For Columbia River, the takeaway from Tuesday’s thrilling 51-48 boys basketball win at Fort Vancouver was clear.
Trailing by 11 points with just over two minutes left in the fourth quarter, the Chieftains stormed back to force overtime, emerging with a dramatic victory that keeps them unbeaten in the Class 3A Greater St. Helens League at the midpoint of the schedule.
“Now we know how to win the close games,” River’s Nathan Hawthorne said, noting that the Chieftains lost a few close games at tournaments during winter break. “And this is big going forward for us to be undefeated in league.”
For the Trappers, Tuesday’s turn of events could also prove helpful. That is the way coach Scott Thompson saw it after his team turned over the ball on five consecutive possessions late in the fourth quarter.
“We learn from it. The thing is, we played well for 291/2 minutes,” Thompson said. “We’re still a team that is improving and hitting our stride late in the season.”
Hawthorne — who scored 10 of his 16 points in the fourth quarter — made the River win possible with a pair of steals and eight consecutive points in the 11-0 burst that turned a 43-32 Fort Vancouver lead into a game that needed overtime.
After the Chieftains turned to a pressure man-to-man defense, he twice knocked away the ball, leading to two quick transition baskets. Hawthorne then hit consecutive 3-pointers after two more Fort turnovers and the Chieftains were within one point with 27 seconds left.
“Even at the timeout when we went to (the man-to-man), the heads weren’t hanging,” River coach David Long said. “Nate really got everybody up for that last charge.”
The tying point came after another Fort turnover. Columbia River missed a pair of contested shots in close, and then a foul was called with two seconds left. Andrew Vickers made one of the two free throws and the game went extra time.
Tre Eisenhut, who scored 21 points, hit a jumper to give Fort a 45-43 lead early in overtime. But Vickers — who scored all six of his points in the closing minutes — responded with a 3-pointer and Joey Bean scored a driving layup for a three-point play to put the visitors up four with 2:11 left.
The rest of the scoring came from the foul line. Fort made three foul shots and was within a point with 12 seconds left. Columbia River missed a free throw, but Chad Pedigo rebounded the miss and Bean hit two foul shots to extend the lead to three.
Eisenhut’s difficult 3-pointer from the corner missed as time expired.
Columbia River’s eight points in overtime was more than the Chieftains scored in an entire first half. Fort Vancouver led 11-6 at halftime as both teams used effectively active zone defenses.
“We have a lot of shooters on our team and we know we can score,” said Bean, who scored the first of his 12 points on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer at the end of the third quarter. “We weren’t playing for our full potential against the zone.”
Long said the Chieftains took good shots in the first half, they just didn’t hit many. River was 2 for 18 from the floor, and 0 for 8 from 3-point distance in the first half.
Bean said the trick was to penetrate the zone defense.
“Against a zone you can slash more and get to the rim, and that’s what I tried to do — get to the free throw line and hit open teammates.”
That approach and some aggressive defense kept the Chieftains unbeaten in league play.
COLUMBIA RIVER 51, FORT VANCOUVER 48
COLUMBIA RIVER — Nathan Hawthorne 16, Joey Bean 12, Andrew Vickers 6, Torey Jones 10, Cody Wolfe 2, Spencer Long 0, Chad Pedigo 5. Totals 19-52 (6-21) 7-11 51.
FORT VANCOUVER — Jacob Brugman 4, Will Doty 7, Tre Eisenhut 21, Drew Clark 6, Malachi King 9, Jordan Suell 1. Totals 17-50 (8-20) 6-11 48.
River 6 0 19 18 8–51
Fort 5 6 18 14 5–48
JV — Columbia River 46-28.
