Boys basketball: Seaside falls at Banks in overtime thriller

Published 11:08 pm Thursday, February 14, 2019

Four quarters wasn’t enough to decide a winner Thursday night.

In a showdown between the two best 4A boys basketball teams in the state, Banks shocked Seaside in a Cowapa League season finale, the Braves scoring a 54-53 win over the Gulls in overtime.

The Braves and the Gulls — who have already thrilled the state in one sport — looks as though they’re headed for another state championship showdown in another.

But first, they will play at least one league playoff in basketball before they meet in the finals.

The result of Thursday’s win for Banks: a co-league championship for the Braves and the Gulls (both 7-1 in league play), and now the teams will play Saturday at Tillamook High School (5 p.m. tip-off) to break the tie for the No. 1 seed.

(The Banks and Astoria girls will also play a first-place tie-breaker at 3 p.m., also at Tillamook).

The loss snapped a 17-game win streak for No. 1-ranked Seaside, which led just twice in Thursday’s game — a 4-2 lead in the opening minute of the contest, and 53-51 in overtime, when Payton Westerholm made two free throws with 1:30 remaining.

But with 37 seconds left, Banks senior Blake Gobel — who scored the go-ahead touchdown for the Braves in the state championship football game — converted a three-point play in the basketball game to give Banks a one-point lead.

Following a timeout with 11 seconds left, the Gulls were unable to get off a potential game-winning shot when the Braves knocked the ball away in the final seconds.

Earlier in the game, the Gulls had to overcome a 12-point deficit in the first quarter, as Banks took advantage of 3-pointers from Hayden Vandehey, Gobel and Dakota Bunn for a 20-8 lead.

It took Seaside about six minutes to completely erase the deficit. The Gulls started running and gunning in the second period, with a steal and score by Westerholm tying the game at 26-26.

Still, the Braves answered with two scores and held a 31-28 halftime lead.

Seaside’s Beau Johnson had a big night with 10 points, including a jumper early in the third quarter that tied the contest at 35-35.

Banks built a 51-46 lead midway through the fourth, but the Gulls rallied again and tied the game 51-51 on a Westerholm free throw with 1:29 left.

Neither team scored the remainder of regulation, and after two minutes of overtime, the Gulls took their first lead of the second half, 53-51, when Westerholm hit two free throws, before Gobel’s game-winning three-point play.

Gobel led all scorers with 21 points, while Chase Januik had 16 and Ryan Hague scored 12 for the Gulls.

Marketplace