CHEHALIS — For the Ridgefield boys basketball team, a trip to the WIAA State Tournament turned out to be just out of reach. Friday night, the basketball was, too.
The Spudders fell to Cascade Christian 54-41 in the 1A regional final at W.F. West High, missing an opportunity to end a six-year drought from state in the process. But the 13-point scoring disparity was not as glaring as the 13-rebound differential, as the Cougars grabbed 35 boards to Ridgefield’s 22.
The primary culprit was 6-foot-9 center Shawn Spencer, who nabbed a game-high 15 rebounds for Cascade, seven of which came on offense. And even though Spencer had that natural height advantage, Ridgefield coach Nick Veys didn’t think keeping him off the glass was too tall of an order.
“We should have won that game,” said Veys, who just completed his first season as the team’s head coach. “The boards killed us. We didn’t box out.”
Cascade (18-7) won every quarter, slowly building a small lead into an insurmountable one. Ridgefield (18-6) trailed 16-14 after the first, 27-22 at halftime, 41-31 through three, and 52-34 late in the fourth.
The game did begin auspiciously, though, as Spudders guard Sam Landerholm knocked down a 3-pointer on the team’s opening possession. In fact, Landerholm was stellar throughout the first half, scoring 13 of his 20 points in those opening two quarters while hitting 5 of his 7 shots.
But the offensive support just wasn’t there for Ridgefield Friday, as no other player finished in double-digit scoring. And once Cascade began to halt Landerholm, the Spudders’ chances began to slip away.
“We had a good week of practice, but came out lackadaisical,” said Ridgefield forward Michael Potter, who finished with nine points and a team-high 12 rebounds. “We thought we were going to come out and win this game.”
In addition to his 15 rebounds, Spencer scored a team-high 19 points for the Cougars. Jacob Kushan added 16 points for a Cascade team that hit 23 of its 45 shots.
Ridgefield, meanwhile, struggled from the field, going 15 for 44 and 4 for 16 from beyond the 3-point line.
Obviously, the Spudders were disappointed by Friday’s result, but they still took pride in their year.
“This was a great team, a great season,” Landerholm said. “The memories that I had with my teammates, that was the best part of it.”
CASCADE CHRISTIAN 54, RIDGEFIELD 41
CASCADE CHRISTIAN (18-7) — Tetter 2, Saunders 0, Archer 5, Ford 0, Engles 2, Howells 8, Shressler 0, Vieselmeyer 2, Tracy 0, Avramsky 2, Kushan 16, Spencer 19. Totals 23 (1) 7-10 54.
RIDGEFIELD (18-6) — Michael Potter 9, Sam Landerholm 20, Michael Schwinof 4, Brady Williams 0, Max Ballantyne 2, Marques Segundo 0, David Potter 6, AJ Olson 0, Kyle Morris 0, Josh Mason 0. Totals 15 (4) 7-12 41.
Cascade Christian 16 11 14 13–54
Ridgefield 14 8 9 10–41
