Evergreen Plainsmen set for 30-year reunion of state championship boys basketball team

The Evergreen boys basketball team won the state championship and academic state championship in 1995. The team is reuniting this week for the 30th anniversary of that championship season. Photo courtesy Sean Janson
The Evergreen boys basketball team won the state championship and academic state championship in 1995. The team is reuniting this week for the 30th anniversary of that championship season. Photo courtesy Sean Janson

Evergreen players and coach recall a special bond and chemistry that led to the 1995 undefeated season, and they are looking forward to reuniting on Friday at Evergreen High School, where they will be recognized at halftime

Paul Valencia
ClarkCountyToday.com

The greatest team in Evergreen boys basketball history was also the school’s smartest team.

State champions on the court as well as state academic champions in the classroom.

That does not mean a bunch of teenagers could not do something foolish.

Oh, but the 1995 Evergreen Plainsmen were so close. They wanted to do everything together. That included taking an elevator ride at the team hotel. All of them. At once.

Matt Dyment, a co-captain of the 1995 Evergreen boys basketball team that won a state championship, is now a firefighter in Estacada, Ore. Photo courtesy Matt Dyment
Matt Dyment, a co-captain of the 1995 Evergreen boys basketball team that won a state championship, is now a firefighter in Estacada, Ore. Photo courtesy Matt Dyment

“I saw the piece of paper that said maximum of 10 people,” team co-captain Matt Dyment said. “‘Oh shoot, we’ve got 12 in here.’ That thing screeched.”

To a halt.

The Plainsmen missed the shootaround that day before a state playoff game, stuck in the elevator for about an hour. 

There were a lot of jokes. But some panic, as well. It got hot and claustrophobic. 

The elevator was stuck in between floors, too, so when the doors opened the players were lifted up to the floor above them by firefighters who were called to the scene. The movie “Speed” had come out the previous year. Everyone had seen that movie. And one of the firefighters reminded the players of a familiar scene from that film. 

“Gotta get you out in a hurry. This thing could give way and cut one of you in half,” Dyment recalled hearing.

“To this day, I don’t get on an elevator without checking that piece of paper,” Dyment said.

Oh, and Dyment is a firefighter now, working in Estacada, Ore.

That is just one of the stories associated with the 1995 Plainsmen. 

On Friday, Evergreen High School will be honoring that team, 30 years later. Players and coaches are getting together for a private dinner. Then they will be recognized at Evergreen’s home game against rival Mountain View. After the game, there will be a public gathering at Big Al’s.

The elevator story is sure to be a topic of conversation. So, too, will be the overall intelligence of this team. Then there is the talent, of course. Plus the team’s philosophy. In college basketball, Arkansas had made “40 minutes of hell” famous with its full-court pressure for every minute of the game. At Evergreen, it was 32 minutes for a high school game of press, press, and more press. 

The Plainsmen are sure to talk about the depth of the team. Starters and reserves, to this day, say they all could have started on any other team in the region. They were that good.

Sean Janson was known more for his soccer talent than basketball, but he was a proud member of the 1995 Evergreen boys basketball state championship team. Today, he is the executive director of Columbia Premier Soccer in Vancouver. Photo courtesy Sean Janson
Sean Janson was known more for his soccer talent than basketball, but he was a proud member of the 1995 Evergreen boys basketball state championship team. Today, he is the executive director of Columbia Premier Soccer in Vancouver. Photo courtesy Sean Janson

Sean Janson, who would go on to play college soccer and remains a giant of the sport in Clark County as the executive director for Columbia Premier Soccer, was one of the players who came off the bench for the basketball team.

“I made sure people understood that even if you aren’t starting, you’re still helping the team,” Janson said.

He even challenged Coach John Triplett. 

“He called us first team and second team. It was pissing me off,” Janson said. “There ain’t no first and second team. (Division-I recruit) Derek Nesland didn’t start on that team.”

Janson had a request for Triplett.

“I’d really like you to stop referring to us as the second team,” Janson said.

When Triplett asked how he should refer to the starters and reserves, Janson said: “Alpha and Omega.”

“From then on, we did it that way,” Janson said.

Alpha and Omega, together as one, went undefeated in the 1994-95 season, closing out the campaign with wins over Everett, Richland, Mercer Island in the state playoffs and then an overtime victory over Sammamish for the state championship.

Almost 30 years later, those games will come up in conversation. But the journey and the aftermath, it could be argued, are more important than the results on the court.

“I remember Paul Bustrin leading the pre-game rap. A bunch of kids from Vancouver trying to rap,” Janson said. “We practiced our celebration for when we were going to win state. We practiced it. Just a wonderful time in our lives.”

“That senior-year experience shaped the trajectory of what was possible,” Dyment said. “I knew we would never lose. Sometimes we might be behind but we would never lose if we had time. That has carried on in my life in being a hopeful person.”

Dyment is looking forward to Friday night to hear how the last 30 years have gone for his teammates.

“I want to hear their stories and how their life took off,” Dyment said. “I hope we get to some of those conversations.”

Janson was one of the best soccer players in the Northwest. For basketball, he was coming off the bench.

“It really taught me lessons about teamwork and the greater good,” Janson said. “I still talk about the value of playing multiple sports. It was a very valuable time for me, personally.”

Derek Nesland is a founder of the non-profit Courts for Kids and is an assistant basketball coach with Camas High School. He said he is honored to have been part of the 1995 Evergreen boys basketball team. Photo courtesy Courts for Kids
Derek Nesland is a founder of the non-profit Courts for Kids and is an assistant basketball coach with Camas High School. He said he is honored to have been part of the 1995 Evergreen boys basketball team. Photo courtesy Courts for Kids

Derek Nesland, who still lives in Clark County, is the founder of the non-profit Courts for Kids. He is also an assistant coach for the Camas boys basketball team. He said he hopes he doesn’t overdo it, talking about that Evergreen team with his current team.

But that 1995 squad was remarkable, in more ways than just the undefeated record.

“That team is the best example of people coming together for a cause bigger than themselves,” Derek said. “Every person on the team just embraced a role. The egos were pushed aside. The culture of that team was really, really special. You had guys embracing whatever role it took just to win. I’ve never been a part of a team like that, before or since.”

The 1995 Plainsmen also recall the intensity displayed in practice.

“I just remember the most competitive practices, just the dogfights at practices,” Derek Nesland said. “I remember broken noses during rebound drills. The sheer competitiveness was incredible.”

Added Janson: “When we played our games, it wasn’t as hard.”

Do not expect any rebounding drills this week at the reunion.

Dyment said he has seen some of his teammates over the years on separate occasions. This week, most of the players are expected to attend. Jason Myers, who lives in Fort Worth, Texas, has already announced that will not be able to make it.

Still, 30 years later, all of these Plainsmen will be together in spirit, fighting for Vancouver, for Clark County. That was a motivating factor back in 1995. Nobody around the state thought a big school from Vancouver could hang with the Seattle-area teams.

It ticked off the Plainsmen. 

“The team before also went to state, but we were two and out,” Triplett said of the 1994 Evergreen squad. “The Seattle Times said a team that presses the whole game can’t win, can’t last, in a state tournament. People doubted us.”

Back then, a team had to win four games in four days to win the championship.

What the analysts failed to realize is that the 1995 Plainsmen prepared for those four games in March with dozens of games nine months earlier. Evergreen played anyone, anywhere during summer ball, perfecting their style, and seeing how the other great teams in the Northwest competed.

“Our parents were unbelievable,” Dyment said. “The summer before our senior year, we played 55 games. We were coached by the parents, supported by the parents. We went 51-4. They did all the little work behind the scenes to make sure we could do the best we could.”

The Plainsmen got off to a hot start for the 1994-95 season, but Janson said it took a while before they were ranked. Eventually, they rose to the top, undefeated going into state.

No matter, the Plainsmen had a chip on their shoulders.

“That was a real fire for us,” Janson said. “A bunch of kids from the sticks. Nobody is above 6-foot-5. We’re going to full-court press, we’re going 10-deep, and we’re going wear you down. We proved it to everybody.”

After that previous summer, the Plainsmen knew this was their season.

“We weren’t intimated,” Triplett said.

The coach said he had a great mix of basketball players and athletes.

“On that championship team Sean was a soccer guy, (Aaron) Carlson was a baseball player, Myers was a football player,” Triplett recalled. “We had athletes who weren’t necessarily great basketball players, but they were able to press. Being athletes, they could get up and down the court. They could rebound and play defense. Just the type of kid at Evergreen that fit into my philosophy. It happened to work out.”

To perfection.

They were also intelligent. That played a huge role.

“We had a lot of players who were pretty sharp,” Dyment said. “We could make adjustments pretty quickly.”

The Plainsmen also had that attacking defense. 

Triplett said he was always a fan of pressure, but he was more of a half-court trap kind of a coach. Assistant coach Ken Nesland, who passed away in the summer of 2023, was the mastermind behind taking Evergreen to full-court pressure.

It was a game-changer.

Derek said his dad came up with different presses to be used at any time. 

“We could switch on the fly,” Derek said. “That was really unique in that we had so many different options. It also took a high-IQ basketball team.”

Derek also appreciated that Triplett, as head coach, was open to such a drastic change.

“That was our offense,” Triplett said. “Our defense was our offense, to be honest with you.”

Triplett retired from teaching in the early 2000s and moved to Yakima, where he coached the Eisenhower girls basketball team to back-to-back trips to the state tournament. In 2008 he and his wife retired to Arizona.

Triplett took a trip back to Vancouver last summer and checked in at Evergreen. The school went through a renovation years ago. The large fieldhouse is no longer. The high school has a typical gymnasium now. The picture that showcased the 1995 team was nowhere to be found.

That is when this idea of a 30-year reunion took hold. 

“We all need to get together,” Triplett, 76, said. “When it ended, it just kind of ended. Thirty years later, maybe it’s time to reflect. For most of them, it would be the No. 1 thing they did athletically in their lives. It’s time to reflect and get together. ‘Hey guys, you did this.’ It should be cool.”

Derek Nesland is looking forward to reconnecting.

“When you go through what we went through, I really believe it creates a bond for life,” Nesland said. “I’m really excited to get us all together and hang out.

“It is an honor to be part of that team.”

Where are they now? The 1995 Evergreen Plainsmen:

  • Paul Bustrin, owner of Royal Avenue Barbershop in Eugene, Ore.
  • John Cannon is the internal operations director of safety and occupational health at the Bonneville Power Administration. He lives in Washougal
  • Aaron Carlson is a small business owner who lives in Cougar.
  • JP Christensen is a loss prevention specialist for Amazon living in Yamhill, Ore.
  • Matt Dyment is a paramedic/firefighter in Estacada, Ore.
  • Sean Janson is the executive director of Columbia Premier Soccer in Vancouver
  • Paul Jones is the lead pastor of Reality Church in Olympia.
  • Clint LeCount is a teacher working for the Battle Ground School District.
  • Chip Madsen is a realtor and owner of a winery in Las Vegas.
  • Jason Myers is a supervisor with Tyson Foods and lives in Fort Worth, Texas.
  • Derek Nesland founded the non-profit Court for Kids. He lives in Camas and is an assistant boys basketball coach with the Papermakers this season.
  • Knute Nesland is an engineer tech for the city of Portland, where he lives.

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