Seaside’s Mya Feeney (13) gets the ball by Astoria’s Avery Biederman (10).

“Just like football.”

These were the chants coming from the Seaside High School student section as the fourth quarter of the Clatsop Clash was winding down. A packed Brick House saw the local community come out to watch the epic battle between Astoria and Seaside boys basketball teams.

The Seagulls came in trying to flex their muscles and show they are still the kings of the Oregon Coast, while the Astoria Fishermen were trying to ride the wave of a raucous student section to a statement win. The Fishermen have improved a lot under second-year coach Alex Eterno, but based on their Jan. 19 result, the Seagulls are not giving up their crown anytime soon.

“Astoria has a good ball club,” Seaside head coach Bill Westerholm said. “Alex has done a great job, their top six or seven kids have really jelled together and the city of Astoria is coming out to support them, which we’ve seen in their preseason games. The kids knew it wasn’t going to be a good environment so we talked about playing together, staying in the moment and not letting the crowd get to you, just play basketball.”

Seaside came out ready to rumble. The Seagulls set the tone early, leading 13-5 at the end of the first quarter. The second quarter saw the lead grow to 16 points before Astoria stormed back to close the gap to just two points at halftime, 28-26. The run by the Fishermen was spurred on by the crowd and it was clear the crowd noise affected Seaside at the end of the half.

The third quarter played out as expected, with both teams trading baskets. The Seagulls were up by one, 39-38, going into the fourth quarter.

Behind swarming defense and clutch shots, Seaside outscored Astoria in the fourth quarter, 14-6, to pull away for a 53-44 victory.

“We weren’t very happy with the way we finished the second quarter,” Westerholm said. “We didn’t play in the moment, we started playing frantic. All we had to do was be fundamental and make one solid pass and we’d have a layup. But instead, we started throwing the ball around which gave them fast break opportunities, open threes, losing our cool on Austin’s (Palmer) technical and then Merrick (Benesch) hit a three, that was a big swing right there.”

Westerholm was pleased with how his team handled the adversity to regroup and finish out the game. He also said the team hasn’t had a ton of practice time together and with six of the top eight players going deep into the year with football, the Seagulls are just now finding their footing.

Astoria girls make weekend statement

After the buzz from the boys game wore off, the girls took the court to a still very crowded arena. The Astoria girls took care of business as expected, winning 50-22 over a young Seaside team.

The Seagulls have shown great improvement under coach Marla Olstedt, but going up against a buzz saw like Astoria was a little too much for the young team to handle. Seaside worked to stay in the game, but lack of consistent scoring was the biggest factor. Despite the loss, Seaside has positioned themselves for the future, as they have just one senior on their roster.

Astoria continues to win and do it in style. Jan. 19 wasn’t as clinical, but the result was the same.

“We went through a little adversity early in the season, which I think was good for us,” Astoria head coach Teke Silva said. “It was good for our mental and physical toughness. I think we learned a lot from that adversity.”

Silva credited Seaside for how hard they played and said that even though Astoria is on a winning streak, every game is a grind.