LACEY—Columbia River felt as though it had executed the perfect play to win the game, all the way up until the ball bounced back off the rim.
Down one, game clock and shot clock less than two seconds apart,Nasseen Gutierrez slipped a screen, dished the ball to the corner, then found Jack Armstrong flashing in the post.
With three seconds left, Armstrong took one dribble and went up strong with his right hand, but it fell short, handing the Chieftains a 50-49 loss to co-league champion Mark Morris in the 2A district championship game at St. Martin’s University.
“I was super excited in the timeout when he called the play for me,” Armstrong said. “Once I got on the court I was just focused. Wish that one would have slipped in.”
Mark Morris is now back-to-back district champs, but the game did not make or break either team’s season. Both teams, which finish first and second in the district tournament, should finish ranked in the top-8 in the WIAA’s RPI system and will continue on their respective state tournament runs. River entered Friday’s game No. 3 in the RPI and Mark Morris was No. 7.
“It’s a state tournament quality team,” River coach David Long said. “We are too. I’m just so disappointed. Those are good officials and good guys, but we got exactly what we wanted out of it, we got the ball where we wanted it—at the rim—there was tons of contact, it’s just wrong. But it’s just the way it goes. … I was so proud of our kids and the way they battled.”
The Chieftains split the series 1-1 against Mark Morris in league. But for River, the loss to the Monarchs this time around stung more than the previous one.
On Jan. 25, River lost to Mark Morris in Longview on a double-clutch buzzer-beating 3-pointer that was contested by two defenders, which mostly posited a collective shrug of the shoulders. River, which had a sole lead in the league standings, dropped even with the Monarchs, who ended up earning at least a share of the league title for the 18th straight year.
This time the Chieftains felt like the loss—minus the groans for a no-call on Armstrong’s last shot by Long—was largely their own doing.
The Chieftains took a 27-23 lead into halftime thanks to a strong start from Gutierrez. He had nine points in the first half before picking up his third foul with about three minutes until halftime.
Playing with foul trouble, he said, made him a little more hesitant in the second half.
“It did kind of slow me down a little bit,” Gutierrez, who finished with 12 points, said. “Next time I gotta just move on and deal with it.”
That’s where Armstrong picked up. He hit all six of his free throw attempts, and scored eight of his 10 points in the second half.
Tyler Berger hit a 3-pointer to push the Monarchs up 42-39 late in the fourth. On the ensuing play, River was called for an offensive foul, then Garrett Berger scored on the next possession to stretch River’s deficit to five.
The Chieftains pulled back within one point, when Nate Snook found a rolling Gutierrez open for a layup with 1:02 to play.
Jacob Hjort led River with 13 points. Garrett Berger’s 20 points paced the Monarchs, and Tyler Berger added 13.
Armstrong, disappointed in himself for not making the final shot, expressed appreciation for coaches and teammates for lifting his spirit in the locker room.
“It’s nice to have people like that on your team to pick you back up and we’re already getting ready for the next one, and looking to make a run in state,” Armstrong said.
And the Chieftains expressed their excitement to move on and get back to practice.
“We’ll take this a little hard, but it will definitely motivate us to push harder, practice harder and move forward,” Gutierrez said.
MARK MORRIS 50, COLUMBIA RIVER 49
MARK MORRIS—Dawson Fritz 5, Mason Ringbom 0, Tanner Vaillencourt 11, Reese Gibb 0, Garrett Berger 20, Tyler Berger 13, Evan Surface-McNally 0, Zach Rismoen 0, Thomas Sprague 0. 17 (5) 10-16 50.
COLUMBIA RIVER—Nate Snook 2, Jacob Hjort 13, Evan Dirksen 4, Caden Dezort 8, Skyler Grote 0, Jack Armstrong 10, Nasseen Gutierrez 12. 19 (4) 7-9 49.
Mark Morris 12 11 13 14—50
Columbia River 12 15 10 12—49
