Roger Underwood -  Dec 5th, 1995

* Port Angeles and Central Kitsap appear to be teams to beat in the OL while South Kitsap looks strong in the Narrows League and North Mason promising in the Pierce County League.

By Roger Underwood

Sun Staff

It's true that the Olympic League has not developed an imposing statewide reputation in boys basketball.

But if the OL hasn't warranted intense scouting scrutiny from potential postseason foes, it clearly merits watching this winter by fans around West Sound.

Why? Because it has something for everybody.

It has, for example, new teams. They would be Bainbridge, which has moved from the Wesco AA circuit, and Port Townsend, up to class AA from A.

It has a new coach who's also an old coach. That would be 71-year-old Les Eathorne, who put in 32 years running the East Bremerton and Bremerton programs before retiring in 1988. Eathorne's back at it, now the head man at Olympic.

If the un-retirement of Eathorne is a novel approach, how about the setup at Bainbridge, which has co-coaches in Mack Atkinson and Roger Miller?

And the OL also has clear-cut favorites in Port Angeles, the defending champion, and Central Kitsap, a tall and talented team coach John Sitton felt was a year away last season.

Outside the OL, South Kitsap figures to be a factor in the Narrrows League (class AAA), as does North Mason in the Pierce County League (AA) and Chimacum in the Nisqually (A). And in the class B ranks, King's West hopes to extend its postseason just a bit further than last winter and Quilcene seeks to establish a winning tradition under a new coach.

* OLYMPIC LEAGUE

Central Kitsap has a productive perimeter game in the persons of Josh Ellis and Scott Hamre and can expect solid inside play from 6-5 Matt Brien and 6-10 Luke Arthur.

And, Sitton hopes, the lessons learned during last season's 11-9 performance (5-5 in league) will add enough to push the Cougars over the top.

"Last year we were probably the youngest team in the league and the competition, which was senior-dominated, added a lot to our growth,'' Sitton said, noting that four of CK's OL losses came by a total of six points. "This year we want to win the league and represent our league as the No. 1 team in the district tournament.''

It's not that the Cougars are good enough to cruise, though, Sitton said. Some of his concerns regarding offensive consistency and defense proved well-founded in last Friday night's home-court loss to Olympia.

Port Angeles might have graduated scoring ace James Madison and others off a Roughrider team that went 9-1 in league play and finished 17-4 with two one-point district tournament losses, but coach Lee Sinnes has plenty with which to rebuild.

Senior guard Garrett Abbott, 6-5, was an all-league first-team pick last year and Madison's younger brother, Jon, now a 6-5 junior, was honorable mention.

"This group has played a lot of basketball together the last two or three years,'' Sinnes said. "And they have that burning desire to play hard, sort of a refuse-to-lose attitude.''

Olympic, which lured Eathorne to replace Al Gleich after Gleich stepped down, will no doubt offer a faster pace of play than in years past.

"It's been fun,'' said Eathorne, who coached East Bremerton to state AA titles in 1973 and 1974. "Hopefully I'll be a little smarter this time around. I've only been at it 41 years now (he coached at Camas High before returning his hometown).''

David Craycraft and Kevin Dotson, both 6-5 seniors, along with quick 6-1 senior Ervin McDermott will comprise the core of Eathorne's Trojans.

"The hardest thing for them to adjust to is me,'' Eathorne said. "I yell, and I think I'm quite different than the coach they've had before. They're also playing at a speed (up-tempo) they've never played at before. And when they get tired, they have a tendency to not fight back. I've got to get 'em in condition.''

One of Eathorne's disciples is Larry Gallagher, who succeeded him at Bremerton. Gallagher's Knights will not be big, but they will be quick.

"I would say this team would compare in quickness to the team I had in 1989-90 with (Michael) Gurske, (DeForrest) Phelps and (Corey) Wynn,'' Gallagher said.

Quickest of the quick are Gallagher's son, Jeffrey, a 5-8, senior, and 5-7 junior Everett Williams, who opened eyes as a sophomore with several resounding slam dunks.

"If we're going to do anything, it'll have to start with our guards,'' said Gallagher, who's also high on 6-4 junior Kevin Hooker.

At North Kitsap, veteran coach Jim Harney is starting almost from scratch.

Only 6-6 junior Jeff Carlsen and 6-2 senior David Urban return from last season's 11-9 squad that was a preseason OL favorite but finished fourth. And they didn't play major minutes.

This group, which will feature football star Rico Jones (a 5-10 senior), "is a tough bunch of kids and I think they'll have a lot of drive,'' Harney said. "They have good quickness and I think having played for Les (Eathorne was North's junior varsity coach last season) will help them, because we'll run and press.''

Bainbridge, hoping apparently that two head coaches are better than one, hired Atkinson and Miller after Mike Anderson resigned.

"We have a lot of bodies that are fairly equal,'' said Atkinson. "We've got two at every position. For a small double-A school, that's unique.''

Port Townsend's Ryan Robertson is harboring no illusions after coaching the Redskins to three straight state A tournament berths.

"We had a pretty outstanding group of kids come through,'' said Robertson, who will build his first OL squad around 6-7 junior Abe Fox. "For us to think we can just come in and match up athletically right away would be foolish. We're a young team, too.''

Another unknown quantity is Sequim, although the Wolves are usually competitive under coach Larry Hill even when they're undermanned.

"We'll be fairly balanced, which is good,'' Hill said. "But the downside is we don't have a go-to-guy right now.''

* NARROWS LEAGUE

South Kitsap was the surprise of the season a year ago, having been picked to finish near the bottom of the Narrows before going 7-1. But then the Wolves had to forfeit three games because of acadmic ineligibility and never quite recovered.

This time South should command more league-wide respect, despite graduating all-leaguer Jesse Lake. Jason Preuit, a 6-6 senior, was also All-Narrows, and joins 5-10 senior guard Jason Frazier, 6-2 senior guard Anthony Boyd and 6-5 senior Jason Harting among players to be reckoned with. Harting missed last season with a knee injury.

"We had a chance to go down to Los Angeles for a week last summer,'' said sixth-year coach Chris Olsen, "and we got some pretty nice compliments about our team.''

* PIERCE COUNTY LEAGUE

It was a breakthrough year for North Mason, which went 0-20 in coach Brian Roper's first season. Last winter the Bulldogs went 12-12 and made the West Central District AA Tournament.

They return 6-6 senior guard Billy Landram, who averaged 17.3 points a game and was an all-league first team pick, along with three others who got significant playing time.

"We're pretty small and we'll have some matchup problems defensively,'' said Roper, who will deploy a four-guard lineup. "But also I'd have to say we'll present some matchup problems to our opponents, who will have to choose how they're going to guard four guys who can take it to the basket and four guys who can shoot it from the outside.''

* NISQUALLY LEAGUE

Chimacum, 4-16 last season, returns third-year starters Mike Campbell (5-10 guard) and Paul Johnson (6-0 guard) among a host of lettermen.

And the Cowboys' prospects would seem better now that Port Townsend and Eatonville have moved up to class AA, but coach Dave Porter is still looking for reliable scoring.

"I haven't had a player step up like Joe Campbell and Jamie Boening did three years ago,'' he said.

* SEA-TAC LEAGUE

King's West's Warriors will compete in Division I of this class B circuit and coach Rick Walker will build around the veteran nucleus of Tyler Kuske, Joe Fleury, Trigve Feltus, Josh Foss and Jay Seaton.

"I think we have a shot to go as far as we did last year,'' Walker said of his 14-10 team that advanced to the Tri-District B Tournament. "This team is much more well-rounded and really started to jell over the summer.''

* NORTH OLYMPIC LEAGUE

Jim Hodgson is off to a fast start as Quilcene's coach, his Rangers having beaten Chimacum's JVs and Mary M. Knight.

"The kids play with a lot of enthusiasm,'' said Hodgson, whose roster boasts 6-4 junior Aaron Vandeberg, 6-5 senior Beau Vandeberg and 6-2 sophomore Ryan Newman. "Their hearts are in it. And I've had zero discipline problems.''

Staff photos by Steve Zugschwerdt

SCORING THREAT: Central Kitsap's Josh Ellis (12) is one of the Olympic League's finest marksmen. The Sun's preview of girls basketball will run Wednesday.

Staff photo by Steve Zugschwerdt

TEAMING UP: Roger Miller (left) and Mack Atkinson are running this season's Bainbridge team as co-coaches.