Future Gonzaga Bulldog pulls crowd at State 2B tournament

Kittitas junior guard Brock Ravet has shown his court savvy and shooter’s touch to plenty of sizable audiences.

He didn’t expect a couple of thousand spectators at the Spokane Arena on Thursday night, though. Not this early into the State 2B boys basketball tournament.

“It looked like there were more people watching this quarterfinal than last year’s,” said Ravet, who averaged nearly 33 points a game last season and led Kittitas to a state title.

But Ravet wasn’t a heralded Gonzaga recruit last March. That changed in June when he gave an oral commitment to Bulldogs head coach Mark Few.

Ravet, the son of Kittitas head coach Tim Ravet, became the rare tiny-school commodity to cement his plans with a NCAA tournament regular.

Gonzaga-clad patrons trickled into the Spokane Arena on Thursday night to catch a glimpse of the future. Some took to Twitter to fawn over Ravet’s skill set.

“Bro, this Brock Ravet kid is the real deal,” Kenrick Doherty Jr. said in a tweet.

Ravet didn’t disappoint, pouring in 24 points in a 67-44 rout of Toutle Lake to pace the Coyotes into Friday’s semifinal round.

Asked about the extra attention he’s received since committing to Gonzaga, Ravet, who also tallied seven rebounds and four assists, said he tries not to think about it. “But it was great to come out and play in front of that big of a crowd that early in the tournament,” he said. “It was really cool.”

When he makes the 166-mile move from Kittitas – a central Washington town of about 1,500 residents – to Spokane in 2019, though, he says he’ll be ready.

He’s already found a favorite restaurant in Tomato Street and has learned to navigate the Lilac City, which he’s frequented for camps and tournaments since he was a child.

Last summer, his parents let him drive to Spokane, a city they’ve correlated with basketball since Tim Ravet played for Kittitas in the late 1980s and played in the State B tournament.

Tim Ravet, who runs a tarp company as his day job, never finished better than third as player. His son, who led the state in scoring a year ago, is on the cusp of a second state title before his senior year.

“He’s handled everything well and continues to improve,” Tim Ravet said of his son’s growing regional hoops fame. “And it’s great for this team to be back at this tournament. It’s the greatest tournament in the state, and there’s some good ones.”

Brock Ravet’s mother, Julie Ravet, is excited for her son’s future in Spokane.

“It’s a big city, but not overwhelming.” Julie Ravet. “He is going to love it – Gonzaga and the town.”