BREMERTON | Story by Jeff Graham, Kitsap Sun
One by one, Olympic College men's basketball players took turns climbing a ladder and using scissors to trim away pieces of net.
Rangers head coach Ryley Callaghan made the final cut and triumphantly raised the net in the air before putting it around his neck. At the same time, the 26-year-old first-year coach sliced away any doubts he possessed the goods to turn around a struggling program.
No, OC's men's team hasn't celebrated winning a title in a long, long time. That's exactly what the Rangers achieved when they knocked off Skagit Valley 80-62 on Wednesday in front of a capacity crowd at Bremer Student Center.
Claiming the Northwest Athletic Conference's North Region regular season championships, it's the first title for OC (19-7) since 1995. That's the same year Callaghan was born.
"It's been an incredible ride this whole year," Callaghan said.
The Rangers, who went 11-3 in North Region play, enter next week's NWAC tournament next week as a No. 1 seed. It will be OC's first playoff appearance in 13 years.
"We're in it for the ring," Rangers sophomore Jayden Upshaw said. "We want to win it all."
A former prep star at South Kitsap, Callaghan helped Peninsula College win the NWAC North Region title in 2016, earning most valuable player honors in the process. He finished his playing career at the University of Hawaii-Hilo and spent two years as a graduate assistant coach at Corban University in Oregon before being hired at OC in July.
Taking over a program that's had only two winning seasons since 2009, Callaghan said he heard from plenty of folks telling him to "hang in there." Outside expectations were low, but Callaghan felt confident about his ability and the roster he pieced together. He saw his players' desire to compete early on in preseason training.
"We get after it," Callaghan said. "We battle in practice and it shows up here."
After opening the season 5-4, the Rangers went on a tear in mid-December, winning 13 of their next 15 games to put itself in position to win the North Region title. A victory over Skagit Valley was key considering the Rangers lost the Cardinals in overtime in the teams' first matchup. OC had a one-game lead on Skagit Valley heading into Wednesday's rematch.
"We came here knowing we had to handle business," Upshaw said.
OC fell behind 9-2 before using an 11-0 run to take a commanding 47-31 lead at the end of the first half. Skagit Valley never got closer than 12 points in the second half as the Rangers received a massive performance from Tyler Behrend and Wayne Jamison off the bench. Behrend scored 25 points on 10 of 15 shooting and Jamison added 22 points. Starters Aundree Polk (16 points) and Tyler Williford (10 points) also scored in double-figures.
There were plenty of hugs to go around after the victory as Callaghan embraced his two top assistants, father John Callaghan and Patrick Lewis.
"I could never do any of this by myself," Ryley Callaghan said. "It's a total group effort. It's fun to be able to do it with people you enjoy."
The young coach did say there's some extra satisfaction in being able to achieve success in Year 1 despite OC not having a winning track record.
"This year has really reassured me that the way I do things is the right way to do things," Callaghan said. "I'm enjoying every single day of it."
Callaghan said the Rangers would take Thursday off being turning their attention to the postseason. The NWAC championships run March 20-24 and 26-27 at Everett Community College.
"We'll go Friday, Saturday hard," Callaghan said. "We'll get straight after it. I think guys are going to be excited."
