GAME RECAP
HUDSON’S BAY 53, KELSO 45
The stretch run: The Eagles closed on a 14-6 run fueled by two tip-in baskets and two layups. They also forced five Kelso turnovers and held the Hilanders to two field goals in the fourth quarter.
Today’s title tilt: Camas and Hudson’s Bay split their two league games this season. Today’s winner (7:30 p.m. at Hudson’s Bay HS) will get a bye into the regional quarterfinals and play next Friday in Vancouver. Today’s loser will open the regionals in Lakewood on Wednesday.
Early in the third quarter of Friday’s district semifinal game, the Hudson’s Bay boys basketball team led by a dozen points and looked ready to roll past Kelso.
But berths in district championship games don’t come without challenges, and the Hilanders made sure the Eagles had one.
GAME RECAP
HUDSON'S BAY 53, KELSO 45
The stretch run: The Eagles closed on a 14-6 run fueled by two tip-in baskets and two layups. They also forced five Kelso turnovers and held the Hilanders to two field goals in the fourth quarter.
Today's title tilt: Camas and Hudson's Bay split their two league games this season. Today's winner (7:30 p.m. at Hudson's Bay HS) will get a bye into the regional quarterfinals and play next Friday in Vancouver. Today's loser will open the regionals in Lakewood on Wednesday.
The Eagles reacted like a seasoned team.
Attacking the basket on offense and staying aggressive on defense, Hudson’s Bay beat Kelso 53-45 to reach the Class 3A district championship game for the second year in a row.
By closing on a 14-6 run over the final five minutes, the Eagles earned a shot at Greater St. Helens League champion Camas in tonight’s 7:30 p.m. title game at Hudson’s Bay.
The 12-point lead Hudson’s Bay owned after scoring the first four points of Friday’s second half gradually disappeared because the Eagles’ offense dried up. Hudson’s Bay didn’t score for an eight-minute stretch after a transition basket by Tra Ponder off a Darius Goldman steal made the score 39-28 with six minutes remaining in the third quarter. When Kelso scored the first bucket of the fourth quarter, the Hilanders were within a point. And they had three possessions with the score at 39-38 before tying it on a free throw with 5:24 to play.
That’s when the Eagles determination shone through.
“We just remembered that this is it,” Goldman said. “We had to put it all out there.”
A tip-in by Goldman stopped the scoring drought, Jahmile Sipaia converted a layup and a tip-in, and Goldman added a layup to the decisive stretch. Those four baskets were backed up by active defense and enough good free-throw shooting to finish the job.
“We weathered the storm” Hudson’s Bay coach Andy Meyer said. “I’m really impressed with the way our guys responded.”
The Eagles responded by spreading the floor and looking inside on offense. They figured their depth and defensive pressure would eventually tire the Hilanders. Kelso depends on 3-point shooting — it was 7 for 23 from behind the 3-point arc on Friday — and was playing its third game in four days having dispatched Prairie and Mountain View to reach the district semifinals.
“We were just trying to work the ball around and try to get their defense to shift,” Goldman said, explaining Bay’s approach on offense in the fourth quarter. “We tried to wear them out.”
Derrick Brooks scored 12 of his team-high 16 points in Bay’s 23-point second quarter that gave the Eagles a 33-25 halftime advantage.
Ponder scored six of his 13 early in the third quarter, when it looked like the Eagles might fly to the win.
It didn’t turn out to be that easy. But the path to a district championship game seldom is.
