It was kind of close.
Then it was not.
Columbia River’s Joey Bean scored six consecutive points off of three Fort Vancouver turnovers, and a 10-point game was a 16-point game midway through the fourth quarter Tuesday night in a Class 3A Greater St. Helens League boys basketball game.
Bean scored 28 points on 11 of 14 shooting, leading the Chieftains to a 70-47 victory. Columbia River (15-4, 4-1 GSHL) will play for the league championship Thursday in Kelso.
“When we came into this game, we were kind of angry. The last time (against Fort) we didn’t shoot as well. We wanted to come in and make a statement,” Bean said. “We wanted to go into the Kelso game coming off a good game.”
Nathan Hawthorne scored eight of his 10 points in the second half, Andrew Vickers had a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds, and Spencer Long scored 12 points as Columbia River shot 59 percent from the floor.
Jordan Suell led Fort Vancouver (11-8, 1-4 GSHL) with 23 points. Will Doty added 12 for the Trappers. Both players had seven rebounds. Fort will face Prairie for third place in the 3A GSHL on Thursday.
Bean scored 14 in the first half as Columbia River opened a 13-point lead. Fort Vancouver cut the deficit to six points midway through the third before Bean and Vickers accounted for a 6-0 spurt to restore some order from the Chieftains.
In the fourth, Fort cut the deficit to single digits twice, but the Trappers committed 10 turnovers in the quarter.
“It felt great,” Bean said of his personal 6-0 run to secure the win in the fourth. “But we knew we couldn’t let our foot off the gas. We had to keep going, non-stop.”
COLUMBIA RIVER 70, FORT VANCOUVER 47
COLUMBIA RIVER — Nathan Hawthore 10, Joey Bean 28, Andrew Vickers 11, Spencer Long 12, Chad Pedigo 6, Jordan Hall 3, Jacob Hjort 0, Grant Turner 0, Drew Moore 0, Tyler Hellman 0, Christian Stromme 0. Totals 30-51 (2-9) 8-11 70.
FORT VANCOUVER — Will Doty 12, Jorge Regalado 0, Malachi King 5, Kyron Lowe-Ash 0, Jordan Suell 23, Jacob Brugman 4, David Bishop 0, Marco Jimenez 0, Nathan Harris 0, Javier Lara 0, Billy Henderson 3, Drew Clark 0. Totals 18-45 (5-14) 6-6 47.
Col. River 21 16 14 19—70
Ft. Vanc. 13 11 16 7—47
