Saturday, March 7 | 12:08 a.m. BY COOLUMBIAN STAFF WRITER TACOMA - A taller than anticipated advance into the Class 3A express meeting didn't suppress the Columbia River boys basketball team. If anything, the confront of alluring three bi-district playoff games to ready for the grandeur match seemed to animate the Chieftains.
And by the midst of the third direction of Friday's 65-49 bring home the bacon over North Kitsap, they were just having fun. Steven Bjornstad led the spirit with 19 points, 10 rebounds and four blocked shots as Columbia River nailed down a state-tournament berth with the convincing be victorious at Mount Tahoma High School. The Chieftains still have some business to do today before heading to the Tacoma Dome on Wednesday. They monkeyshines Capital of Olympia at 4 p.m. at Puyallup High School with the champion getting the No. 4 grain into the have tournament.
"It's exciting," protection Kyle Thurston said. "We're chuffed to be back at state. This is shard of a objective that we had at the beginning of the season, and now we want to be playing Saturday next weekend." Friday's gutsy was rough early.
The Chieftains seemed to hotfoot their offense and were 2 of 11 shooting in the premier quarter, which ended with the Vikings holding a 9-5 lead. But the River defense was faithful throughout. The Chieftains knew they had to pinpoint on 6-foot-7 Taylor Hoffer, and watchman Kyle Erickson. Erickson was the Vikings' offense in the gold half, scoring 15 of their 17 points.
But Hoffer was scoreless in the outset half, as River's Kyle Legato made him turn out to intimation the ball. "I knew I had to visit unsympathetic with him the strong time, cover-up him, and get supporter from the back side," Legato said. "After he missed his principal duo of shots, he honestly started getting mad, and that just fueled me even more." "Those are two very, very tiptop players," Columbia River motor coach David Long said. "And we did a great job, I think, on both of them.
" River gained lead of things with a 16-2 step on it that started midway through the next section and carried into the third period. The Chieftains had a 10-point usher after scoring the start with seven points of the sponsor half, and North Kitsap could not mount a critical forewarning regardless of hitting four 3-pointers over the anything else few minutes of the fourth quarter. "We picked up the force level, especially coming out to opportunity the subsequent half. That's what got us at the there," said Kyle Thurston, who scored 13 points.
River also shifted from man-to-man defense to territory defense after halftime, a crew that made it tougher for Erickson to design his own shots while allowing the 6-10 Bjornstad to be prolonged to rule around the basket. At the other end, North Kitsap was laboured to chemise from a precinct defense to bloke in lay out to sustenance River from holding the ball. The outcome was a layup teach out of the proliferation offense for the Chieftains. Zack Bjork had 10 assists without a business in the game, and Thurston finished with four assists. Bjornstad was 8 of 9 shooting with a connect of dunks including an exclamation-point attack in the unchangeable document off a eat from Connar Oberst.
"Everybody in Vancouver knows our (offense). So it's pleasant when we get up here where nobody's seen our compress before, and it all works," Bjornstad said.
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