Bears avenge loss, advance to semifinals

By SCOTT SANDSBERRY
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC

Every day since losing to Toledo in a regular-season in January’s Tourneytown.com Shootout, Brewster’s Hawkins Gebbers has been preparing for a possible rematch. Specifically, preparing for the difficulty of shooting over the long arms of the Indians’ 6-foot-8 all-state center, Artem Wallace.

Brewster's Hawkins Gebbers fends off an aggressive defense from Toledo's Jason King. Gebbers scored 41 points in Thursday's game.   SANDY SUMMERS/Yakima Herald-Republic View all photos for this story.

“Every day at practice, I’ve been spending about five minutes doing little roundabout shots, hooking-under shots, reaching over shots, high arching ones,” Gebbers said after Thursday’s rematch. “I’ve had my brother hold stuff up in front of me, I’ve shot over the rebounding net. I’ve tried all kinds of things.”

And, on Thursday, Gebbers put up all kinds of shots. And almost all of them found nothing but net.

In one of the most impressive performances by a guard in state-tournament history, Gebbers scored 41 points, helping Brewster overcome a near-perfect opening quarter by Toledo and pull out a 60-54 victory over the Indians. Gebbers hit 16 of his 25 field-goal attempts, including 3 of 4 from 3-point range, as the two-time defending champion Bears moved into tonight’s semifinals against Seattle Christian.

“He carried us tonight,” Brewster coach Tim Taylor said about Gebbers, who also had team-high totals of seven rebounds and four assists with only one turnover. “He’s very capable of that. He’s got a tremendous first step, he can pull up on a dime. A lot of those shots were net — not many of them even touched the rim.”

The Indians had started out with a similar kind of perfection, shooting 8-for-9 over the first six minutes in taking a 17-11 lead — all without ever taking a shot longer than six feet. Wallace had five baskets and had assists to Cameron Steveson on two others as seven of those first eight baskets came as the direct result of a pass. Wallace would finish with 30 points on 13-for-18 shooting, plus a dozen rebounds.

“Great,” deadpanned Taylor, whose Bears trailed 7-0 after 1 1/2 minutes. “Here we spend all day trying to figure out how to keep them away from the hoop, and in the first quarter they get nothing but layups. When you let them get good looks at Artem, there’s no chance.

“He’s so big and strong that when he gets the ball down low, there’s no stopping him.”

On the other hand, there was also no stopping Gebbers. When the Bears (22-3) opened the second period with an 11-0 run, Gebbers scored three baskets (including a 3-pointer) and hit Michael Taylor for layups on the other two. He kept things going with a 12-point, one-miss quarter that helped Brewster bump its lead up to 14 points.

Then, when Toledo (21-4) closed to within four points on a Chad Amrine 3-pointer with 2:20 remaining, Gebbers scored the next four points, the last on a slick steal-and-assist by Robert Pendergraft.

“We didn’t have an answer for him. We didn’t have a guy who could stop him,” Toledo coach Scott Merzoian said. “Of course, you’ve got Taylor over there, you’ve got the other Gebbers (Clay), you’ve got the (Chase) LaMoreaux kid ... what are you going to do? Somebody’s gonna hurt you.”

That’s pretty much what Gebbers said while he taped up the blisters on his feet in the locker room after his memorable performance.

“Heck, someone else will come up with a big game tomorrow,” he said. “Whenever we need a big game, someone steps up.”

In Thursday’s case, that step was way up.