Turnovers tell the tale in Bears’ loss

RICHLAND – The Brewster boys and Waterville/Mansfield girls are the only remaining Quad City teams remaining in the state Round of 12 following their games in the Round of 16 played on Feb. 24-25.

The Bears lost to Columbia (Burbank), 93-72, at Richland High School last Friday, Feb. 24, and will next play Tri-Cities Prep at 12:15 p.m., March 1, in the Spokane Arena. The winner advances to the quarterfinals to play Napavine at 12:15 p.m., Thursday, March 2, in double elimination.

The Shocker girls lost a to Neah Bay, 44-36, at Tacoma Community College last Saturday, Feb. 26. They will meet the Yakima Nation Tribal School at 2 p.m., March 1, in the Spokane Arena.

Turnovers tell

The Brewster Bears saw a first quarter lead decline in proportion to an increase in turnovers in last Friday night’s game against Columbia (Burbank).

An early Brewster lead ended in an 18-all tie at the end of the first quarter of play as both the Bears and the Coyotes played even up ball through the second quarter that saw the Eastern Washington Athletic Conference champs take a narrow three-point 42-39 lead into the halftime locker room. The game changer came in the third quarter when Columbia applied full court pressure defense that derailed Brewster’s offense with increasing turnovers that the Coyotes capitalized on for points. The strategy gave Columbia a 20-point 68-48 lead at the end of the third and the momentum to maintain that margin to the final buzzer and a 93-72 win.

Quincy Scott let all scorers with 31 points. Kelson Gebbers hit 22 for the Bears, followed by 10 apiece for Brady Wulf and Tyson Schertenleib, Cort Gebbers, 9, Reese Vassar, 7, Mario Camacho, 7, Grant Baker, 4, and Eric Ramirez, 3.

Bears slay Dragons

The Bears pinched their ticket to the Round of 16 with a 53-48 win at Wenatchee against District 7 crossover opponent St. George’s on Feb. 17.

“We knew it would be a tough matchup as we played them earlier in the season in another close game,.” said head coach Michael Taylor. “We trailed most of that game and knew we needed to have a better start this time around.”

Taylor said the Bears did not get into a consistent offensive flow against St. George’s hard and physical play.

“We needed to do a better job early in the possession to get movement,” said Taylor. “We did however play hard on defense and rebounded okay. This kept us in the game and in the lead most of the night. We couldn’t pull away by more than 8 or 9 all game as they kept countering any little run we’d make.”

Kelson Gebbers led the Bears with 20 points. Brady Wulf and Cort Gebbers both hit in double figures with 12 apiece. Also scoring was Reese Vassar, 4, Tyson Schertenleib, 3, and Eric Ramirez, 2.