Bears at the buzzer beat Ducks, advance to Final Four

SPOKANE – The Brewster Bears redefined the term “team play” when they adjusted to the loss of their leading scorer and rallied from a 17-point halftime deficit to defeat Toutle Lake 67-65 in the final seconds of their Elite 8 game Thursday, March 3.
In a heart-stopping comeback against the Ducks and their leading scorer, Zach Swanson, the Bears combined close second half defense with shots that fell when needed to take a one-point lead late in the fourth quarter. The defending state champions displayed the level of tenacity that won them the trophy in the 2020-21 season.
Brewster lost leading scorer Kelson Gebbers early in the opening quarter to a sprained ankle that may keep him out of action for the remainder of the tournament. The 6’-6” junior was averaging almost 20 points a game for the Bears and just reached the 1,000-point mark in his high school career.
The Ducks on the other hand had full use of their 6’2” senior Swanson who ended up scoring more than half of Toutle Lake’s 65 points with 35 on the night. From the foul stripe and the floor Swanson managed to maintain the Duck’s shrinking lead until the Bears finally tied the game with 2:57 left.
With Gebbers sidelined the Ducks took advantage of the vacuum by taking a 10-point 19-9 lead into the second quarter. By halftime the Ducks were up by 17, 39-22. After head coach Michael Taylor
“We tried to play aggressive single man defense in the first half,” said head coach Michael Taylor.
That strategy was not containing Swanson whose father coaches the Ducks. H
“He and his team got good shots and made them.”
After Taylor’s halftime reset
“We were out of sorts a bit and it took us the halftime break to gather our thoughts and get a plan together to try and win,” said Taylor. “We were also battling foul trouble with AJ Woodward.”
Brewster started closing the gap in the third quarter erasing seven of the 17-point lead and going into the final eight minutes 10 points down, 52-42.
Woodward got a nice feed under the basket to open the quarter with a lay-in. The next trip down the floor Adaih Najera connected on a three-pointer to make it a five-point spread with less than a minute off the game clock. The teams traded scores until Woodward scored again from under the basket closing within four of the Ducks, 56-51, and prompting Taylor to call a timeout with less than five minutes to play.
“Throughout our second half comeback we got more transition shots for our guards and mixed in some drives and post ups as well,” said Taylor. “We were making ourselves harder to defend and defending their best guys better. That was a good combination for a comeback.”
When action resumed Brady Wulf connect on back-to-back three-pointers to bring the Bears within a point, 58-57. Cort Gebbers than drilled a pair of free throws and the Bears had their first lead, 59-58, since being ahead 3-2 briefly in the opening quarter.
Still, Swanson and company pulled out a 63-61 lead before Najera found Gebbers under the basket for aa basket to knot the game at 63. Gebbers then found Woodward open for two to take the lead, 65-63. Again Swanson hit a pair free throws, two of 14 in the game, to keep the Ducks alive, 65-all.
With 20.7 seconds left on the clock Najera found open space on the baseline and connected on a fade-away jump shot with only seconds left. A half-court Hail Mary attempt by Toutle Lake was wide of the mark. The Bears rallied for both a guaranteed trophy and the opportunity to defend their state title against Kalama or Columbia (Burbank) tonight at 7:15 p.m.
“I’m proud of our composure and spirit to make things happen when things weren’t looking good,” said Taylor. “We made some big shots down the stretch with AJ, Brady and Adaih, capped off by AJ’s awesome post move and Adai’s last second jumper on the baseline.”
Three Bears scored in double figures led by Woodward with 22, Wulf with 19 - including five from three-point range – and Najera with 18. Gebbers and Woodward led Bears’ rebounding with 10 and seven respectively.