Bishop Gorman’s ‘Chief’ saved his best for last against Panthers

Nick Christensen

Monday, Feb. 28, 2005 | 9:32 a.m.

His team up 30-24 after three quarters of Friday's 4A boys' basketball state championship, Bishop Gorman guard Kashif Watson shifted into overdrive.

Watson, a senior headed for San Diego State next season, scored twice as many points in fourth quarter (16) as any Palo Verde player scored in the entire game. He was the spark that fueled the Gaels offense after three quarters of slower play by both teams.

"We tried to slow the game down, too," Watson said. "It was about keeping our composure, knowing what we have to do to get the win, which we did."

He finished with 28 points on the night, with the 16 fourth-quarter points including two key three-point foul line conversions on field goals.

The win capped a terrific season for the Gaels, who won their 11th state championship and first since 2002.

"These kids worked so hard to have an unbeaten season. We went the whole year without a loss to a team from Nevada," Gorman coach Grant Rice said. "This is as tough as a schedule as we've had since I've been here, going through national tournaments ... I'm so proud of our guys."

Looking at the difference in Palo Verde's performance from Thursday's 66-43 demolition of Valley to Friday's meltdown against Bishop Gorman was like looking at two totally different teams.

Thursday's Panthers played with a fair amount of balance backing up standout guard P'Allen Stinnett's 35 points. Friday's Panthers could hardly make a layup, with Stinnett and junior guard Derek Worthy leading the Panthers with eight points apiece.

"There's both highs and lows," Panthers coach Paul Aznarez said. "It's hard to say what's inside a kid's head. The highs are great, and the lows, kids can shake it off and move on. ... It seemed like we never got in a flow all night."

Palo Verde shot 33 percent from the field for the game, and hit just 8 of 18 free-throw attempts.

A big part of that was the defense of Bishop Gorman guard Greg Williams, who turned in his second noteworthy defensive effort against Stinnett in a week.

"He carried a newspaper picture of P'Allen with him all day at school," Rice said.

But while the Gaels graduate five players, including core players Watson, Marcus Lawrence and C.J. Portz, the Panthers return the key parts of a lineup that won the 2004 state title.

Stinnett, for his senior season, will be paired with returning forward Nate Schulte, who spent the first half of his junior year at a private school in New Hampshire, and sat the second half of this season with an ankle injury.

"It's unbelievable, people don't understand how much youth we played with all season," Aznarez said. "A healthy Nate Schulte, we've got great young kids coming in from JV. We're working extremely hard to make our kids better.

"We'll be back in this game next year."

Karen Weitz's name was mentioned through the weekend as a potential college coach, particularly at the College of Southern Idaho, the top-ranked junior college in the country.

On Saturday, though, Weitz said she was still committed to the four-time state champions.

"I know the coaches there, they've talked to me about players," Weitz said. "I've had a lot of conversations about going to the next level or moving on. I'm focused on what I'm doing now, what we finished up last night. I'm happy with what I do ... as of today, I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing."

A crowd of around 6,000 turned out for the 4A boys' championship, to the delight of Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association executive director Dr. Jerry Hughes.

"We're very pleased," Hughes said Saturday. "We've had great crowds, way beyond our expectations. It's fun to see for us. It's not just about the finances and all that, but about giving the state tournament the attention it deserves. It's been exciting."

NIAA officials, participating teams and visiting media all were just as pleased with the facility as the crowds that turned out to the games.

"It looks very nice; it has the feel of an NBA arena, with the flashing advertisements and the big screen," Reno girls coach Craig Campbell said. "It's just a cool layout and something different that has a nice aura to it."

The tournament's total three-day attendance at the Orleans was 11,442.

Seven of eight state champions were from Southern schools, the first time the south took all but one title since 1991. Local coaches said not having to travel to Reno for the tournament played a significant role in the title drives.

"That shows in today's games. It's all south here on out," Pahrump Valley coach Bob Hopkins said Saturday. "It's nice to have it here. We went up north two years ago and lost a heartbreaker to Spring Creek, and a lot of that had to do with travel."

"It makes it exciting for me, I enjoy it as much if not more as the big schools," Hitchcock said of Saturday's games.

There was no local radio broadcast of the tournament, but Hitchcock's Network1Sports.com was scheduled to air all 16 games at the Orleans Arena on the Internet. He nearly achieved that, giving his voice a rest during the 2A championships.

But the 3A girls' game on Saturday, which went into overtime, gave Hitchcock just a little more gas to finish the job.

"To have a game like that go into overtime when you're tired, doing almost 16 games in three days, I've never done that in my life," Hitchcock said. "To sit there and have Boulder City and Pahrump Valley, to have Mel Maeder hit that three gets the adrenaline going."

Hitchcock said that his servers had 10,000 listeners during Friday's 4A boys broadcast.