The Columbia River boys basketball team still might be considered the new kids now in their second year as members of the 2A Greater St. Helens League, but in no way are the Chieftains newcomers to league titles. Their last was in 2016 as 3A GSHL members.
But neither are the Mark Morris Monarchs, a program that’s owned the 2A GSHL and winners of 17 straight league titles. Sixteen of those are outright.
River has won seven games in a row and now is 4-0 in 2A GSHL play after what longtime coach David Long described as his team’s best defensive performance of the season in a 56-41 victory Saturday over visiting Mark Morris.
While he’s been impressed with how they’ve played defensively all year, he said his team has stepped it up a level since the holiday tournament in Idaho, defeating three 5A Idaho teams.
And Saturday was no different, starting with holding the Monarchs to 11 first-half points.
“We know we can bring it (defensively) every game,” senior guard Jacob Hjort said, who had 13 of his game-high 19 points in the second half. “We know we’re capable of playing defense like this every game.”
The Chieftains led 16-11 at halftime — yes, 16-11 — in a first half that saw both teams struggle to find an offensive rhythm, yet was hard to find any faults on either side. The good news for River, though, a season low in first-half points allowed and holding Mark Morris’ leading scorers, Garrett and Tyler Berger, to a combined two points. The senior twins entered Saturday averaging a combined 36 points per game with Tyler Berger leading the way at 20.3.
They finished with a combined 29 — 15 for Garrett Berger, 14 for Tyler Berger — and as Mark Morris tried to make up ground, River extended its lead.
“You’re not going to shoot well every night,” Long said, “but you can play defense well every night, and our kids did that.”
Long said he rates his team’s shot selections on a 1-10 scale, and while he rated some in the seven to eight range in the first half, nines and 10s soon began falling in the second half.
All of a sudden, River never relinquished its double-digit lead once it became 33-22 with 1 minute, 12 seconds to go in the third on a jumper from Hjort.
And those outside shots began falling, too, from the senior and his teammates.
He hit two of the Chieftains’ six second-half 3-pointers. Nate Snook, who had all nine of his points after halftime, hit a 3 that gave River its largest lead at 52-33 with 3:17 to play.
Evan Dirksen added 10 points for River. The two teams face off again Jan. 25 in Longview, and by no means are Dirksen and the Chieftains are ready to celebrate anything just yet. There’s still a lot left in the league season, but Saturday was a great first step.
“This is a huge win,” Dirksen said. … “We can’t get too excited. We have to move onto the next one.”
COLUMBIA RIVER 56,
MARK MORRIS 41
MARK MORRIS — Dawson Fritz 1, Mason Ringbom 0, Tanner Vaillencourt 6, Gage Hendrickson 1, Garrett Berger 15, Tyler Berger 14, Zach Rismoen 4, Thomas Sprague 0. Totals 15 (3) 8-12 41.
COLUMBIA RIVER — Nate Snook 9, Mason Waite 0, Jacob Hjort 19, Evan Dirksen 10, Caden Dezort 4, Skyler Grote 0, Jack Armstrong 6, Kyle Gomez 0, Mathew Asplund 0, Nasseen Gutierrez 8. Totals 19 (7) 11-14 56.
MM 8 3 12 18—41
Col. River 7 9 19 21—56
JV — Columbia River won
