Dalton Stevens’ voice — or lack thereof — said it all.
As the final buzzer sounded to seal an 82-79 win for Mark Morris over Columbia River in double overtime Wednesday, Stevens, the Monarchs’ leading scorer with 24 points, yelled at the top of his lungs while running across the court celebrating.
By the time he greeted Mark Morris supporters who made the trip from Longview to J. Hoover Gymnasium, Stevens had gone hoarse, a small price to pay in a monumental road win.
“It’s huge,” Stevens said. “… It’s always a tough game to (play). We knew it was going to be tough coming down here. Last year we lost down here, and we really wanted to grab this one.”
With both teams tied for second place in the 2A Greater St. Helens League standings one game back of R.A. Long, 32 minutes, fittingly, weren’t enough to decide a winner.
They traded baskets in the final seconds of regulation, with Mark Morris’ Carson Bogner hitting a go-ahead 3-pointer and River’s Luca Phillips knotting the game at 64-64 on a layup with 11 seconds left. Despite missing on its final two shot attempts, the Monarchs felt confident going into OT after coming back from seven points down entering the fourth quarter.
“I felt like once we hit overtime I knew we kind of had it,” said Bogner, who added 18 points. “I wasn’t tired at all. I felt like we had momentum and I was like, ‘yeah, we’re gonna win this one.'”
River scored first in both overtime periods, including the second overtime when baskets from Ari Richardson and John Reeder gave the Rapids a 74-70 advantage.
Like much of the second half, Mark Morris didn’t mind playing with a deficit.
A foul called against River, combined with a technical foul assessed to the Rapids’ bench, awarded the Monarchs four free throws and possession. They cashed in three free throws, plus a Nathan Stephens basket, to reclaim a 75-74 lead with two minutes left.
After Aaron Hoey scored a go-ahead basket for River, Mark Morris countered with another 3-pointer, this one from Stephens, who added 17 points.
That, plus a pair of Stevens free throws, gave the Monarchs a three-point cushion with 11 seconds to play.
Richardson and Bogner each hit two free throws, which left River five seconds to go the length of the court for a game-tying shot. The Rapids’ got a look, a deep 3-point attempt that rolled around and out. The sound of the buzzer was music to the Monarchs’ ears.
“We really pride ourselves on having resilience in games,” Stevens said. “Even if we find ourselves down, it’s important to stay in it and keep our spirits up, energy up and come back to win the game.”
The win kept the Monarchs’ (16-2, 9-2) league title hopes intact with three regular season games left, concluding with a must-win rematch against rival R.A. Long on Feb. 7.
“I give all the credit to my players who just played their hearts out tonight,” Mark Morris coach Ken Kelly said. “We had a balanced scoring attack and played great team defense when it mattered most to get it done.”
River (13-4, 8-3), led by Hoey’s 26 points, lost its second straight after falling to R.A. Long on Jan. 24.
Between that six-point loss and Wednesday’s result, in which River led for all but two minutes of the second half, the Rapids felt like they gave away two winnable games. Now, they find themselves in third place in the 2A GSHL standings and will need help in order to move up.
“We’ll one of the two teams again, if not both of them, and both games we let get of of our grasp,” River coach Mark Ganter said. “Up there at R.A. Long, we let that get out of our grasp (with) a couple ill-advised shots. Today, (two) overtimes, it goes both ways but we still left a few on the table.
“Defensively we did decent, (but) we’ve got to do better. Didn’t rebound as well as I thought we would. Sometimes on offense it looked like we’re kind of disorganized, and I’ve gotta watch the film. I’ve gotta figure out what the heck that is. That’s two games in a row where we’re kind of just floundering.”
MARK MORRIS 82, COLUMBIA RIVER 79 (2OT)
MARK MORRIS — Dalton Stevens 24, Drew Ibarreta 15, Zane Armstrong 0, Nathan Stephens 17, Mark Hendrickson 3, Carson Bogner 18, Zander Jendro 0, Mac West 5. Totals 27 (9) 19-23 82.
COLUMBIA RIVER — Alex Pont 0, Ari Richardson 18, Kellen Clary 0, Javen Fletch 9, John Reeder 13, Tyer Miles 3, Luca Phillips 10, Aaron Hoey 26. Totals 32 (9) 6-9 79.
Mark Morris 18 11 11 24 6 12—82
Col. River 15 20 12 17 6 9—79
