Boys basketball: Columbia River boys team up to beat Kelso

They knew they could be in this position, even if a lot of other people doubted them.

The Columbia River Chieftains are league champions again in boys basketball, even after losing 11 to graduation last year.

“I had a little bit of a chip on my shoulder,” senior Torey Jones said. “I knew what everybody was saying about us.”

The talk went something like this: River lost a Division I post. River lost a couple of other athletes who could do just about anything. Oh, and nobody really knows anything about the next group of Chieftains.

Well, that next group is now 8-0 in the Class 3A Greater St. Helens League, a two-game lead with two to play. Columbia River assured itself at least a tie for the league title Thursday night, taking down Kelso 58-50.

Nathan Hawthorne scored 12 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter, Jones also scored 15, and Cody Wolfe added 10 points for the Chieftains, who never trailed in the second half. Andrew Vickers connected on three 3-pointers for his nine points.

Columbia River will try to win the title outright with a game at second-place Prairie on Monday.

“It’s a really huge deal for us,” Hawthorne said.

Us is a really big word for the Chieftains.

Because they do not have the dominant post — Isaiah Smith, the program’s all-time leading scorer, now plays at Cal State Monterey Bay — they do not have a go-to guy. Instead, they have several guys they can count on when needed.

“Going into the season, we knew it was going to be this way,” Jones said. “Last year, we ran everything for Isaiah. This year, we’re looking for different guys.”

Columbia River coach David Long said he figured a long time ago that this season was going to be different, because so many of this year’s varsity squad were junior varsity players last season.

“We put a nice summer schedule together to test them,” Long said. “We had a successful summer, so we knew.”

They knew this was possible, to go for a third consecutive league title, even without a big name.

“What I love about these guys, they want to be coached,” Long said. “They accept the fact that we have to win as a team, as a group. This group shares the ball. It’s a different leading scorer almost every night.”

Take Thursday, for example. Hawthorne — who scored 25 points in River’s last game — took four shots in the first three quarters and had three points. Yet the Chieftains were ahead by eight.

“Everyone on the floor can score,” Long said. “This is why we’re shooting it sooner (in possessions) because everyone can shoot it.”

Kelso would cut the deficit in half to four points, and then Hawthorne scored his team’s next nine points. When Vickers made his third 3-pointer of the night, the Chieftains were back up by 11 with two minutes to play.

Hawthorne credited his teammates for playing defense, getting steals, and finding him for easy looks early in that stretch run.

Then he smartly took advantage of the Kelso defensive strategy.

“They were overplaying, trying to get the ball back, and it really opened up the floor, creating driving lanes,” said Hawthorne, who was 5 of 6 from the field for his 12 fourth-quarter points.

The individual Chieftains might not be “known” names, but the 2013-14 Chieftains will be known as league champions.

They believed it, long before the rest of the basketball community.

COLUMBIA RIVER 58, KELSO 50

KELSO — Blake Hampton 12, Justin Bowlby 4, Xavier Parker-Mendez 0, Nate Solomon 0, Jared Bowlby 2, Quinton McDaniel 8, Seth Gillihan 19, Austin Gladson 0, Zach Cummings 3, Zak Schueller 2. Totals 18-49 (9-20) 5-8 50.

COLUMBIA RIVER — Nathan Hawthorne 15, Joey Bean 1, Andrew Vickers 9, Torey Jones 15, Cody Wolfe 10, Spencer Long 2, Chad Pedigo 6, Alex Hansen 0. Totals 20-36 (4-10) 14-21 58.

Kelso 10 13 9 18–50

C. River 19 11 10 18–58