The most pressure packed game of the 2011-12 high school boys basketball season didn’t effect Cascade Christian Cougars center Shawn Spencer.

With the Cougars facing the possibility of their season coming to an end, Spencer responded with authority scoring 27 points, 10 rebounds and six blocked shots in Cascade Christian’s 56-43 victory against Life Christian in a loser-out Tri-District playoff game on Thursday night at Cascade Christian School in Puyallup.

The win guaranteed the Cougars a spot at the state regional tournament.  The Cougars will be the No. 5 seed from its Tri-District. Cascade Christian head coach Jerry Williams said his team was in sync in a game that meant absolutely everything.

We probably played our best game of the year. We held them to 23 points in the first three quarters. Our defense just played superb,” he said.
Spearheading that effort was Spencer in the middle of Cascade Christian’s zone defense.

“Shawn (Spencer) is clogging up the middle about as good as anyone right now. You can’t ask for anymore from the big fella,” Williams said. “He is just playing super basketball right now.”

Spencer sealed the win at the charity stripe making 7-of-8 free throws in the fourth quarter.

“That really helped put them (Life Christian) away. We have had free throw woes this year and Shawn just stepped up and knocked them down. It was nice to see that.”
Williams said perimeter players AJ Howells and Jake Archer wreaked havoc on Life Christian’s back-court.

“Both AJ and Jake seemed to be all over the court all of the time,” he said. “They were very active on defense and that played a big part in our victory.”

The Cougars will face Ridgefield High School this Friday night in a winner-to-state, loser-out regional playoff game at WF West High School in Chehalis. If the Cougars are victorious, they will advance to the Class 1A state tournament in Yakima for the third year  in a row.

“We’re pretty focused and we want to make it to Yakima,” Williams said. “Obviously at the beginning of the year making the state tournament we knew was going to be real challenge for us. I think that our team has done a great job of looking every challenge right in the eye. We have had our backs to the wall in loser-out games this year and have came through prettty well. The last two games we played were probably our best games of the season.”

Williams said his team will be ready for Ridgefield.

“Having one game with a chance to go to the state tournament, that is all we could ask for,” he said. “It is something we want to do very badly. We will be prepared for  the game.”