Monday, March 18, 2024

Defeat Life Christian 57-49

Brewster Bears bring home third place state trophy

Posted

SPOKANE – Saving their best for last, the Brewster Bears varsity basketball team played three of its best games of the season in the final rounds of the WIAA 2B State Championships in Spokane Arena last week.

Brewster defeated Willapa Valley in the Elite Eight and Life Christian Academy in the consolation bracket by identical 57-49 scores. In between the two rivals, the Bears gave eventual three-peat state champion Kittitas a scare and a battle in a 77-71 loss that saw Brewster lead much of the way.

Brewster rallied from being down at halftime to catch Willapa Valley on Thursday, Feb. 28, and advance to the semifinals. Behind the double-digit scoring of Cade Gebbers with 14 points, and Corey Jarrell, with 12, the Bears took care of business down the stretch to get the eight-point win.

 Against Kittitas in the Friday, March 1 semifinals, Connor Ashworth, Brewster’s six-foot, six-inch post, put the Bears on the board first with a two-point put-back and it was Game On! Ashworth and junior Corey Jarrell, nursing an injured ankle, kept the Bears a step ahead of the defending state champions, scoring Brewster’s first 19 points.

The Coyotes rallied from seven points down early in the first quarter to take a one-point, 22-21 lead with a buzzer-beater by their leading scorer, Brock Ravet.

The game saw its first tie, 30-30 midway through the second quarter as Kittitas inched ahead for a five-point 41-36 lead. The Coyotes outscored Brewster 15-11 in the third quarter to lead 56-47 by the end of the third. The Bears stayed close enough down the stretch to make it anyone’s game and remained a couple of three-point baskets from taking the lead. The Coyotes capitalized on 12 Bears’ turnovers that Kittitas converted to 17 points.

Ashworth finished the game with 23 points and 15 rebounds, Jarrell scored 18, Cade Gebbers, 13, Joe Taylor, 11 and Kade Kelpman 6.
Ravet was the game’s high scorer with 40 points and later led the Coyotes to their third consecutive state title when Kittitas avenged its only loss this season to St. Georges with a 79-51 win in the championship final.

Last month Ravet, who has committed to play for Gonzaga, became the state’s all-time scoring leader when he eclipsed the 2,851-point record set by Sunnyside Christian’s Lance Den Boer in 2003.

Gebbers led the Bears with 23 points including four treys in the state trophy round against Life Christian Academy on Saturday, March 2. Taylor also scored in double figures with 12 points. The Bears bettered last year’s fourth place state finish for their fourth third-place trophy in the last five years.

Comments

No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here