If Prairie boys basketball coach Kyle Brooks wants to talk to someone who knows a thing or two about Foss, the Falcons’ opponent in next week’s bi-district tournament, he might want to talk to Columbia River coach David Long.
“I’ll admit it,” Long said. “I scouted the heck out of Foss.”
The problem is River won’t be playing Foss next week. The Chieftains will host Enumclaw on Wednesday in the bi-district opener after they secured the No. 1 seed from the 3A Greater St. Helens League with a tough 51-45 win over Prairie in a tiebreaker game Saturday at Fort Vancouver.
Long said he did his scouting work out of respect for Prairie.
“It wasn’t because I didn’t think we could win this game,” Long said. “It’s just that Prairie has been on such a run lately. They’ve been scoring 70-80 points a game. Teams we’ve been beating by 10 or 12 points, they’ve been beating by 30. I think that’s what makes this win so gratifying.”
One of those teams Prairie has routed recently was Columbia River. Prairie pounded the Chieftains 72-40 just 10 days ago.
Senior guard Andrew Vickers said the Chieftains were not discouraged by the earlier lopsided loss to the Falcons.
“I knew if we played better defense and we kept them off the boards, we would be in good shape,” Vickers said. “We didn’t do that last time, and (Prairie) shot the lights out.”
Saturday’s game was more like the teams’ first meeting, won by River 47-44. Palmer Goecke’s reverse layup early in the fourth quarter tied Saturday’s game 34-34.
Jameel Morton hit a jumper and Vickers followed with a 3-pointer to put River up 39-34. After Prairie cut it to 39-36, Spencer Long hit another 3.
That would be the Chieftains’ last field goal as River would seal the win with repeated stops and nailing 9 of their last 12 free throws.
“That’s how we win games — from the free-throw line,” Vickers said.
Long led River with 17 points, and Vickers added 14. Greg Bernash led Prairie with 15, and Michael Stockbridge added 14.
River won despite Jacob Hjort suffering a wrist injury after being fouled in the first half.
“I give Jacob credit,” David Long said. “He gutted it out. He could barely catch the ball, but he stayed in there. And as long as he was on the court, he drew their attention, which opened up opportunities inside.”
Long hopes Hjort’s injury is just a sprain that can heal quickly. In the meantime, the coach will start working on getting ready for Enumclaw.
“All the teams we’ll face from here out will be good teams,” Long said. “But I can’t tell you how much better the bracket looks to us now. This was a huge win.”
COLUMBIA RIVER 51, PRAIRIE 45
PRAIRIE – Palmer Goecke 8, Kameron Osborn 3, Braiden Broadbent 0, Michael Stockbridge 14, Seth Hall 5, Ethan Rouse 0, Greg Bernash 15, Matthew Kogler 0. Totals 16 (3) 10-14 45.
COLUMBIA RIVER – Jordan Hall 0, Andrew Vickers 14, Jameel Morton 6, Jacob Hjort 8, Spencer Long 17, Spencer Black 6. Totals 16 (5) 14-18 51.
Prairie 14 7 9 15—45
C.River 12 15 7 17–51
