Bears blow by Oroville, 73-41, to win CWB League championship

By Mike Maltais

Staff writer

BREWSTER - Playing one of their best games of the season, the Brewster Bears combined an effective man-to-man defense with accurate shooting to easily defeat the Oroville Hornets, 73-41 for the Central Washington 2B League Championship at Brewster last Monday, Feb. 13.

The Hornets were unable to come up with an effective counter to the scoring of Bears' senior guard, Edgar Najera, who connected from both outside and up close to lead all scorers with 29 points.

In his last game in Champions Gym. Najera spread 27 of his points through the first three quarters hitting a three-pointer and three buckets in each of the first, second and third periods. Najara added a final fourth-quarter steal and uncontested lay-in before coach Tim Taylor allowed some of his substitutes to get some play in the game's final minutes.

Seniors Bryan Lopez and Johnny Saucedo each scored two points in their final Bears' game.

Oroville took a small lead early in the first quarter before Brewster opened up with a 12-point margin going into the second quarter. From there the Bears led at all stops, 35-22 at halftime and 55-29 at the end of three.

Brewster's defense capitalized on and converted multiple steals into points throughout the night. In one particularly heads-up play, sophomore guard Joe Taylor executed a near-half-court bounce pass through Hornets defenders to teammate, Carlos Najera, waiting under the basket for an easy lay-in.

Oroville's Bryce Glover and Spencer Martin led the Hornets with 12 points apiece.

The Bears will play the Kittitas Coyotes at 7:45 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 18, at Eastmont High School for the District 5/6 championship.

Manson falls by 28

The visiting Manson Trojans were no match for Brewster in league semi-final play last Saturday, Feb. 11.

Najara, Taylor, and David Garcia each hit in double digits to give the Bears a four-point, 17-13 lead in the first quarter. Brewster continued to widen the gap, holding Manson to single digits in both the second and third quarters on the way to a 68-40 win.

Following the loss to Brewster, the 11-5, third place Trojans fell to Tonasket, 52-38, last Monday to finish fourth in the CW2B.