighting until the last buzzer."
However, the veteran coach also knows that his team is relatively young and inexperienced, and as such will be prone to the stretches of inconsistent play. The Kodiaks don't have a returning starter from last season's team.
"When we were 4-0, we won those close games. We closed games out, took care of the ball, hit free throws," Fraker said. "At that point I was surprised about how poised we were even though we were inexperienced at the varsity level. Now we're starting to see (the inexperience) a little bit, seeing the (effects) of young players playing together for the first time as a group. I think we're right where I envisioned us to be at the start of the season, fighting and clawing for second, third or fourth place, which is right where we're at right now."
Fraker has found success in his method of "breaking in" a new team by emphasizing a team-first philosophy.
"We want guys to play hard on every possession," he said. "We know that we're not the most experienced or most talented team in the state, but we know if we play hard, good things will happen. We're a real unselfish team. We have guys who want each other to succeed every night. They're not about personal statistics. That's the message that we've tried to get across, and I really believe that they live by that (philosophy) on the court."
That being said, a few individual Kodiaks have put up some impressive numbers so far. Post Tyler Harrod has emerged as the team's leading scorer and rebounder, and in his first year as a starter has become one of the better all-around players in the league.
Harrod is averaging about 17 points per game, but his development on the other side of the court had stood out to Fraker.
"Everyone talks about his scoring ability and rebounding, but the defense that he's played (has been impressive)," he said. "He's averaging almost four blocks per game, which is incredible. He's doing it on the defensive end as well. Obviously we try to get him to stay out of foul trouble, and he's done a good job of staying in games. Last year, that was an issue for him. Hew as foul-happy, and we knew it would be a major obstacle to deal with this year. He's done a good job with the mental aspect, making adjustments and staying in games for us."
Lately, Harrod has been receiving some offensive support from junior Marcos Trevino. The first-year Kodiak, a transfer from Waterville, sat out most of the team's non-league schedule with an Achilles heel injury, but is now healthy and proving that he can become a reliable scoring option to take some pressure off Harrod.
"It was hard for him early on to learn our system and our terms, and then he missed some games," Fraker said. "He wasn't able to practice with the team as much he wanted to. But it's been nice now that he's healthy and stepped up to become a big scorer for us. He's been a big addition."
The Kodiaks' core group is rounded out by defensive-minded seniors Dan Betz and Ethan Nash.
"Those guys aren't rewarded a lot on the offensive end, but they play tremendous defense and do the dirty work for us," Fraker said. "They never complain. They just do their job. Guys like that make a team successful."
Cascade, with its 4-3 league mark, is in third place in the CTL along with Okanogan, one game behind Cashmere and two-and-a-half games behind Chelan. But the Kodiaks have a good opportunity to pick up a couple of wins this weekend against Omak (1-6 CTL) and Tonasket (0-6 CTL).
Cascade is a good bet to qualify for postseason play, and most coaches will say that at that point in the season, rookies and newcomers are expected to play like veterans. Cascade will need for that to happen if it is to advance.
"I absolutely expected the league to be this close. It doesn't surprise me," Fraker said. "When we started the season, we knew that Chelan would be the king of the hill. They have been for the last couple of years, and until someone knocks them off, they'll be the team to beat. The rest of us are fighting to get to where those guys are. Our first order of business is our two home games against Tonasket and Omak. We need to win these games against teams that we're ahead of in the standings. Then we have to go to Chelan and play on Senior Night, which will be a hostile environment and a playoff atmosphere. We want to show that we can play with those guys at their place.
"We still control what we can do and what place we'll end up in. Hopefully our guys will be hungry and want to get that done."
