THE LA CENTER eighth grade boys basketball team poses in the gonzaga locker room with the West Coast Conference trophy.
COACHES AND PLAYERS on the La Center eighth grade select team pose for a team photograph.
LA CENTER EIGHTH GRADERS climb above a bulldog statue on the campus of Gonzaga.
LA CENTER won the state championship game 56-53 over Hockinson.
LA CENTER players hoist the trophy after winning the state championship in the Silver division in Spokane March 13.
SPOKANE — The La Center eighth grade boys’ state title was years in the making.
The La Center players, many of whom have been playing with the squad since the third grade, clinched the eighth grade Silver division win with a 56-53 win over rival Hockinson March 13 in the state championship game at the Spokane Convention Center.
“Chemistry definitely helps — they know how to read each other,” coach Rob Frahm said. “They just play really well together.”
Jeremy Ecklund, current coach of La Center High School’s varsity team, started coaching the boys when they were third-graders.
Frahm took over last year when they were in seventh grade.
The Washington State Basketball Championship, held March 11-13, is made up of teams that finished first or second in one of several qualification tournaments dating back to October of last year.
La Center made the cut for the championship after winning a tournament in Kelso.
The tournament, in its third year, requires that all but two of the athletes attend the same middle school. Gold and silver divisions indicate which qualifying tournament the teams attended.
“Everyone had to win or get second in a tournament to get there, so we got to match up against a lot of talent,” Frahm said. “At first our goal was to qualify for state, then our goal was to make the final. Everything after that was icing on the cake. We ended up winning, and that was pretty sweet.”
The La Center team won their first game of the state tournament 58-34 over Hazen Select on March 11.
“We had that goal to win, so I pushed them hard all year,” Frahm said. “They responded to that. They played well through adversity. Some games were tight and they came through it.”
La Center played twice on March 12, defeating PAC Xpress of Chehalis 75-60 and following it up with a 56-30 win over Port Angeles.
The team clinched their spot in the title game with a 73-37 win over Cedarcrest. In its four games in pool play, La Center scored 262 points while giving up just 161.
With only a few hours to recover from its win over Cedarcrest, La Center advanced to the state title game against Hockinson.
“They’re huge rivals,” Frahm said. “It was great to get that kind of a payback, with Hockinson being just down the road. Both of us went through bracket beating all the teams from Seattle, the eastside, the westside.”
“The championship game was really close,” Frahm said. “In my opinion that’s how it should be. It was a one point game the whole time. They’d go ahead then we’d go ahead. In the end it worked out for us. It was a sweet game.”
It’s a good group of kids,” Frahm said. “ They’re going be hard to deal with once they get to high school.”
La Center’s accolades weren’t limited to the team championship — the team's Hunter Ball won the weekend’s three-point shooting contest.
Another highlight for La Center — a visit with Gonzaga University’s basketball team, which was arranged by Frahm’s brother, Gonzaga alumnus and former Supersonics shooting guard Richie Frahm.
The La Center team had the opportunity to visit tour Gonzaga’s basketball facilities, meet the players, and have a picture taken with the West Coast Conference trophy, which Gonzaga won this year.
“We went to the locker room, got to hang out with them took pictures,” Frahm said. “I would say that was probably more exciting to them then winning the state championship.”
