The Finn's Fine Finale -- Redmond's Ailus Saves His Best For Biggest Game

The only thing missing from Ray Ailus' moment of victory was the victory.

In the biggest basketball game of the season, the seldom-heard-from Redmond forward made his biggest impact of the season. Unfortunately for the Mustangs, the Garfield Bulldogs made the bigger impact on the Seattle Coliseum nets, scoring a 12-point triumph over Redmond in the state AAA boys final last Saturday.

``The only player that really stepped up was Ray,'' Redmond forward Barry Johnson said moments after the game. ``None of the rest of us stepped up.''

A few feet from Johnson, in the long, dim, hallway stretching from the playing floor to the dressing rooms, Ailus stood crowned in his own sweat instead of the Coliseum nets that could have been his to wear if only . . .

``I just got it (going) tonight myself, but that doesn't help,'' he said. ``It's got to be the whole team. We tried, but . . . everyone tried, but . . . it was their day, not ours.''

It was also Ailus' day. He did everything a player could do to make it his team's day.

The 6-foot-4 exchange student from Finland entered the game with a 4.2-point scoring average. He averaged three points per game in Redmond's eight playoff games before the final.

Then Ailus came alive. He scored 18 against the Bulldogs - 12 in the second half as the Mustangs chased Garfield. His layup off a lob pass from Derek Looney cut Garfield's lead to 36-34 with 7:18 to play in the game.

``I didn't even know what to do with him,'' Garfield Coach Al Hairston said. ``Where did he come from? I didn't even have him in my scouting report.''

By the end of his final high-school game, Ailus left his mark. His were not garbage points. He played almost every minute after the first quarter and established himself as the major reason Redmond stayed within sight of the hot Bulldogs.But Ailus was hotter.

He made five of six shots from the field, seven of eight from the free-throw line. He made a driving layup with 25 seconds left in the first half that finished off a 6-0 Redmond run to close the Garfield lead to 25-20 at halftime.

He was the only Mustang the Bulldogs did not shut out in the final two minutes of the game as he scored Redmond's final six points.

``The thing that I was impressed with was he was not awed by playing in the state championship game,'' Redmond Coach Jerry Koester said. ``Of all our kids, he had probably the most reason to be awed in that situation, and he just stepped right up and played as well as he has all season. That's a real tribute to his character and his competitiveness.''

Ailus said he would have preferred a bigger tribute to his team - a championship.

``I accomplished a lot with that game personally, but for the team. . . . It just felt like we've been training for five months and we were so close to it, but just couldn't get it,'' Ailus said.

The bright spot for Ailus on the night his spotlight shone brightest was that his parents were able to attend the game. They had flown from Finland last week for their only visit during his year in the United States.

``They were real glad to see our team play. They said they were real proud of me,'' Ailus said. ``I felt real good that they saw me play in the Coliseum and they saw how many people were watching the game and how important basketball is here.''

It could be boggling to a native of Finland, where there is no college or high-school basketball.

``Basketball isn't that big of a sport in Finland, but it's big to me,'' said Ailus, who played on a club team in his native Helsinki.

Ailus is asccustomed to being a big part of his basketball team.

In a club tournament in Sweden that included the best Scandinavian teams, Ailus was named the top player of the tournament.

Coming to Redmond and learning to sit while teammates played was difficult.

``But I got used to it because all the other players - they were really good,'' Ailus said. ``You have to get used to it. A great team like this, you have to be glad to be sixth man or something like that.''

Sometimes he was just glad to be part of the new - and improved - basketball atmosphere in the U.S.

``It was a real big change, playing on a school team where all your friends come and see your games,'' he said. ``At home, it's only like your parents and your family come to see your games. Here, the gyms are packed.

``We don't have any bands or cheerleaders or anything like that. It's a really different atmosphere. I like it a lot. You really get pumped up for all the games, even though you're not playing against the best teams in the state.''

And when you do, it becomes the stuff of long-term memory.

``I'll remember this for a long time,'' said Ailus, who will return to Finland this summer. ``I taped this game. When I go home, I'll be watching that game. . . . I'll be remembering what we could have done different to win. This is going to be in my mind for a long time.

``That happens to you once in a lifetime - at least for me.''