LONGVIEW — Up until the final buzzer, Columbia River’s opportunity to all but solidify a standalone league title looked about as good as it could have reasonably hoped.
The Chieftains, who led Mark Morris by three points in the contest—and the 2A Greater St. Helens League standings—with as little as 1:31 left in the fourth quarter, saw the season-defining win they so hoped for crumble in front of their eyes.
The game was tied with 4.4 seconds left when Mark Morris in-bounded the ball cross-court to a double-teamed Garrett Burger, who leapt up and released a deep 3-pointer past the contesting hands of two Chieftain defenders. The ball swished at the buzzer, and Mark Morris walked away winners over Columbia River on Thursday night, 45-42.
— Andy Buhler (@AndyBuhler) January 26, 2018
“Those Bergers lean into you, they draw contact,” River coach David Long said. “I thought our kids did a great job on them. And (Garrett Berger) made a very, very difficult shot.”
River’s first loss in league play locked the teams in a virtual tie. Columbia River is 8-1 league; Mark Morris is 7-1.
And, perhaps more significantly, River squandered an opportunity to take a two-game lead over Mark Morris in the standings, and get one step closer to dethroning the Monarchs, who have won at least a share of the last 17 league titles.
But after the Chieftains steered clear of the dog pile of Mark Morris players and students at midcourt and sauntered into the locker room, they did not put the blame of the loss on themselves.
“We didn’t lose it, they beat us,” Long said. “I told our kids you don’t wasn’t to ever lose a game, you want the other team to beat you and that’s what happened tonight. That was a hell of a basketball game.”
Jacob Hjort led the Chieftains with 17 points. Tyler and Garrett Berger each tallied 18 points for the Monarchs.
River came out early and built up a single-digit lead in the first quarter that they maintained throughout most of the game. Mark Morris took its first lead of the game early in the fourth quarter when Tyler Berger hit a contested running jump shot.
Tyler Berger scored seven consecutive points for the Monarchs, capped by a 3-pointer that put them up four.
Hjort responded immediately.
— Andy Buhler (@AndyBuhler) January 26, 2018
After the Mark Morris student section purported to be chanting “overrated” in unison at Hjort after he missed a jump shot, he buried back-to-back 3-pointers, then hit a front end of a one-and-one to give River a three-point lead with 1:31 left in the fourth.
With a tie game at 42, River had the ball with under 20 seconds left. The Chieftains gave the ball to their leading scorer, Hjort, who also had the hot hand. But his contested 3-pointer drew iron with six seconds to play.
Long said he would have preferred to see Hjort drive and go up with a midrange jumper. But the senior, he said, has well-earned his right to choose what he sees as his best look.
“That 3 looked pretty good for a long time,” Long said. “If that goes in this is a whole different tune.”
The Chieftains defended the Monarchs—namely, the Bergers—well, holding the team to 10 free throws attempts in the game and forcing Mark Morris to hit contested shots. In the first matchup, which River won comfortably, 56-41, Long dubbed it his team’s best defensive performance of the season.
Add an away crowd, and a Mark Morris team that had no desires to give up its league title streak, and the Chieftains were presented with a tougher environment.
“We knew it was going to be like a playoff atmosphere, especially with the top teams playing,” River forward Nasseen Gutierrez said. “It’s perfect experience. We’ll definitely keep moving forward.”
River plays Woodland on Saturday. Its focus now is winning the rest of its games.
“We’ve got a 45-minute bus ride to feel sorry about ourselves, then we step off that bus and it’s all about beating Woodland,” Long said.
