4A Boys notebook: Thacker tradition grows

TACOMA — One of the state's foremost coaching families picked up another trophy yesterday.

Walla Walla lost 49-46 in overtime to South Kitsap to finish eighth, but nonetheless headed east with hardware.

It was the sixth Class 4A state trophy for Walla Walla Coach Jim Thacker, whose Blue Devils team won the tournament in 1999.

Thacker is the son of the late Ray Thacker, a Washington Hall of Fame coach who won the 1968 state title at Central Valley of suburban Spokane.

Jim's brother, Mike, is basketball coach and athletic director at Class 1A Freeman outside Spokane. Freeman (25-6) finished seventh at the 1A tournament this season.

Jim Thacker's Walla Walla team finished 20-10 this season after South Kitsap's Jamil Moore made three free throws in the final 1.4 seconds.

"It's a tough way to end the year, with someone on the free-throw line deciding whether you finish fifth or eighth," Thacker said.

The late Ray Thacker won 473 games. Jim, 55, has won more than 546 in 32 seasons — 28 in Walla Walla, two in Omak and two in Gooding, Idaho. Mike, 45, has won more than 200 in 21 years, including eight seasons at Freeman.

Coaching first family Jim Thacker of Walla Walla continues a long family tradition of coaches in the family, including father, Ray, and brother, Mike. A look at each coach’s career, with last high school: COACH LAST SCHOOL WINS YRS Jim Thacker Walla Walla 546 32 Ray Thacker Central Valley 473 35 Mike Thacker Freeman 200+ 21

Jim and Mike used to be coaching rivals in the Big Nine Conference, when Mike was the coach at Moses Lake. Mike coached Moses Lake to the state tournament in 1992 — at that time, the Chieftains' first berth since 1969. But in 1988, Jim's Walla Walla team beat Mike's Moses Lake team by five points in a winner-to-state, loser-out game.

Wolves working overtime

The South Kitsap Wolves have been working a lot of overtime in the postseason. The Wolves from Port Orchard were rewarded with a victory over Walla Walla for fifth place. It was their fourth overtime game this postseason, all ending in victories.

"It makes it all inevitably fun," South Kitsap guard Nate Seitz said. "We'd like to get it done in regulation, but sometimes we've got to do what a team's got to do."

South Kitsap started the postseason with a 77-75 double overtime win over Mount Tahoma for the Narrows League title. The two met again in a loser-out game in districts, and the Wolves went OT again to win. 74-72. Thursday at state, South Kitsap needed two overtimes to beat Mount Vernon 67-63.

Moore, a 6-foot-2 sophomore, made the winning free throws despite missing most of his foul shots in shoot-around.

"Coach (John Callaghan) told me to take my time, and take them one at a time," said Moore, who was fouled on a three-point attempt. "After the first, I was very confident."

Valley boys good, too

Apparently, the Central Valley boys are pretty good, too.

The Bears from suburban Spokane placed fourth with a 59-54 win over Snohomish. It was their first trophy finish since 1993, when they placed seventh.

Though the girls have gotten more publicity with their multiple Class 4A state championships and Player of the Year candidate Emily Westerberg, the boys have been pretty supportive of their counterparts, and vice versa.

"In our school, it's really no big deal," said forward Derek Taylor. "We've worked hard the past three years to get here. But we cheer for them, and they cheer for us."

Notes

• Craig Mettler, Walla Walla junior forward, is receiving attention from Pac-10 and Big Ten schools as a line prospect in football.

• Boys teams that won their leagues or divisions and didn't get to state: Davis of Yakima (Big Nine co-champ with 16-4 record); Mount Tahoma of Tacoma (won Narrows Bay Division with 11-3 record, 16-4 in regular season); Mariner (won WesCo South Division with 14-4 record, 16-4 overall).

• Lincoln of Tacoma lost in the second round and thus failed in its bid to become the first school to "three-peat" as state champion. Schools that have won back-to-back titles: Walla Walla (1923-24); Lincoln of Seattle (1956-57); Garfield (1961-62); Renton (1966-67); Garfield (1986-87); Redmond (1988-89); Lincoln of Tacoma (2001-02). Cleveland won the 3A tournament in 1975, then moved to 4A (then AAA) in 1976 and won.

• Looking ahead to next season, these are teams that should challenge for state-tournament berths: Davis of Yakima, Bethel of Graham, Curtis of Tacoma, Eastlake of Sammamish, Ferris of Spokane, Franklin and Garfield of Seattle, Gig Harbor, Kentwood, Lincoln of Tacoma, Mountlake Terrace, Pasco, Redmond, Shorewood of Shoreline, Snohomish, Stanwood, South Kitsap of Port Orchard, Walla Walla and Wilson of Tacoma.

• Mike Colbrese, executive director of the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association, and John Morrison, the father of Mead star Adam Morrison, both are natives of Eastern Montana and were college baseball teammates. Morrison is from Scobey, and Colbrese hails from Glendive.

Morrison, a standout basketball player, earned a scholarship to Dawson Community College in Glendive, where he played with Colbrese on the baseball team. Morrison was a soft-tossing, right-handed pitcher, Colbrese a catcher.

"Curveball," Colbrese joked, when asked about Morrison's best pitch. "He threw about 42 miles an hour."

• Colbrese said both state-championship games always are played on the Tacoma Dome's West court to accommodate patrons of McKinley's Grill, the restaurant that overlooks that end of the facility.

Seattle Times correspondents George Edgar and Matt Massey contributed to this notebook.