Ken Graham: From the Publisher

First of all, if I were coach of the Seattle Seahawks, I might very well have called for a pass on second and goal from the one, with 26 seconds left on the clock and only one timeout remaining. An incomplete pass would have stopped the clock, where a failed run would not. If the Hawks had had two timeouts left, they probably would have run the ball on that play.

So the lesson to be learned is this: timeouts are precious – like coconuts on a desert island. If you waste them you might die in agony. Like the Seahawks did.

(Of course, if I were coach of the Seahawks, y’all might as well root for the 49ers, because I’ve never coached anything in my life.)

Okay, now that that’s out of the way, I’m actually here to talk about basketball.

This weekend (actually, Saturday and Monday), Waitsburg will host the Southeast District 9 2B league basketball tournament. That’s eight highly motivated high school teams (four boys’ and four girls’ teams) playing four games each of those days.

The Dayton girls are seeded #2 in the tournament and have a great chance to avenge their two losses this year to #1 seed DeSales. The Lady Bulldogs take on Tri-Cities Prep Saturday at 2 p.m., in the tournament’s first game. Unless DeSales chokes on Saturday, they will face the winner of the Dayton/TCP game Monday at 6 p.m.

The WP boys struggled early in the season, but came on strong at the end, overtaking Asotin and DeSales in the standings to finish third in the league, earning a number three seed in the tournament. They face the TCP boys at 3:30, in the second game of the tournament. The winner of that game will likely take on the league champion Walla Walla Valley Academy Knights.

Both of our local teams have a great chance to move on to the District 7/9 tournament the following weekend. (Three out of the four teams in each league move on.)

The Waitsburg gym will be hoppin’ from the get-go on Saturday, and the more Dayton and WP fans show up, the bigger home court advantage they’ll have.

The Super Bowl was exciting, but there’s nothing quite like a high school basketball tournament.