NCL boys basketball: 'Typical Trace' leads Point Arena over Hanna

Wed. January 25, 2012 at 10:33 p.m. | By Phil Barber

Trace Yager, left, scored 28 points Wednesday night in Point Arena's win over Archbishop Hanna. (Photo by SCOTT MANCHESTER / For The Press Democrat)

By PHIL BARBER
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

SONOMA — Trace Yager didn’t have one of his better nights Wednesday. He missed some outside shots, and didn’t get to the free-throw line very often. He turned over the ball on several occasions, trying passes that were a little too tricky for the situation.

And when the game ended, and Point Arena had secured a 73-39 victory at Archbishop Hanna, Yager had quietly amassed 28 points. The kid makes it look so easy, you hardly even notice.

“He’s very smooth,” Point Arena coach Warren Galletti said about his 6-foot-3 swingman. “Granted, he is a four-year varsity starter.

But he does things you can’t teach. Typical Trace would be what you saw in the first few minutes of the second half.”

Ah, yes, that post-halftime takeover. The Pirates held a 36-14 lead at the half, but Yager had been more of a role player than a dominator, content to find open teammates with passes. When play resumed, he scored 13 of Point Arena’s first 15 points — all in the first 3:30. Yager drilled three 3-pointers to get things going and then, after a basket by teammate Justin Sundstrom, scored on a reverse layup and a turnaround jumper in the post.

Then he went back to playmaking as he started a fast break that ended with Sundstrom’s basket. The Pirates had pushed their lead to 53-21, and Yager had finally found his rhythm.

Point Arena won the last two NCL II North championships, and is looking to make a successful transition by claiming its first NCL III title this season. The Pirates are 17-2 after defeating Hanna (5-9), running their record over two-plus seasons to 56-16; they are 31-2 in league play over that span, including 6-1 this season.

Despite that success, Point Arena is locked in a tight three-way race with Laytonville and Mendocino, both of them 5-1 heading into Wednesday. The Pirates will need consistent effort to capture first place again and, they hope, go a step further in the North Coast Section playoffs. Galletti’s team was given a No. 4 seed in both 2010 and 2011. Twice they advanced to the semifinals.

Twice they lost to eventual-champion Ferndale.

If the Pirates are to break through, they will definitely need to follow Yager’s lead. He’s a natural player who rarely looks out of control, and he can hurt an opponent in a variety of ways, from draining 3-pointers and scoring off the dribble to running the break and blocking shots.

“I’ve coached some very good players here,” Galletti said. “He’s probably the most versatile player I’ve had, and he is possibly the most talented.”

Galletti remembers the kid who came to Point Arena and latched onto the varsity squad as a gangly freshman. Yager had the skills even then, but he didn’t have the confidence. That came over time. He averaged 10.8 points as a freshman, 12.8 as a sophomore, then exploded for 24.6 a game as a junior. After Wednesday’s performance, he has scored 1,601 points at the high school.

Yager’s scoring is down a bit this season, but he has improved in assists (3.5 per game), rebounds (8.3) and steals (2.2).
“I told my kids, he’s one of those five-tool players,” Hanna coach Courtney Jackson said. “He can shoot, he can pass, he can jump — everything. If you make one mistake, he’ll take advantage of it.”

Jackson’s scheme Wednesday was to double-team Yager and force other Pirates to beat Hanna. It worked, sort of, for a while.
“You can only keep a great shooter down for so long,” Jackson said.

Back in junior high, Yager mainly relied on a post-up game at the offensive end. Galletti worked with him to get him to feel more comfortable facing the basket. But this year Yager has gravitated toward the post again.

“We’ve asked him to play inside more than we did in the past,” Galletti said. “We lost two interior players to graduation, and it makes us a better team to have Trace inside. Plus, we have some players who can shoot from the outside.”

Chief among them is sophomore guard Justin Sundstrom, who is second on the team with a 12.7-point scoring average; he had 21 against the Hawks, including 17 in the first half as the Pirates pulled away. Justin’s cousin, senior forward Matt Sundstrom, averages 8.6. He is currently out with an ankle injury, though Galletti expects to have him back for Saturday’s game against Ferndale. Junior forward Marco Davila is also an 8.6 points-per-game scorer.

Davila had eight points for Point Arena on Wednesday. Junior guard Tony Tovaraz led Hanna with 11 points, while senior center Abdullah Muslim had 10.

You can reach Staff Writer Phil Barber at 521-5263 or phil.barber@pressdemocrat.com.

PLAYER PROFILE

Trace Yager
Senior, Point Arena
Forward/guard, 6-foot-3, 180

Before Wednesday's game
Games: 17
Points: 340 (20.0 per game)
Rebounds: 141 (8.3 per game)
Assists: 59 (3.5 per game)
Steals: 37 (2.2 per game)
FG: 111-190 (58.4 percent)
3P: 27-84 (32.1 percent)
FT: 37-55 (67.2 percent)

Season-high: 28 points, twice, Nov. 30, vs. Cloverdale, and Wednesday vs. Archbishop Hanna

Quotable: “He can shoot, he can pass, he can jump — everything. If you make one mistake, he’ll take advantage of it.”

— Archbishop Hanna coach Courtney Jackson