No. 3 Life Christian boys will meet Lind-Ritzville/Sprague in 2B quarterfinals

Longtime Life Christian Academy boys basketball coach Mark Lovelady jokes he has a three-piece suit hanging in his closet specifically booked for a state championship game.

“It is so old,” he said, “it is back in style.”

With the way the Class 2B state draw played out Sunday morning at the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association headquarters, he might at least send it to the dry cleaners – and have it ready to go.

In their 11th career state trip, Lovelady and the Eagles easily had their best draw – both with opponent and time slot.

Third-ranked Life Christian (23-2) will take on unranked Lind-Ritzville/Sprague (17-10) at 7:15 p.m. in Spokane Arena.

In their first trip last season to the 2B championships, the Eagles lost to Liberty in their opener, then won two consolation-round games to place fourth.

“The ‘Wow’ factor will still be there, because they are kids,” Lovelady said. “But … we will be a little more prepared than last year.”

The hard part this week might be finding a decent scouting report on Lind-Ritzville/Sprague, which finished third in the tough 2B Northeast League behind Northwest Christian of Colbert and Liberty.

It’s not like Lovelady hasn’t tried researching potential opponents. Over the past three weeks, he has sent assistant coaches to Wenatchee, Spokane and down to Southwest Washington to scout and collect game film.

Of the eight schools Lovelady has tape of, none made the 2B quarterfinals.

“It is taking up space on the computer,” he said.

Lind-Ritzville/Sprague’s leading scorer is power forward Wyatt Roetger, a 6-foot-3 senior who averages 16.0 points per game. Point guard Jacob Saetre, also a senior, averages 14.3 points per game, and is a tough-minded distributor.

The Broncos have nine seniors on the team.

“I have a couple days to get stuff,” Lovelady said. “I have a lot of connections with coaches throughout the state. There is probably a coach that doesn’t like them that will send me something.”

Top-ranked Brewster and defending state champion Morton-White Pass are in the quarterfinal bracket opposite of Life Christian.

CLASS 1B GIRLS

Evergreen Lutheran gets Taholah in first round. Considering the Eagles drew Republic in the 9 a.m. game a year ago at the state tournament – this was a much more favorable break in the bracket.

Fifth-ranked Evergreen Lutheran (20-2) plays Taholah (15-7) at 7:15 p.m. at Spokane Arena.

This will be the third state trip in the past four seasons for the Chitwhin.

“I do not know a ton about what they do,” Eagles coach Nick Trebesch said. “The only team we played and they played was Neah Bay – and we beat them a couple weeks ago. I will try and find some film on them and come up with a game plan.”

The Eagles’ path could have just as easily started with top-ranked and undefeated Sunnyside Christian.

In fact, it came down to either Evergreen Lutheran or Tulalip Heritage remaining in the selection hat. And Tulalip Heritage’s name was drawn to face the heavy tournament favorite at 3:45 p.m.

“It was really nice to get that,” Trebesch said. “And the time is nice. We can head over there and get acclimated and situated, knowing we have some time to relax ahead of time.”

This story was originally published February 28, 2016 at 2:20 PM with the headline "No. 3 Life Christian boys will meet Lind-Ritzville/Sprague in 2B quarterfinals."