WOODLAND — The season may just be two games old for the Woodland boys basketball team, but it was time to go to work on Tuesday.
Junior Beau Swett scored 21 points as the Beavers opened 2A Greater St. Helens League play with a 57-41 win over Columbia River.
The Beavers don’t have a lot of height or experience. Cole Logan is the lone senior, and Logan and Swett are the biggest players on the roster at 6-foot-3.
So Woodland is relying on maximum effort this season in the 2A GSHL.
“Our emphasis right now are just turnovers, rebounds, just hustle plays, hustle stats,” Swett said. “Just trying to outwork every team we can, because that’s how we’re going to get to the top this season.”
The Beavers have an athletic lineup which was on display early as Woodland jumped out to a 9-0 lead.
After allowing River to creep within 9-8, the Beavers finished the half on a 17-2 run. They opened third quarter with seven straight points to extend their lead to 33-10 and never looked back from there.
“Our offense comes and goes in spurts,” Woodland coach Jesse Buck said. “So we work early hard to inspire confidence on that end of the floor by generating energy and momentum from the defensive end.”
Columbia River is even younger than the Beavers. The Rapids (0-2) played three sophomores and brought up three freshmen from the JV roster to play. Sophomore Adam Reeder led the Rapids with 10 points.
Dane Huddleston hit three of the Woodland’s eight 3-pointers. Both he and Justin Philpot added nine points.
It helped Woodland improve to 2-0 on the young season, which is already more wins than the Beavers got during last spring’s abbreviated COVID season.
But Swett said this is just the beginning.
“(After) last season, we didn’t come in with the best record, so we had a chip on our shoulder coming into this season,” Swett said. “That’s been our tempo through practices and through games. We’re just pushing each other as much as we can to get ready for league and the season. And we’re just not satisfied. We’re 0-0 as far as we care. So we’re just ready to keep going with the season.”
WOODLAND 57, COLUMBIA RIVER 41
COLUMBIA RIVER (0-2, 0-1) — Nate Bertolino 4, Leslie McCulley 2, Adam Reeder 10, Miles Fitzwilson 0, Sam Boyle 0, Marley Pettterson 2, Carter Sheron 8, Ryan Snyder 2, Alex Houston 2, Ari Richardson 0, Aaron Hoey 7, John Reeder 4. Totals 17 (1) 6-8 41.
WOODLAND (2-0, 1-0) — Beau Swett 21, Justin Philpot 9, Dane Huddleston 9, Brett Martynowicz 6, Cole Logan 4, Gus Heidgerken 2, Landon Utter 0, Drew Burns 6, Lucas Logan 0, Elijah Anderson 0. Totals 20 (8) 9-13 57.
River 3 7 15 16—41
Woodland 9 17 21 10—57
JV — Columbia River 61-19.
