During its first 53 years of play, the Tumwater High School boys basketball team failed to win a single league title.
Times have certainly changed, however, as celebrating championships has now become the norm for the Thunderbirds.
Not only has Tumwater captured the last two 2A Evergreen Conference crowns, the T-Birds are also the two-time defending District 4 champions.
Hanging banners is all guards Brian Marty and C.J. Geathers have known during their tenure with the program, and they don’t plan on altering from that practice anytime soon.
Despite graduating four starters from last season’s squad which finished fifth at the 2A state tournament – Tumwater’s first state placing since 1998 – the T-Birds enter the new season with a strong outlook.
“We know we lost a lot of people. We lost a lot of height,” Marty said, “but next man up.”
Leading the charge with that philosophy will be Marty, a senior and his junior backcourt mate Geathers.
Both were supporting players on last year’s team, helping Tumwater advance to the state semifinals for just the second time in school history and the first since 1976, but have now made a seamless transition from the bench to the starting lineup.
“It really doesn’t feel that difficult (becoming a starter this year). My teammates really made it easy for me,” Geathers said. “Once Brian and I started practicing we just clicked on the court. We have a lot of players on this team who have never played varsity before.”
And it’s that very reason why both guards’ roles have been expanded, both on and off the court – a task their coach believes they will excel at.
“It all started with guys like David Cooper, guys last year like Jacob Gibbons and others. They just got in the gym and they were hungry,” Tumwater coach Thomas Rowswell said. “Brian and C.J. were watching last year and now they want to do it too. They’re the next ones up.”
“What’s cool about Brian and C.J. is I don’t have to tell them to get in the gym,” continues the coach. “They get in the gym. They do it together. They work out together. They now have a relationship where they want to help the program keep going. It’s nice as a coach that I don’t have to tell them to do it. They just want to do it.”
The familiarity between the guards has already been on display during the early portion of the T-Birds’ schedule.
Trailing against Yelm late in the fourth quarter, Marty and Geathers each came up with big plays down the stretch to help Tumwater win its first game this season.
Geathers, who finished with 14 points and hit a pair of 3-pointers down the stretch against the Tornados, credited their late-game play with the experience they gained having been around the T-Birds’ newly found culture of success the last two years.
“Even though we didn’t play as much as others, what we accomplished last year has really helped us a lot as a team this year,” Geathers said. “We’ve learned from them. It will help us accomplish what we want to accomplish this year.”
Surprisingly, one of the top tactics this year’s team has taken away from the past isn’t about winning basketball games at all, but when applied has resulted in plenty of victories.
“We have goals that we set, and we focus on those goals and not on winning,” Geathers said. “Winning is just extra. If we accomplish our goals winning takes care of itself.”
And that’s something Tumwater has done in excess in recent years.
“Brian and C.J. are now comfortable with the program. They know what to expect. They know what we run. They know how to get their shots. They know what they need to work on,” Rowswell said. “It’s fortunate to have that consistency. You look at the football program here, consistency is huge and that’s why they’ve had success.”
The steadiness Marty and Geathers bring to the T-Birds this year will be called upon early in the season as younger players develop and other players, including Cade Otton, the team’s only returning starter, get healthy.
“Right now we don’t have some of our key players,” Marty said, “but when they come back it’s going to be special.”
Something which should continue the T-Birds recent upward trend.
“All the credit goes to Brian and C.J. and their work ethic,” Rowswell said. “What I love about them is they just like playing basketball. They aren’t worried about offers. They’re not worried about getting on Twitter or their stats. They just like playing basketball and they like playing together. That’s really refreshing in this day. I’m blessed to have great kids in the program. They make me look good as a coach. We’re just looking to keep this thing going.”
