2010 Grizzlies Basketball Postseason Blog

Photo courtesy of Ron Strandin

The Bear Creek Grizzlies defeated Colfax todayby a final score of 63-33 to take home the 5th place Trophy in the WIAA 2B State Championships.  The Grizzlies started the game with a bang taking a 16-2 lead at the end of the first, and they never really looked back.  Lucas Peterson led the Grizzlies with 28 points on 11/19 shooting followed by 16 points from Ryan Strandin (See Game Stats).

It was an emotional win for the Grizzlies who won three consecutive games to finish out the tournament, after dropping the first game to Pe Ell.  For Jamie Meyer, Kyle Blankenbeckler, and Michael Davison, it was a sweet finish to an incredible four year run.  All received stading ovations as they left the game with a minute left to play. 

Congratulations to Coach Moe, the seniors, and all members of the boys basketball team for such an amazing season!  Thank you as well to the entire Bear Creek community who have come out and supported the team this year.  It was a season like none other, and everyone should be proud that we have such a good thing going!

Lucas Peterson (photo courtesy of Ron Strandin)

Jamie Meyer (photo courtesy of Ron Strandin)

The Grizzlies boys continue to battle and fight on in the 2B State tournament - today beating Life Christian Academy in overtime by a score of 74-70 (game stats).  The game was dominated by long scoring stretches by both teams as Life jumped out to a 17-5 lead after the first quarter.  By halftime, the Grizzlies led by two (31-29). The Grizzlies continued their run and at one point held a 12 point lead in the third quarter.  Life came storming back however and forced overtime by scoring an inside bucket right at the end of regulation. Both teams went back and forth in overtime until the Grizzlies caught a big break.  After missing a layup after a hard drive to the hole, Lucas Peterson was knocked to the floor which happens to also be where the ball ended up.  With his back side on the gym floor, the ball bounced right into Peterson's lap where he proceeded to pass out to an open Jamie Meyer for a huge three point shot.  A bid defensive stand, and Lucas Fernandez free throw later, and the Grizzlies were celebrating.  

Two things really stood out to me after thinking about today's game.  First, was how impressive it was to battle back in the 2nd quarter against a team that was red hot (11 three pointers by Life) and very fast and aggressive.  The Grizzlies did not panic and instead looked to ride the hot hand of Jamie Meyer who ended the game with 24 points.  Secondly was our fans.  It was amazing to see the entire side of the Spokane Arena screaming their heads off for our team.  There were over 100 students in attendance (including the Bear Creek Pep Band) and many more families! It was a sight like none other and I think everyone that was there today witnessed something very special.  It is definitely a memory that I will not forget for a long time.  There was so much support for the team and Grizzly pride in the building today and that was so awecome to see.

Up next for Bear Creek is Colfax who defeated Toutle Lake earlier today.  The trophy game (5th/8th place) will be tomorrow at 12:00 p.m.

#12 Jamie Meyer (photo courtesy of Sini Fernandez)

#20 Ryan Strandin (photo courtesy of Ron Strandin)

#4 Kyle Blankenbeckler (photo courtesy of Sini Fernandez)

#15 Aaron DiGenova (photo courtesy of Ron Strandin)

The boys put together a solid effort and defeated Soap Lake by a final score of 57-44.  Jamie Meyer led the Grizzlies with 21 hard earned points (game stats) and 8 diffrent boys ended up scoring a bucket.  With the win, the Grizzlies now advance to day three of the tournament and will play the winner of Life Chrisitian and Waitsburg-Prescott at 11:00 a.m.

A big congrats to the boys for bouncing back after a tough loss on Wednesday.  Go Grizzlies!  

The Bear Creek boys basketball team dropped a close first round match up vs. the Trojans of Pe Ell by a final score of 65-59 today.  The Grizzlies led by as much as 12 in the second quarter and by 6 at the half.  The Grizzlies offense struggled to score in the second half while the Trojans went on a 20-7 run in the 3rd quarter.  Bear Creek will face Soap Lake tomorrow morning (9am) in a loser out game.  You can refer to the state bracket in an earlier post for all game times. 

Game Stats

Whether or not you are able to make it to Spokane for the state tournament, it looks like you can follow all the action at Cybersports with their live webcast.

BSports.org also appears to have a webcast available for all tournament games.   

• Regular Season Record was 16-4
• Twice beat Chief Leschi in the regular season by 31 combined points
• #3 seed coming out of District 4
• Regular season stats below