CAMAS — The Camas boys basketball team had seen the pressure. The Papermakers had succumbed to that pressure, too.
Not this time.
Not Tuesday night with first place on the line the Class 3A Greater St. Helens League.
Jacob Kaler scored 35 points and Addison Owen just missed a triple-double, leading Camas to a layup drill in an 84-57 victory over Hudson’s Bay. Camas improved to 8-2 in league, dropping Bay to 7-2.
With guards Bryan Butler and Kevin Basilio, along with “point forward” Owen, breaking the press, Kaler and the Papermakers kept finding themselves open. And they took advantage.
Kaler was 14 of 23 from the floor and Kyle Friend came off the bench for a perfect shooting night, a 7-of-7 performance — all layups — for his 14 points.
“We’ve had problems with these guys before,” Kaler said, referring to the Eagles. “Their momentum would get into our heads, their flurry. This game, we didn’t let it get to our heads. We kept our composure when they started pressing us.”
The pressure from Bay’s aggressive defense always starts at the start of the game. Bay beat Camas 79-68 the first time the two teams played this season. Tuesday, though, Camas never trailed.
A 26-2 run in the first half gave the Papermakers a 26-point advantage. Against that in-your-face defense, the Papermakers committed just four turnovers in the first half.
It turned out, it was Camas’ defense that was frustrating the Eagles. The Papermakers forced 12 first-half turnovers and held the Eagles to 20 points.
The defensive intensity was not up to the first-half level, but Camas more than made up for that with its shooting. The Papermakers shot 82 percent (18 of 22) in the second half.
“That is the best we’ve played so far this year,” said Owen, who was 5 of 7 from the floor for 10 points, grabbed eight rebounds, and also recorded 10 assists. “I felt like it started in practice. We came prepared for this game.”
Early on, it was all about breaking the full-court pressure.
“The key is to get the ball to the middle, turn, face, and attack from there,” Owen said. “Once I did that, I found teammates under the basket. Or, when (the Eagles) committed to my teammates, the basket was open for me.”
Bay likes to pressure the ball in the half-court set, too. The Camas offense once again went through Owen, who would get the ball near the free-throw line and make a decision.
“We were just working the ball around, breaking the pressure until we got a lay-in,” he said.
Friend certainly enjoyed that strategy.
“I was so psyched for this game. I knew I was going to come off the bench, and I had to keep up the intensity that the starters had,” said Friend, who also added five rebounds and two assists. “That’s probably my career game, right there.”
Camas coach Scott Preuninger agreed with his players’ assessment that it was the team’s best overall performance of the year. But he said he was still sweating Bay with three minutes to go in the game because the Eagles can score in hurry. Nothing to worry about this time, though.
“We jumped on them early and just sort of finished strong,” Preuninger said.
Bay, which trailed by 25 at the half, scored the first five points of the second half on scores from Darrius Goldman (15 points) and Derrick Brooks (11 points).
Then the game switched into the Kaler scoring show. Kaler, who had 17 points in the first half, scored 14 in the third quarter. He drilled a 3-pointer — his third of the game — to beat the third quarter horn, giving Camas a 63-40 lead.
“We were feeling good,” Kaler said. “We know what we’re capable of now, playing at this caliber. We’re definitely capable of making a run at the state tournament. If we play our game, play like tonight, we’re very capable. We can’t keep saying it, though. We have to prove it.”
The Papermakers certainly made their point Tuesday.
