BOARDMAN, Ore.-Riverside brought home a second-place trophy from the recent OSAA OnPoint Community Credit Union 3A Boys Basketball State Championship.
Riverside fell 77-61 to Valley Catholic in the championship game, but the runner-up finish capped a dominant season and playoff run for the Pirates.
“Basketball-wise this team is really good, but they’re also good young men and great human beings,” said Riverside Head Coach Cole Ashby. “They showed up all summer, then worked hard all season to get ready for this moment.”
A dominant season
For Coach Ashby and the Pirates, the foundation for their success on the court this season dates back to the end of last year and the work the Pirates put in over the summer.
“We played 40 games over the summer and with almost the whole team returning, we knew it could hopefully be a special year,” said Ashby.
Riverside went undefeated in the 3A-6 Eastern Oregon League this season and went on winning streaks of seven, ten, and eight games on their way to a 25-5 record.
Despite the impressive record, every season presents unique challenges, and for Riverside, with only four of the ten players on its roster over six feet tall, that meant dealing with a distinct size disadvantage in several games, according to Cooper Cemore, a junior Point Guard for the Pirates.
“The biggest challenge this season was probably our size,” said Cemore. “We had to work harder than everyone else, press a lot, and be in shape.”
Playoff run
Riverside’s run to the championship game began with a 72-53 rout of Elmira in the second round of the state tournament on February 27.
The Pirates followed that victory up by topping Pleasant Hill 61-57 in the Quarterfinals on March 5, before punching their ticket to the championship game with a 63-59 win over Banks in the semifinals.
“We’d been working hard all year to make it to the finals,” said Jesus Pena, a senior guard for Riverside. “It was a crazy feeling finally making it when no one thought we would.”
Riverside met Valley Catholic High School of Beaverton, with a 27-3 overall record playing out of the 3A-1 Lewis and Clark League, in the finals.
The championship game, played at Marshfield High School in Coos Bay, was a tight, back-and-forth affair between the Pirates and the Valiants that featured five lead changes, before Valley Catholic came away with the win.
“Our kids battled hard, they were pressing the whole game and that’s tiring, I think our legs kind of gave out there at the end,” said Ashby, of what made the difference in the title game.
Riverside trailed by only three points at halftime, led by four with about five minutes left in the third quarter, and it was a four-point game heading into the fourth quarter, before Valley Catholic pulled away for the 77-61 win to claim the state title.
“They hit back-to-back threes in the fourth quarter, and we ended up losing our momentum,” said Pena.
Cemore led Riverside with 19 points in the championship game, while Pena added 15 points for the Pirates.
Community support
The Boardman community always supports youth athletics, and Riverside’s state tournament run was no exception.
“It felt good having the community support us all year,” said Pena, who plans to attend Walla Walla Community College and play soccer next year.
Students, families and community members attended a state tournament send off bus and siren parade for the Pirates on March 4, and a community watch party was held at Windy River Elementary for the state championship game.
“It feels really good knowing everyone is behind you,” said Cemore. “Some people were able to make the trip to state, but knowing we had people watching back home was cool.”
