Storm upgraded as it hits SunDome, boys bracket

YAKIMA, Wash. — When Squalicum’s boys walked off the SunDome floor a year ago with the Class 2A state championship trophy, everybody wondered the same thing.

What’s to stop them next year?

The Storm from Bellingham won its four state games by an average of 21 points and had just one senior on the roster.

Get ready for title two.

But wait, not so fast. Squalicum was dealt a major blow when state-tournament MVP Keith Stackhouse had two shoulder surgeries late last year, his entire senior season apparently lost. And the Storm looked vulnerable at times, edging 1A foes Nooksack Valley (64-60) and Meridian (68-66) and needing a last-second shot to beat Burlington-Edison 66-64 in February.

All of that, it appears now, was simply wishful thinking.

Not only has Stackhouse reappeared for the postseason, but the Storm geared up for its return to Yakima with a 92-65 trouncing of third-ranked Burlington-Edison in Saturday’s district final.

Derek Dickerson scored a career-high 32 points, Stackhouse contributed 16 points in just his third game back and the Storm poured in 16 shots from 3-point distance in the rematch of last year’s state final.

“Burlington is a very good team so for us to win by that much shows how well we played,” said Squalicum coach David Dickson. “We shot well, shared the ball, defended well — it was as good as we’ve played all season.”

So, intended or not, there’s your message, folks. Squalicum is ready to defend.

Not that there aren’t some major obstacles standing in the way of the Storm becoming the first back-to-back 2A state champion since Luke Ridnour’s Blaine teams did it in 1999 and 2000.

Ephrata, a possible semifinal opponent for Squalicum, is 20-2 with the return of WSU-bound Patrick Simon, who led the Tigers to the 2008 state title and then missed all of last season with a foot injury.

There’s also the possibly of a championship rematch with Burlington-Edison, which is 19-4 with two losses to 3A teams and two to Squalicum. But Saturday’s district score raises some questions about how competitive that rematch would be.

The primary difference between the Storm’s two-point thriller over B-E and the 27-point rout just 18 days later may well have been the return of Stackhouse.

“It’s just been a blessing and a bonus,” Dickson said. “We didn’t expect him back, but a month ago he came to me and said he thought he could do it. It’s been a challenge for him to get back in at this time of season, but Keith has done a nice job of contributing in ways that have allowed the team to stay in a flow.”

Stackhouse had 12 assists in his first two games, then picked up his offense in the district final with 16 points in Squalicum’s 92-point outburst.

With Stackhouse back, the Storm won district games by 46, 23 and 27 points.

“Keith found ways to help us defensively right away,” the coach added. “That’s been a focus of ours. In order to be as good as we can be, our defense needs to catch up to our offense and it’s getting there. That’s one of the big reasons we played so well Saturday and throughout district.”