YAKIMA – It may be earlier than the Chieftains hoped, but the Columbia River boys basketball team gets to face the state’s best.
Columbia River put a regional-round loss behind it Wednesday with a 49-37 win over Anacortes in the 2A state tournament in Yakima.
The win sets up a showdown between No. 2-seeded Columbia River (22-3) and No. 1 Lynden (23-1) in the quarterfinals at 10:30 a.m. Thursday.
Lynden beat Columbia River 44-33 in last year’s quarterfinals. The Chieftains are looking forward to a rematch.
“I’m excited to play them and I know my teammates are,” said senior forward Jack Armstrong. “I can’t wait to get after it. It will be a fun game to watch.”
Armstrong scored 12 points to lead the Chieftains in Wednesday’s elimination game at the SunDome.
Evan Dirksen had 11 points and a game-high 13 rebounds for River. Marc Miranda had 10 points and Nate Snook added nine for the Chieftains, who were knocked off by No. 7 Selah in the regional round on Saturday.
That put River into Wednesday’s loser-out game. But there was no head hanging or hangover for the Chieftains.
“We lost to a good basketball team,” Columbia River coach David Long said. “We had a few days to lick our wounds and get back into the gym and prepare. We just wanted to make sure that one loss didn’t turn into two.”
Still, the Chieftains were in for a test. No. 10 Anacortes (16-9) opened the second half on a 6-0 run to tie the game at 27.
But Columbia River responded with a 20-4 run. Armstrong scored eight of his points in the second half to key that run.
“I wouldn’t say we needed a spark, we just needed to be aggressive collectively as a group,” Armstrong said. “It just happened to be that the baseline was open for the position I was playing. Coach said I needed to be aggressive from there, so I started going to the hoop.”
While River’s offense rallied, the Chieftains made sure Anacortes couldn’t respond. The Seahawks were held to 16 second-half points, shooting 27.8 percent after the break. Anacortes was 1 for 11 from 3-point range.
“We pride ourselves on our defense,” said Snook, who had five steals. “We like to think of ourselves as one of the better defensive teams in the state. He have length, quickness and good helpside defense.”
While River allowed an average of just 43.5 points per game this season, the defense of Anacortes gave the Chieftains plenty of problems.
The Seahawks’ half-court zone pressured River’s players from the moment they crossed midcourt. All 3-pointers were heavily contested, which resulted in the Chieftains going 2 for 12 from behind the arc.
“We’ve never seen a zone defense like that, ever,” Long said. “We play against a lot of zones. But we don’t see anything that’s that aggressive. We knew it was coming, but until you actually experience it.”
River countered that zone with strong interior play. The Chieftains outrebounded the Seahawks 34-24 and were 9-10 from the foul line.
Now comes the test of the season for a River team that had won 16 in a row before the regional round loss.
“I think we bounced back pretty well,” Armstrong said. “I know we were a little upset about (Saturday’s loss). But it’s the state tournament. You want to focus on the next one.”
COLUMBIA RIVER 49, ANACORTES 37
ANACORTES (16-9) – Treyvohn Jedlinski 0, Kaeden Flynn 11, Duane Jedlinski 2, Nick Cortright 0, Gavin Moore 0, Nathan Johnson 2, Alek Miller, Gaige Berow 0, Cort Senff 5, Jordie Mehler 0, Greyson Eaton 13, Chase Cornett 4. Totals 14 (1) 8-13 37.
COLUMBIA RIVER (22-3) – Nate Snook 9, Alex Miller 2, Quincy Cartwright 0, Matt Asplund 0, Josh Kukula 0, Evan Dirksen 11, Caden Dezort 5, Cole Delich 0, Jack Armstrong 12, Marc Miranda 10, Dylan Valdez 0. Totals 19 (2) 9-10 49.
Anacortes 8 13 8 8—37
Col.River 12 15 7 15—49
