When Sammamish boys basketball coach Wes Newton needed any advice on how to help turn his program around, he didn’t have to look far.
That’s because Newton, in his fourth year as the Totems’ head man, could always look to his best friend, who also happened to be trying to bring a struggling program to respectability.
Newton and recently-departed Interlake football coach Sheldon Cross both grew up in the Lake Hills neighborhood of Bellevue – and both have been working to bring their respective teams back into contention.
For Cross, who recently accepted a coaching position with the Washington State University football program, that effort culminated this season when the Saints made their second straight trip to the Class 2A playoffs. And for Newton, it’s looking like the hard work is paying off – and it helps to have a friend in the same situation.
“We have suggestions for one another, what’s working, what isn’t working – we just both try to learn from each other,” Newton said. “He’s done a great job over there. That’s what we hope to do, too.”
Now, after an 11-50 record in his first three seasons – including two 2-18 years – the Totems are off to an 8-2 start and Newton is hoping his team, like Cross’s, will finally break through and find that same success.
The Totems won their first three games, including a 74-65 win over Newport in the opener, before falling to Mount Si 65-52. Sammamish won their next two games before falling to Hazen on Dec. 21 when Decourious Sampson hit a free throw with 0.6 seconds left in the game. The Totems thrashed Burnaby South of British Columbia last week 95-62 for their sixth win of the year.
“We all know what its like to be unsuccessful,” Newton said. “They are tired of not getting much respect. They want to gain respect themselves, and they want the school to gain respect.”
For Newton and his coaching staff, it’s personal. Newton was a freshman in 1995, when Sammamish lost in overtime to Evergreen in the state championship and he was a starter on the 1998 squad that returned to state. Newton’s assistant, Tygann Billow, was a team captain on the Totems’ 2000 squad that finished second in KingCo and districts and earned the program’s last state appearance.
“They know what it takes to be winners,” said Sammamish senior guard and captain Daniel Wruble. “They push us to get through the adversity. They’ve seen how it used to be.”
Now the growing pains are paying off. The Totems boast a core of seniors who, after having taken their lumps for the past three seasons, are ready to breakout. Wruble is averaging 11.3 points, 4.0 assists and 5.2 rebounds per game.
Fellow seniors Duncan Dickerson, Brady Anderson, Anthony Do and Anthony Myers are helping to lead the squad as well, in addition to mentoring the sophomore class, which Wruble says has a chance to leave as the best players to come out of Sammamish.
Sophomore George Valle leads the team in points, three-point field goals, blocks, defensive rebounds and steals. John Steinberg is averaging 10.2 points per game and the Totems are getting valuable minutes from Sami Jarjour and Jacob West.
“Without the sophomores, we wouldn’t have our winning mindset,” said Do. “The difference is our team chemistry.”
“We’ve got guys who have been playing together for a long time and who have been on winning teams in the past,” Anderson said. “We have this desire to put everything together, win and put losing in the past.”
The Totems return from the MEI Invitational in Canada after the new year and will get into the thick of league play on Jan. 8, when they travel to Interlake to take on the Saints. Newton hopes the team can continue its hot start and make the playoffs for the first time since 2005, when Sammamish went 16-9 in Chris O’Connor’s final season as head coach before taking over at Bellevue.
“My mom went here, my whole family went here,” Newton said. “We’ve been here my whole life and we’ve seen it. That’s what we tell these guys. We used to be pretty good at basketball. We want to get back to those days.”
Joel Willits can be reached at 425-453-5045.
