State 2B boys: Kettle Falls has tournament cut short in first-round loss to Brewster

With fewer than 3 minutes left in a game that was by then far beyond their reach, the Kettle Falls seniors left the floor at the Spokane Arena.

For senior Matthew Thompson, it was the first time he sat all game. Fellow senior Cade McKern followed a few seconds later.

“I just kinda saw all our work that we put in and everything we’d done since we were little,” McKern said. “I just kinda saw it all flash before my eyes, and in a day it’s over. It just happened so fast.”

The Bulldogs didn’t have consistent answers to the Brewster Bears’ rangy wing players, and they didn’t shoot well enough – 34.8% – to keep up in a 74-48 loss on Wednesday. It eliminated 12th-seeded Kettle Falls from the State 2B boys basketball tournament. The Bulldogs had reached state play for the first time since 2003, when the school played at the 1A level.

And in some sense, that was enough for them.

“It was a magical run for us,” third-year coach Cameron Stewart said. “We had our backs against the wall for the last five, six games, and we just kept on fighting. The whole goal was to get here and see what we could do. Unfortunately, we (drew) Brewster in a loser-out.”

The fourth-seeded Bears (22-3) shot 46.4%. Four players, led by senior Connor Ashworth’s 17, had at least 10 points, and two more had nine. They will play No. 3 Toutle Lake (20-4) in the quarterfinals at 7:15 p.m. Thursday.

A Thompson 3-pointer to start the second quarter tied the game at 14, but from there the Bears went on a 15-0 run.

Trailing 33-19 at half, Kettle Falls used a 9-0 run in the third to draw back within 10 points at 38-28. But it got no closer.

“We made that run, and we got their attention,” Stewart said, “and they got back to basics and things got hard again.”

Ashworth, the Bears’ 6-foot-7 center, made 8 of 12 shots and grabbed nine rebounds.

Thompson (17 points) and McKern (14) each shot 5 of 13 from the field.

The Bulldogs got to the line more often and made 10 of 16 free throws. The Bears were 5 of 6 at the line, but Brewster outrebounded Kettle Falls 46-18 and attempted 23 more shots.

Lake Roosevelt 62, Wahkiakum 59: Soarin Marchand hit a 3-pointer with 1 second left and the sixth-seeded Raiders (20-5) eliminated the 11th-seeded Mules (17-11).

Sam Wapato led Lake Roosevelt with 18 points.

Willapa Valley 66, Onalaska 47: Logan Walker scored 21 points and the 10th-seeded Vikings (20-7) eliminated the seventh-seeded Loggers (20-8).

Carter Whitehead led Onalaska with 13 points.

White Swan 50, Colfax 44: Teal Soaring Eagle scored 13 points and the eighth-seeded Cougars (20-7) eliminated the ninth-seeded Bulldogs (19-8).