Emotions abound as EHS boys win finale

Published 11:39 am Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Good things come to those who wait.

The 2014-2015 Enterprise High School boys’ basketball season has been long and arduous, but what transpired on Senior Night to end the season for the Outlaws long will be remembered with both joy and tears.

The fact that Coach Jeff Micka’s team broke a 13-game losing streak with an upset 45-37 win over Grant Union to record their one and only 2A-6 Wapiti League win of the season was huge, but only one of several emotional highs on a memorable night in Dick Quinn Court.

The tears started when EHS’s 6’6” senior Kaden Lathrop, by far the team’s top scorer on the season — as part of a planned surprise orchestrated by his father, assistant coach Ron Lathrop — waded through his hands-slapping lineup of teammates prior to the game to discover his three older brothers standing there in street clothes, having arrived to watch Kaden play his final high school game. The oldest, Cody, came from Minneapolis, Minn., the next-oldest, Cole, from Portland, and the third, Kenny, still lives locally. Ron Lathrop now has coached all four of his sons in basketball, with Cody (2002), Cole (2004), and Kenny (2010) graduating from Joseph High School, and now Kaden (2015) from Enterprise.

If that wasn’t enough to get hearts pumping, the Enterprise loyal were thrilled by another milestone event when Randy Morgan, the sometimes Athletic Director, 37-year band instructor, and constant Enterprise loyalist, was called to center court to be honored for his service and handed flowers by his daughter.

Then, of course, there was the game.

And by no means did the game lack in drama.

Three freshmen came off Micka’s bench to rally the Outlaws from a 31-26 three-quarter deficit to help post the victory that saw players and fans alike storm the court at game’s end to celebrate one of those unparalleled moments that brings the best out of high school sports.

“Everyone was jumping up and down as if we’d won the state tournament,” said Micka.

The three freshmen, allowed extra playing time because the junior varsity game only lasted two quarters, who helped turn the tide were Jimmy Wells, Rylie Hayward, and Blaze Lepper. And their respective contributions came in different aspects of the sport of basketball.

Wells came into the game in the second quarter and helped the Outlaws handle a full-court press that the Prospectors, who had thumped Enterprise by 44 points less than a month earlier, quickly abandoned.

Hayward, a 5’8” guard who’d been waiting for this moment all year, hit three consecutive three-pointers in the fourth quarter to pull EHS ahead and, in doing so, shared high-point honors for the game with teammate Wade Isley who also chipped in nine points. Wells helped the cause in the fourth quarter by recording his second trey of the game and EHS, for one of the rare times this season, closed a game with some accurate free through shooting. While game totals (11 of 24) again were sub-par, the Outlaws sank seven of 11 charity tosses with the pressure on in the final minutes to help secure the win.

Every bit as instrumental in the victory, said Micka, was the play of 6’6” freshman Blaze Lepper. Slowed by a bad ankle much of the season that forced him to lay out for three weeks and see limited action most other games, Lepper was healthy versus Grant Union, played three quarters, and made his presence known. He ended the game with nine rebounds and seven blocked shots. Micka said much of Lepper’s work came in the closing minutes when he continually batted away or misdirected GU shots and grabbed rebounds.

“I can’t say how happy I am for these players,” said Micka. “They are a really good bunch of kids who have worked hard all year long.”