Columbia River loses to Selah, 58-51, takes sixth in state

YAKIMA — Columbia River had a punter’s chance at a win, but to David Long, that wasn’t what mattered most.

He wanted to make sure each of the team’s nine seniors played.

So in the final minutes of the Chieftains’ 58-51 loss to Selah in the 2A state fourth place game, River seniors Mason Waite, Kiran Brar, Brenden Geist and Kyle Gomez came in as Selah hit free throws to hang on and win. Long wanted them to have memories from Saturday of playing on the biggest stage in the Yakima Valley SunDome.

“At the end with a minute, we hit that 3 (to pull within eight points), I was already clearing the bench, and I thought, ‘eh,’ but I did want to give every kid an opportunity to get on that floor,” Long said. “I didn’t necessarily throw up the white flag, I think at that point odds were very thin that we were going to get them.”

And Columbia River, despite coming to Yakima to win the state title, happily received the sixth place trophy moments after the final buzzer sounded. It meant they had made it to the final day of the prep basketball season.

“Getting a trophy was definitely one of the bigger accomplishments we could have gotten,” Nasseen Gutierrez said. “We came here to win a tournament and we can’t be too hard on ourselves.

Perhaps the only bittersweet feeling came from seeing two teams the Chieftains hold wins over earlier in the season —W.F. West and Mark Morris — playing for higher finishes (W.F. West is in the 2A state title game, and the Monarchs are playing for third).

For the seniors — particularly multi-year varsity athletes Jacob Hjort and Gutierrez, both seniors — it was the Chieftains’ deepest run into the postseason of their high school basketball careers.

“I can’t be more proud of my kids right now,” Long said. “After a loss I feel good about this basketball team and that’s hard to do.”

Hjort said he would have asked for them to play, anyways.

In reality, the Chieftains were playing their fourth game in as many days. They knew they’d have to go deeper into the bench.

Brar and Waite played stints midway through the fourth quarter. Long praised Brar as a tough defender and Waite as someone who “you don’t want to leave open.”

At that point of the game Columbia River was close. It trailed by six going into the fourth after leading by as much as seven in the second quarter. River led 22-20 in a low-scoring first half with five lead changes. Hjort had a game-high nine points at the half—all coming on 3-pointers.

After halftime, its scorer got going. Elijah Pepper, who River held to two first half points, erupted for 20 in the second half. He helped Selah outscore the Chieftains 19-11 in the third quarter.

“We didn’t win state, obviously, but we did everything we could,” Hjort said. “I thought we were playing really well together, and it was just really fun.”

Hjort, a Western Oregon commit who ends his Chieftain career with over 1,000 career points, finished with a team-high 17 points and went 5 for 9 from 3-point range. Evan Dirksen added 10 points and nine boards. Hjort and Gutierrez are two starters who, as seniors, played their last game for River.

“Those are two really great players,” Long said. “It will be fun to watch them. … I think there’s more basketball ahead for those guys, but I sure appreciate what they gave us.”

SELAH 58, COLUMBIA RIVER 51
COLUMBIA RIVER—Jacob Hjort 17, Evan Dirksen 10, Caden Dezort 0, Jack Armstrong 7, Nasseen Gutierrez 8, Nate Snook 6, David Anderson 0, Mason Waite 3, Kiran Brar 0, Skyler Grote 0, Brenden Geist 0, Kyle Gomez 0. Totals 21-45 (9-27) 0-3 51.
SELAH—Calvin Herting 3, Zakery Donato 11, Matthew Quincy 0, Keegan Morford 6, Wil Middlebrooks 1, Noah Pepper 12, Sheldon Seekins-Lakey 0, Skylar Rayburn 0, Dylan Giles 0, Alex Morford 6, Reid Rasmussen 3, Elijah Pepper 22. Totals 21-50 (4-13) 12-17 58.
Columbia River 14 8 11 18—51
Selah 13 7 19 19—58