As coach of No. 1 Evergreen of Vancouver, John Triplett had his sights set on a slew of other contenders heading into the WIAA Class 4A boys basketball championships.
For starters, there were KingCo powerhouses Mercer Island, coached by the legendary Ed Pepple, and Lake Washington, which boasted future Washington Huskies guard Donald Watts, son of ex-Seattle Supersonics guard Slick Watts, to worry about.
There was also South Puget Sound League divisional winners Decatur, paced by USC commit Quincy Wilder, and Puyallup, which had a pair of future NFL players in Brock Huard and Dane Looker in the lineup.
And, of course, Big Nine champion Richland was always a handful under the bright lights of the Kingdome.
Nobody saw 11-loss Sammamish, which had to win three loser-out district games just to make the 16-team field, as much of a threat – especially Triplett.
“We had no idea about Sammamish,” Triplett said.
Folks would soon be introduced to perhaps the greatest “Cinderella” in WIAA large-classification boys basketball championship-game history – the longshot and overlooked Totems.
And why would contenders be paying attention to this up-and-down squad out the loaded KingCo? Even being senior-heavy, Sammamish had lost three of its first five games that season (two in overtime), dropped its regular-season finale to last-place Eastlake (8-12) and had never gone on a winning streak longer than three games heading into the league tournament.
Ron Bollinger, the fifth-year coach for the Totems, was frank about assessing his team’s play heading into the final few weeks.
“Quite frankly, we had not reached our potential,” Bollinger said. “We were not a physical team.”
So, after losing to Mercer Island in the district tournament, Bollinger made a bold lineup change, inserting seldom-used 6-foot-4 EWU football signee Tyson Knaevlsrud into the starting five.
“We were at practice when I made the decision to start (Tyson), and the expression on his face was priceless,” Bollinger said. “It was a big surprise to him – and the whole team.
“We then went on a path of loser-out wins … and all of a sudden, we qualified for the state tournament.”
Sammamish had pieces to play good basketball: Lanky forward Chris Walcott was the team’s top scorer who were getting the most recruiting interest. He eventually accepted a walk-on offer to join the University of Washington where he put on scholarship shortly after his arrival, and became a team captain.
Josh White was the team’s primary scorer in a point-guard tandem – by all accounts, the engine behind the drive – who knocked down perimeter shots. John Gross was the other point guard, primarily as a ball-handler.
And forward Jimmy Potts did a little bit of everything for the Totems, including score, rebound and handle the ball.
On the bench was Bollinger, who had come over from Bishop Blanchet – and since that season has been the longtime boys coach at Bothell.
Current Seattle Public Schools athletic director Pat McCarthy was one of the assistant coaches. Another one was Jeff Bright, who had just resigned as Interlake’s coach 10 months earlier. And rounding out the staff was Don Papasedero, who had coached sports in the KingCo, Wesco and Metro Leagues since the 1970s before eventually joining the PLU football staff.
Could Sammamish truly believe it was set for an extended run in the WIAA championships?
“I think we always knew we had the potential and had the right pieces,” Walcott said. “We’d been playing together for a long time and knew the talent was there. And there is something about playing lots of games coming in (to state) where we needed to get wins or we were done.”
Sammamish’s path started with a game against heavily-favored Puyallup. The first half was tight, but the Totems’ fullcourt defensive pressure rattled the Vikings, and led to an eye-popping 78-52 victory.
“We had a lot of confidence from that game going forward,” Bollinger said.
Next up was Hudson’s Bay, which played in the same league as Evergreen of Vancouver and was led by physical center Kyle Stonehouse, who went on to play for the University of Portland.
In a back-and-forth game, Sammamish broke it open in the final minutes for a 57-43 victory.
Suddenly, the Totems were in the state semifinals, setting up an all-KingCo date with Watts and Lake Washington – an opponent against which they posted one of their best regular-seasons wins in early January (72-65).
And that is also when Bollinger noticed the atmosphere shifted – 20,000-plus fans on a Friday night in the Kingdome, including many Sammamish supporters who were wearing red suspenders as a tribute to how their coach dressed.
“It was a fun time,” Bollinger said.
Late in the semifinal game, Sammamish held a 50-49 lead, and had Gross on the free-throw line with six seconds remaining.
Gross missed, the Kangaroos got the rebound and called timeout to set up a final play.
“Our plan was that we would double-team (Watts), and if he gets the ball, force him to his left,” Bollinger said. “And I told Walcott, if Donald gets through, step up in the lane and get your hands up.”
Watts dribbled through pressure, got into the lane against the hand-waving Walcott and got off a mid-range jumper to win it. The ball clanked off the rim.
When the Totems emerged from the locker room afterward, Bollinger estimated there were 2,000 people cheering near the bus who followed the team back to campus.
Sammamish was one win away from a most improbable championship run.
In its way was the top team in the state – offensive juggernaut Evergreen (26-0), which brutalized opponents with a physical fullcourt man-to-man press. The Plainsmen had a deep rotation of players, led by all-state forward Paul Bustrin, who played briefly at New Hampshire, and Derek Neslund, who went on to enjoy a successful career at Portland State. And they were smart – a state-best 3.89 grade-point average collectively.
And yet, for much of that Saturday night, Walcott was the best player on the floor, scoring a game-high 29 points and staking the Totems to the lead for most of the game.
“I was really impressed by how well they handled us,” Triplett said.
Evergreen rallied from a six-point deficit to tie the game at 49-49 in the final seconds, but Sammamish had the ball underneath its basket with 10 seconds remaining.
What happened next was the most vivid memory both coaches recalled about the game.
As Evergreen overplayed Walcott inbounding the ball, a teammate was wide open near the hoop for an uncontested go-ahead basket. The pass went off of his hands for a turnover.
“The plays you wish you had back,” Walcott said.
The Plainsmen sank 13 free throws in overtime, and claimed their only WIAA championship with a 64-59 victory. Bustrin had 22 points and 12 rebounds, and was voted tournament most valuable player.
Weeks after the loss, Bollinger resigned to take the Bothell job. But for a few years after that 1995 run, the Sammamish players would return to play in a Christmas scrimmage – with their former coach as the referee.
“We were ‘Cinderella’ because we didn’t always live up to our potential,” Walcott said. “But that wasn’t something we believed when we stepped on the court that week.”
