Gebbers scores 25; Brewster wins 55-14

By ROGER UNDERWOOD
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC

And by the time Hawkins Gebbers finally cooled off to somewhere near room temperature Friday night, no one seemed to notice.

Brewster's Clay Gebbers, right, pressures Seattle Christian's John Finn in the second half Friday.   GORDON KING/Yakima Herald-Republic View all photos for this story.

Not Michael Taylor, Gebbers’ cousin and Brewster teammate, who was wielding his own hot hand.

Not Tim Taylor, Michael’s father, Gebbers’ uncle and the Bears’ coach, who by that time was much happier with his team’s defense and rebounding.

And not Seattle Christian, which was waging a futile struggle to overcome Gebbers’ earlier heroics and keep Brewster from Class 1A state tournament history.

With Gebbers scoring 25 points and Michael Taylor adding 12, the Bears became the first two-time defending champions to reach a third successive title game with a 55-41 victory in the SunDome.

Hoping to prevent Brewster (23-3) from winning an unprecedented third consecutive championship will be either top-ranked Bellevue Christian or upstart White Swan. Saturday’s title game is scheduled for 9.

Seattle Christian (20-6) will meet the BC-WS loser at 5 p.m. Saturday in a game for third and sixth places.

“I was a little worried that he’d used so much energy last night (scoring 41 points in a quarterfinal victory over Toledo) that he might not have much left,” Tim Taylor said. “But 25’s not bad.”

Especially since 12 came during a 13-0 Bears’ burst that started the third quarter and effectively ended the game.

Seattle Christian had used a 15-9 rebounding advantage, including six offensive boards, to stay within 26-24 of Brewster in the first half.

But after Michael Taylor made one of two free throws at the outset of the third period, Gebbers, as the saying goes, went off.

Fouled while driving to the basket, he made two free throws. He scored on a similar play and made the free throw, then drew a shooting foul and made two more.

It was 34-24 Bears at that point, and the raucous SC cheering section was quieting a bit.

But Gebbers wasn’t.

On Brewster’s next possession he hit a long 3-pointer from the left wing, then took a rebound and went coast-to-coast, beating the Warriors downcourt for a layup.

Seattle Christian got within 43-34 with 5:53 left in the game, but the Bears’ continued attacking of the basket put them in the double bonus with 3:26 left, and they scored their final seven points from the foul line.

“We got a little psyched up at halftime,” said Michael Taylor, who scored six straight Brewster points in the fourth quarter on a variety of hanging shots from the lane. “We knew we had to play better defense and that we could play better defense. That’s what we played in the second half — Brewster defense.”

Said Gebbers, who had 14 of his team’s 15 third-quarter points but was scoreless in the fourth, “We were wondering what the heck is keeping them in the game and then Coach comes in at halftime and tells us they’ve got six offensive rebounds. So I thought, ‘No wonder.’”

Bryon Jansen, a 6-foot-7 senior, led Seattle Christian with 12 points and five rebounds. Only two points and one rebound came in the second half, however.

Chase LaMoreaux added 11 points for Brewster.