WOODLAND—Washougal coach A.J. Labree turned around when he saw what he thought was the final 3-pointer clink off the rim.
But with 3.5 seconds left, the ball bounced back out behind the arc and Woodland heaved the shot to send the 2A Greater St. Helens League game into overtime.
“I thought, ‘oh, no,’ ” Labree said.
Isaiah Flanagan’s shot went in, and the Woodland home crowd, already pent up with excitement of senior night, exploded in cheers. But the referees waved the shot off since the ball was still in Flanagan’s hands when the horn sounded, and Washougal defeated Woodland 48-45 on Tuesday night to extend its season—and put an end to the Beavers’ season.
Washougal (7-13, 5-7) , which had lost eight of its last 10 games, will live to see another day.
“It was a do-or-die game,” Panthers senior Carson Adams said. “None of us want to be done. We just want to keep playing. We knew we had to come in and get it done, come in and play strong, and we did it.”
The game was tied with 3:40 left in the fourth quarter, when the Panthers stripped Woodland big man Palmer Dinehart, heaved a cross-court pass in transition to Troy Prince-Butterfield who hit a go-ahead 3-pointer.
Dinehart hit a layup to pull within one with two minutes left. But when Woodland (10-10, 4-8) saw an opportunity to go ahead, Adams pulled down a big defensive rebound while boxing out Dinehart—who is four inches taller than him.
“I just knew I had to get that rebound so we could get another chance,” Adams said.
On the next play, Adams drove to the hoop and converted the contested layup that put the Panthers up three setting up Woodland’s final look.
Moses McEwen scored 28 of the Panthers’ 48 points. Dinehart finished with 17 points, but dealt with double-teams and physical play throughout the contest—sometimes to the chagrin of Beavers coach Andrew Johnson.
“When you’re his size, you get hit over and over and over, it’s going to wear on you,” Johnson said. “He’s the biggest guy, you see it every play, it just weighs on him. He’s a very mentally tough kid, he’s always going to play through that adversity.”
McEwen’s 20-point first half—all but four of the Panthers’ points—helped Washougal take a two-point lead into halftime. The last time the teams played, Woodland won by 20.
Washougal started the second half hot, growing its lead to as much as eight, but Woodland refused to go away. Tyler Flanagan’s 3-pointer from the top of the key dropped in after a couple of bounces to put the Beavers up three with a minute to go in the third quarter.
UPDATED INFO: Washougal (5-7) claimed the No. 4 seed to the 2A district tournament. The Panthers will open district Saturday at W.F. West. Hockinson (4-8), which lost to R.A. Long on Tuesday, tied with Woodland for fifth place, but Hockinson gets the No. 5 seed because of a head-to-head sweep of Woodland. The Hawks will play at Tumwater on Thursday in a district play-in game.
As the Beavers sauntered out of the locker room after a lengthy debrief to their season, Johnson was not yet ready to part ways with his seniors.
“This one’s going to take a while,” he said. “You can’t replace a Wyatt Harsh, a Palmer Dinehart, you just can’t do it.”
As for the Panthers, they’re still fighting.
“These guys have fought all year,” Labree said. “The one thing about the group is they never quit fighting. I’m really proud of them.”
WASHOUGAL 48, WOODLAND 45
WASHOUGAL—Alex Orr 3, Carter Murray 2, Ben Gutkind 0, Moses McEwen 28, Ryan Bausch 0, Kade Coons 0, Carson Adams 6, Tory Prince-Butterfield 6, Jakob Davis 3, Nick Oaks 0. 16 (4) 12-20 48.
WOODLAND—Tommy Lewellen 0, Wyatt Harsh 6, Isaiah Flanagan 10, Palmer Dinehart 17, Tyler Flanagan 7, Alex Bishop 4, Trey Hanson 1. 16 (3) 10-17 45.
Washougal 12 12 13 10—48
Woodland 14 8 16 7—45
