Class 4A Notes: Brother act raises Inglemoor profile

TACOMA — Throughout the Class 4A boys state tournament, Andy Nwaelele sat in the west bleachers with a video camera, capturing the memories for his older brother, Ike.

Soon, Andy, a seventh-grader, could be creating Inglemoor basketball memories.

Ike, a 5-foot-11 senior point guard, is the third Nwaelele to play for the Vikings. Dan, like his two younger brothers, was a three-year varsity player at Inglemoor, graduating in 2002. He plays for Air Force. Ken, a 2004 Inglemoor graduate, is a redshirt freshman at Western Washington.

Ike lists Air Force and Western as college options, along with Seattle University and Navy.

Ike has one thing his older brothers do not: two state-tournament trophies. Inglemoor, which lost to Jackson yesterday, finished eighth. The Vikings were fifth during Ike's junior season.

"My brothers did a good job while they were here and I'm just trying to continue that legacy," said Ike, who averaged 13.9 points this season.

"Ike's been a leader," said Vikings coach Greg Lowell. "He's just been so consistent. He's just a bulldog, finds ways to get it done. He's very talented and a very hard worker."

Ike attributes his work ethic to his parents, Dan and Connie, who came to the U.S. from Nigeria as teenagers.

"My dad might be the hardest worker I've ever met in my life," Ike said. "He always gets on me, tells me to work hard and do the right thing. He's hard sometimes, but I like it. I know it's better for me."

It's also been good for Inglemoor's basketball program.

One senior whose stock soared during the tournament was Jackson's Drew Eisinger, who averaged 24.5 points for his fifth-place team. The slender, 6-4 guard finished his high-school career with 21 points in a 62-54 win over Inglemoor.

Eisinger wants to play college basketball, and Jackson coach Steve Johnson believes he can play at the Division I level.

His brother, Jamie, is a 5-11 junior guard for Jackson.

Their father, Todd Eisinger, played at Seattle Pacific.

2007 dates set

Next year there will be three weeks of state tournaments, with the new 1B events for the state's smallest schools scheduled for Feb. 21-24 in Yakima.

The following week, the 4A tournaments will be at the Tacoma Dome, the 1A tournaments in Yakima and the 2B tournaments in Spokane, all Feb. 28 to March 3.

The 3A events — moving to KeyArena and Edmundson Pavilion in Seattle — and the 2A tournaments in Tacoma will be March 7-10.

Notes

• Central Valley coach Rick Sloan is a CV alum, Class of '81, who was a star high-school quarterback. Some even considered him better than his rival at Shadle Park, future Super Bowl MVP Mark Rypien. Sloan played at San Jose State, suffered a knee injury, and transferred to Idaho when Dennis Erickson became Vandals coach. Sloan was backup QB and deep-snapper, then became the starting quarterback and led the Vandals to several wins.

• Mackenzie Obeleagu, a senior at Franklin who works from a wheelchair, is in his first year as one of the team's managers. "I picked a good year," he said.

• South Kitsap coach John Callaghan provided the quote of the day when asked about his semifinal loss to Central Valley on Friday. "I slept like a baby. I woke up every two hours crying," he said. "It wasn't a good night's sleep."

Seattle Times staff reporter Craig Smith contributed to this notebook.