The high school basketball season was only seven weeks long for the Union boys basketball team.
But the journey seemed so much longer.
“We worked our butts off all summer, going to each other’s houses, playing outside,” senior Kaden Horn said. “It means a lot to me. Senior year, I just want to end it with a win.”
The Titans will get that chance on Friday after Union rolled past Evergreen 85-59 in the semifinals of the 4A/3A Greater St. Helens League playoffs.
Union will host Skyview at 6 p.m. Friday for the league title.
Horn buried six 3-pointers in the first half and scored 22 points before getting a bit of scare. Reaching in for the loose ball, two of his fingers his left hand got bent backward, causing him to leave the game in the third quarter.
“I couldn’t feel them for a couple of minutes,” Horn said. “But we iced it, and now they’re fine.”
As they have all season, his Titan teammates filled the void in his absence. Izaiah Vongnath scored 14 points, Ariya Briscoe had 12 and Bryson Metz added 11.
“It’s not just one single person, it’s everybody” Briscoe said. “It’s the whole team working together. It’s all of us with that effort. We all want to get to the same place.”
The Titans had four different players hit 3-pointers to open the game – Briscoe, Metz, Vongnath and Horn — as they shot out to 22-3 lead.
“We have the core covenants of our program, and unity is one of those,” coach Blake Conley said. “They make comments about how unified this team is. They enjoy being together, playing together.”
And that started last summer, Briscoe said.
“We’d go out on blacktop courts, we’d play games, we’d have workouts,” the senior said. “We’d be there for two hours, then the coaches would leave. And then we’d be like ‘we’re going to keep going.’ We’d get more shots up and keep playing. That was the drive we had. We wanted the season, we wanted to play, so that’s what we kept doing – playing together and hoping the season would come.”
The season did come, albeit a bit difference from the norm. But that hasn’t bothered the Titans.
“We have a good team and it’s a team that could have competed to go to the Tacoma Dome,” Conley said. “But no once have they complained about missing that, about playing the same teams multiple time. They’re just enjoying what they have. I think that’s just a great testament to these guys’ character, how much they enjoy playing together. They’ve embraced it. They’re not looking at what they don’t have. They’re looking at what they do have.”
And what the Titans have now is a chance to end their season on a high note.
“We’ve got one more game,” Briscoe said. “We’ve got 15 wins right now, and we’re only focused on tomorrow, the last game of the season. It’s our championship. We’ve got one more game, all of us together. All of our seniors, this is our last chance to play high school basketball together. So we’re just going to go out, give it our best and get the end results that we need.”
Evergreen’s season ended, as did a stellar prep career of guard Jaden Stanley, who capped his career with 27 points for the Plainsmen.
UNION 85, EVERGREEN 59
EVERGREEN – Jordan Simon 2, Jonathan Simon 4, Peyton Albers 6, Caden Clark 0, Jaylen Fite 0, Robert Lawrence 7, Adonis Johnson 4, Tyler Hagge 0, Lenin Fierro 0, Carmelo Stewart-Turner 0, Joey Jack 4, Jaden Stanley 27, Jordan Peters 5, Adrian Williams 0, Fox Crader 0. Totals 21 (7) 10-14 59.
UNION – Ariya Briscoe 12, Bryson Metz 11, Tobias Merriweather 9, Kaden Lewis 2, Izaiah Vongnath 14, Cole Rebman 0, Kaden Horn 22, Jake Bowen 8, Evan Eschels 0, Evan Manville 6, Jack Tanner-Johnson 1, Tyson Fuehrer 0. Totals 28 (14) 15-21 85.
Evergreen 13 15 12 19—59
Union 24 28 18 15–85
