BOYS BASKETBALL: Port Townsend’s second-place 1992-93 team celebrated tonight

PORT TOWNSEND — Driven to overcome the district tournament disappointment of the previous campaign, the 1992-93 Port Townsend boys basketball team produced arguably the finest season in program history.

The team finished with a 21-4 record, a Nisqually League Championship, a West Central District 3 Championship and a second-place finish in the WIAA Class A State Basketball Tournament.

Coaches and players will be honored at a ceremony celebrating the squad’s 25th anniversary at halftime of tonight’s Port Townsend-Klahowya boys basketball contest (tipoff set for 7:15 p.m.).

Led by brothers Andy and Rich D’Agostino and sharp-shooting Dan Rough, the 1992-93 Redskins played ferocious man-to-man defense and primarily ran Flex, a movement-based offense that relied on screens and cuts to the rim.

(Port Townsend’s nickname was changed to Redhawks before the 2014-15 season).

“Andy’s intensity was so high,” head coach Ryan Robertson recalled. “He demanded everything from those around him. He had talent, integrity, exactly the right charisma and his teammates followed. All he would need is to give a look and the team would get to work.”

Rough’s shooting touch was so dialed in he would go on to set an NCAA record (since broken) for consecutive made free throws. “He led the nation as a freshman at Whitman [College] in 3-point percentage,” Robertson said.

“The hallmark of a great shooter is your shot always looks the same, no matter the spot on the floor. With Dan you had that repetition.”

Assistant coach Tim Black said Rough’s game wasn’t limited to outside shooting.

“Dan could put the ball on the floor and go to the hole and create,” he said. “A really smooth player. He could shoot the pullup as well. Great moves, really hard to check.”

Robertson said Rich D’Agostino flew a little under the radar.

“Rich was kind of unsung as a sophomore,” Robertson said. “A great defensive player, ball-handler and decision maker. He had so much spirit and hated to lose, absolutely hated to lose.

Undersized posts Kevin Maier and Dekker Dirksen were complimented by Luke Eaton, a 6-foot-5 sophomore who transferred in from rival Chimacum, and guard Emanuel Abbott.

“Those seven players received the majority of the playing time, but what made the ‘93 Redskins exceptional was how all 12 varsity players embraced the team concept,” head coach Ryan Robertson said.

“Every practice was spirited and competitive as each member accepted their role and gave of themselves for the good of the team. Calan Taylor, Joe Atkinson, Tanner Logue, Aaron Speck and Kevin Reid were reserves, but they worked incredibly hard to push those in front of them.”

Robertson said the team’s committment to selflessness and hard work made his job, and the jobs of assistant coaches Tim Black, John Stroeder and Mike Kelly enjoyable.

“The coaches were fortunate to have such a motivated group of young men to push, guide and mold into a true team, one in which the sum was greater than its parts,” Robertson said.

Robertson’s run as Port Townsend head coach began with the 1991-1992 season.

He served as a varsity assistant and junior varsity coach for the Redskins the year prior, guiding much the same group of players.

“We got to bond and develop relationships with each other on the JV level,” Robertson said. “And the next year I took over as the varsity coach and we were all ready to go together.”

Robertson’s first season in charge of Port Townsend was one of his all-time favorites.

Led by what he dubbed “the remarkable leadership of senior Tom Atkinson,” the team overcame a 2-7 start to reel off 12 straight victories and earn a Nisqually League championship. That season’s magical run ended in two straight defeats with a state tournament berth on the line.

In the offseason, Robertson recruited Stroeder, the lone Port Townsend player to play in the NBA, to serve as an assistant coach.

The 6-foot-10 Stroeder had recently wrapped his professional career with a stint in Europe, and coincidentally enough, had purchased a home on the same street as Robertson.

Stroeder’s Milwaukee Bucks uniform and team picture from his NBA days was prominently displayed inside Port Townsend’s Bruce Blevins Gymnasium.

“Of course you hear that PT had an NBA player and I saw his jersey in the trophy case,” Robertson said. “So you get curious.”

“I drive by his house one day and I see this big redhead and what’s he doing? Washing his fishing boat, of course. I sounded him out about wanting to help with the team and he said, “Well, I like to fish a lot, so if Midchannel [Bank] isn’t open I’ll come up and help you.”

Stroeder’s background as a former NBA player gave him instant cache with the squad.

“You could say he had some credibility,” Robertson said.

“He’d walk in the gym, his booming voice would call out and we’d go to work. A lot of things aligned that year. We had the same mentality that defense comes first. And Coach Black was PT through and through. He has that encyclopedic knowledge of basketball.”

Port Townsend piled up the wins in the regular season, including beating Metro League-power Seattle Prep at home by one-point, revenge for a 50-point loss the season prior.

The Redskins overcame a homecourt league defeat to Nisqually foe Seattle Christian, a team that featured 6-7 Mike Sims who went on to play at Eastern Washington and an NCAA Division II-bound point guard.

“It was sweet revenge when [we] went on a 22-0 run to start the 4th quarter in the West Central District Championship game against that talented Seattle Christian squad,” Robertson said.

“We were down one at Curtis High School, and as the guys started to leave the huddle, they came back to me and it was kind of a magical moment. “I told them, ‘This is where it starts.’ And that 22-0 run, that was it, that just springboarded us.”

The squad discovered Tom Atkinson waiting for them in the front row of the Tacoma Dome before defeating Meridian in the state opener 54-46. “Meridian was a physical team and a tough matchup for us,” Robertson said. “Andy only scored nine that night and after the game he came up to me and he said, ‘I wasn’t as good tonight, but I’ll be better tomorrow.’”

“Tomorrow” was a quarterfinal matchup with No. 2 Zillah (24-1).

“Zillah’s roster had six players who would earn All-State honors during their prep careers,” Robertson said. “They had won 15 straight games since a mid-season coaching change, averaged about 77 points per game, and were defeating their opponents by an average of 19 points.”

Another motivating factor came when the team found out after the Meridian game that the Tacoma News Tribune had published a column calling Port Townsend “an embarrassment” because of their Redskins”nickname.

“The players definitely felt singled out and it was upsetting to be called an embarrassment,” Robertson said.

“The truth was that the ‘93 Port Townsend team was as far from an embarrassment as a team could be. The team exhibited class at every moment and it would not be possible for a team to represent the community of Port Townsend in a more positive way.”

The furor allowed the players to come together inside the team’s locker room before taking on Zillah.

“Probably not a more electric atmosphere,” Robertson said.

“The [pregame] talk was about showing who we are and we went and played our game.”

Led by 36 points from Andy D’Agostino and 58 percent shooting from the floor, the Redskins held the Leopards pressure defense in check and hit eight straight free throws late to win 81-73.

“I felt like I was going to have to be a leader,” D’Agostino told the Bremerton Sun in 1993. “I hadn’t played very well in our first [tournament] game. And before the Zillah game, right before we came out of the locker room, coach R [Robertson] pointed a finger at me and said, ‘You’re going to have to step up.’

“He loved to be challenged,” Robertson said. “he was one of those kids that would come up and ask for the toughest situation, that’s when he responded the most and the other guys would respond to him.”

Port Townsend went on to beat eventual third-place finisher Chelan in the semifinals, setting up a title game with the Ephrata Tigers and their legendary coach Marty O’Brien.

The Redskins struggled in the first half, trailing Ephrata by 12 at halftime. Tigers shooting guard Travis King set the state’s career scoring record in the second half.

“First three games we had no reservations, we went out and played,” Robertson said. “That game, Ephrata had been there before and the moment caught up to us a little bit. I would love to have it over again. I was a little tentative.”

Port Townsend methodically worked the deficit down, eventually trailing by three. A disputed foul call gave the Tigers three free throws and Ephrata sank those and some others to pull away for a 67-58 win.

There were tears in the team locker room, but also an overwhelming sense of pride in their accomplishments.

“Down 12 at half in the state title game with things not going our way, to come back and have a legitimate chance to win is just more proof of that team’s character,” Robertson said.

“You aren’t going to let that loss define what that team was.”

Robertson, who guided the Redskins to two more state tournament trips in 1994 and 1995 before leaving for a short stint at Class 4A Eastmont and 13 seasons as head coach at W.F. West (Chehalis), has at least two reminders of that special team.

His wife Cheryl gave birth to a son, Andy, at the start of the season on Nov. 20, 1992, and the family later added a boy named Daniel.

“My kids are named after Andy and Dan, “Robertson said. “Tanner Logue spent the night at my house a few weeks ago. My daughter was a flower girl in his wedding. And Emmanuel Abbott got in touch with me a few years back, he’s had some rough stretches in his life, but he told me that he’s drawn on the lessons he learned on that team to help him.

“Ultimately, I’m really proud of these guys and all they’ve accomplished.”