MONTESANO — Marcus Whittaker lasted about two sentences before moving on, past the Oakville boys basketball team’s 62-54 loss to Willapa Valley in the 1B District 4 title game Saturday.
“They definitely outworked us,” he said, as Vikings got up on ladders on either end of the court to cut down the nets. “Hats off to them, that’s a tough loss.
“But we’re not out. Hopefully we get to meet up again.”
The Acorns will go to sleep with a bad taste in their mouths after just their second loss to a fellow 1B school all winter. But when they wake up Sunday, they’ll be ready to hear their marching orders from the selection committee, and be guaranteed at least one more game in the regional round.
And when they get back on the court, Whittaker will get to really see what his squad took away from Saturday’s loss.
“This can either make us, or it can break us,” he said. “But I’m very confident in how we’ll respond. I’m very, very confident.”
Oakville had gone nearly two months since it last had to play from behind, after leading from wire to wire in its semifinal win over 1B Columbia Valley League No. 2 Mossyrock on Wednesday.
Saturday, though, they found themselves in the hole, losing the lead in the final minute of the first quarter and having to fight to get it back.
That struggle ended up taking the better part of two quarters, after Valley grew the gap to as large as 10 points at one point. Oakville stayed in the game with three-point shooting and ground its way back, with Hazen Charles-Cayenne hitting a pair of free throws in the final minute of the third quarter to take a 43-42 lead. But right back down on the other end of the floor, Valley secured a huge offensive rebound and got the ball out to Riley Pearson, who drilled a 3-pointer from NBA range to give the Vikings a 45-43 lead they’d never give back.
That was one of quite number of good defensive possessions for Oakville ruined on the glass. Valley came down with 15 offensive rebounds, and turned their extra possessions into points.
“Every time they shot it, they got the rebound,” Whittaker said. “And every time we shot it, they got the rebound.”
Oakville also turned the ball over 14 times, most of which were self-inflicted, and many of which seemed to come at just the right time to keep the Acorns from going on runs.
Ashton Boyd led Oakville with 16 points. Eddie Klatush, Daniel Rodas, Haezen Charles-Cayenne, and Shayden Baker all had eight in a balanced scoring effort.
Courtney Price led the Acorns on the glass with eight rebounds.
Oakville will be making its second trip to regionals in a row; last season, the Acorns lost to Crosspoint in a loser-out matchup.
