The young Woodland Beavers outrebounded, matched up at the free-throw line, and had the game-high scorer in a well-played 64-57 loss to the number one overall squad in 2A basketball in the state of Washington.
The 2A Greater St. Helens League showdown on Thursday, Jan. 29, between the Beavers and R.A. Long Lumberjacks garnered a packed gym and one of the biggest Woodland student sections imaginable. The energetic atmosphere was coupled with high-flying action on the court, which proved to the Woodland roster, mainly juniors and sophomores, that they can hang with the best of them.
“They’ve got five seniors. I’ve got sophomores and juniors,” Beavers head coach Justin Gabbard said. “That’s the big difference. They’ve been in a lot of really big games, and we haven’t. But we can play with them, and we know i,t and we work hard. You know, I love them. I’m proud of them.”
The Beavers overcame the ghosts of just 22 days prior when the Lumberjacks provided the first big test, which ultimately Woodland failed in a lopsided 77-52 loss, thanks to what Gabbard referred to as an ungodly shooting percentage by R.A. Long in the first meeting.
With the much improved performance in the second meeting on Jan. 29, Gabbard’s young squad proved it could be anyone’s night with just a few more chips falling their way.
“You can play with anybody in the state if you believe and you work really hard, good things happen,” Gabbard said.
For Gabbard, the obvious focus is on the present, but matchups like R.A. Long help gain valuable experience for his starting lineup of just juniors and sophomores.
“It says a lot about the future, but it’s such a learning experience,” he said. “They get so much better so fast overnight that you can take that into practice, and now, you know, game speed, the speed of that game, compared to the speed of a lot of the games we play, it’s a lot faster. So in practice, I’m saying game speed, that’s what I’m talking about with game speed. So it sets the bar. It raises the standard slightly. It makes them hungry.”
The Beavers were led by game high point scorer Michael Belvin with 17 points on the night. Belvin’s three-point performance really kept the Beavers within 10 points the whole way through, with just a four-point deficit at halftime.
Gabbard expressed his utmost respect for the R.A. Long program, but also realizes there may be a third matchup in store down the road in the postseason.
“They’re a good team,” he said. “I mean, they are, they’re the real deal. They’re legit. So, you know, it’ll be to watch them the rest of the way, and it’ll be fun to watch up the rest of the way to see where we wind up.”
The Beavers’ season of chips falling into a 14-5 record and 9-3 in the 2A GSHL has them on a collision course to maintain the second seed in the District 4 tournament. The Beavers hold on to the second seed with a win on Tuesday, Feb. 3, over Hudson’s Bay High School; results were unavailable at press time, and with a win against the current three seed, the Columbia River Rapids at 7:30 p.m. on home court on Thursday, Feb. 5.
