A crushing 85-39 loss at Castle Rock last Friday ended Columbia High's boys basketball season.
The loss was the Bruins' 10th straight and second of the season to the Rockets (11-1, 18-2), who locked up the Trico Division regular-season championship because co-favorite Ridgefield (10-2, 17-3) lost its season finale to Hockinson.
Castle Rock, Ridgefield and Hockinson earned the Trico's top-three berths in this weekend's District 4 2A tournament while Columbia missed the playoffs for the fourth year in a row.
Against Castle Rock, Columbia--as it had in other road games this season--struggled to generate a consistent offensive threat.
"They brought a ton of pressure with a 3-2 half-court trap and made it incredibly hard for us to get our offense going," Bruins Coach Scott Kasenga remarked.
He also noted the referees allowed a lot of physical play around the basket and Castle Rock "was able to be the more aggressive team because of it."
The Bruins didn't handle the Rockets' pressure or physical play well and fell behind, 16-7, in the first quarter and trailed, 46-15, at halftime.
Castle Rock made sure there would be no Columbia High comeback in the second half, exploding for 23 points in the third quarter.
Individual match-ups in the game favored the taller Rockets. Their 6-foot-7 senior leader, James Gehring, finished with a double-double of 23 points and 15 rebounds.
Senior Brandon Swanson chipped in 18 points and junior Aaron Gehring added 13.
Senior Josabet Pulido was the only CHS player to reach double figures in scoring. He tallied 13 points in the final game of his prep career.
Classmate Nick Patrick followed with eight points, including his 70th 3-point basket of the season..
Stevenson 76, at Columbia High 64 --
The Bulldogs spoiled the Bruins' Senior Night party and stayed in the running for a District 4 playoff berth with the Feb. 15 Trico Division victory.
Cory Rathgeber scored a season-high 30 points for Stevenson, which had trailed until the senior guard hit a shot with 1:57 remaining in the third quarter to give the Bulldogs their first lead.
Stevenson then pulled away from Columbia by scoring the last four points of the third quarter and the first 12 of the fourth. The visiting team's biggest lead of the game was 16 points.
The Bruins got off quickly in the first quarter, notching the game's first seven points on baskets by Scott Lampe and Josabet Pulido and a 3-pointer by Nick Patrick.
Columbia led, 16-12, at the end of one quarter after Stevenson's Troy Stump bagged a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
Rathgeber tied the score at 20-20 early in the second stanza with his second 3-point basket, but that only served to fire the Bruins up.
Andrew Culp completed a tie-breaking three-point play that ignited a 15-5 CHS charge.
Patrick's fourth 3-pointer of the half capped it off and netted the Bruins their largest lead at 35-25.
The Bulldogs continued to hang around, however, and finished the first half with a 6-1 run that left them down, 36-31, at the break.
Columbia's lead reached nine points twice in the third quarter, on 3-point shots by David Giron and Nick Patrick, but the Bruins couldn't sustain it.
Stump made it a new game at the 2:20 mark with a try that evened the score at 51-51. Rathgeber followed with his first of two tie-breaking shots 23 seconds later.
After CHS's Whitney Butler scored off his own miss to make it 53-all, Rathgeber hit another one from downtown that put Stevenson ahead to stay.
Jereth Robinson sank 1-of-2 free throws to finish off Stevenson's 18-5 spurt that closed out the period.
In the final frame, the Bruins went scoreless for the first 4:48 of play while the Bulldogs put in 12 points to extend their lead to 69-53.
A 6-2 run featuring baskets by Pulido, Culp and Butler brought CHS within 71-59 but Stevenson just as quickly pushed its lead back to 16 with free throws by Rathgeber and Robinson.
A sophomore, Robinson finished with a solid stat line of 23 points, nine assists and seven rebounds, helping the Bulldogs sweep the season series, 2-0.
Patrick, perhaps the most prolific 3-point shooter in CHS history, led the Bruins with 15 points in the final home game of his varsity career.
Classmate Pulido added nine and Culp, a junior forward, chipped in 13.
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