Before the basketball season got underway for The Bear Creek School boys’ team, head coach Scott Moe encouraged his players to set their sights high.

On the first day of practice back in November, Moe passed out T-shirts to the team that contained one simple phrase, “SNM5,” which stood for Saturday Night March 5, the final day of the basketball season.

That day, nearly four months later, the Grizzlies beat Colfax, 54-43, at Spokane Arena to earn the Class 2B third-place trophy, the program’s highest finish in school history.

“Normally we never focus on the destination of our journey… but I wanted them to take a moment to think big,” Moe said. “At the time, I had no idea that we’d even be at the state tournament, much less play on Saturday. They exceeded all my expectations, and we got pretty darn close to Saturday night.”

A WILD RIDE

Unlike their Sea-Tac 2B League schedule, when the Grizzlies ran a 12-0 record and outscored their opponents 789-422, the Grizzlies’ road to March 5 was everything but smooth.

They started with a 35-33 defeat to Adna in the first round of state, which sent them to a loser-out contest against Northwest Christian (Lacey) that the Grizzlies dominated 73-49 to earn a spot in the state quarterfinals at Spokane Arena.

After handling Waitsburg-Prescott 58-47 in the quarters, Bear Creek found itself two wins away from the championship trophy.

That title dream was thwarted, however, as the Napavine Tigers jumped out to an early lead and never let the Grizzlies back in, leading to a crushing 53-39 defeat in the semifinals. Defensively, the Grizzlies were rock-solid, but their normally pinpoint shooters simply could not find the net.

“We only had four turnovers, and defensively we did what we wanted,” Moe recalled. “We just didn’t shoot the ball well, we were 7 for 35 from the 3-point line, and they hit some tough shots. It was pretty devastating, but sometimes that’s how the ball bounces.”

After an emotional talk in the locker room, it would have been easy to pack it in and accept the program’s third fifth-place finish in the last four years at state.

But that wasn’t what Moe and his team traveled nearly 600 round-trip miles to do.

“We were able to find comfort in the (Napavine) game, because we played a pretty decent game but the shots just weren’t falling,” said senior post Ryan Strandin. “We knew that if we came out and played our hardest, and if our shots started falling like they usually do, we’d come out with a good result.”

In the 3rd/5th place finals, the Grizzlies led the whole way until Colfax, a team that they dominated 63-33 last year in the 5th/8th place finals, came back to tie it at 38-38 early in the fourth quarter.

Undaunted, Moe’s squad responded with a late 8-0 run to put the game away.

In the win, freshman guard Luke Blankenbeckler drained four 3-pointers in a 15-point performance, followed by senior guard Lucas Peterson ending his Grizzly career with 14 points, his highest total of the tournament.

Also playing in his final game, Strandin added eight points and nine rebounds.

“To be honest, I don’t know how (we bounced back),” Moe admitted. “I told my staff after the Colfax game that I thought we’d lose by 15 or 20. Colfax is really good, and I wasn’t sure we would be able to bounce back from that (loss). But our guys have done it all year.”

Peterson added that the team’s willpower to get over the fifth-place hump gave them extra motivation.

“Once we saw we had a chance to get fifth again, we just put our foot down,” he said. “We wanted third.'”

SENIOR POWER

Last year’s graduating class of seniors Jamie Meyer, Kyle Blankenbeckler and Michael Davisson created big holes in the Grizzlies’ roster, but this year’s departees, Peterson and Strandin, more than filled those gaps with their leadership and talent, according to Moe.

“They’ve had incredible careers, and have worked extremely hard playing spring ball, fall ball, AAU ball, strength training for four years,” he said of his upperclassmen. “I’m extremely proud of them, they both turned into great leaders. They’ve really set a high bar, a high standard, for those guys that come next.”

Peterson and Strandin ended their careers at Bear Creek with a 93-13 record (.877), four league championships, three district championships and three state trophies.

Most importantly, they left their mark on a program that, in the years before they joined, struggled to find its winning ways.

“When I was in middle school, I’d look up at the basketball program, and I knew that when I came in to play I wanted to help change the culture,” said Peterson, who is looking to walk on to a Division III college such as Whitworth in Spokane. “Looking back on my four years, I could see the growth and total change that has occurred in Bear Creek basketball. It’s really great.”

Strandin, who is planning to play at the University of Montana next year, said that this year’s success hinged on the team’s camaraderie being as good as he’s ever seen it.

“Our chemistry on the team was really good, everyone got along,” he noted. “We had some team retreats where the kids really got to know each other and enjoy each other’s company, and I think that showed on the floor.”

In the end, Moe was thrilled that all the hard work, from the spring and summer camps to the shootarounds at Gonzaga University prior to their games at state, paid off.

“We would have never imagined even getting to state, much less getting third,” he said. “You look at all the hard work by not only the players, but coaches, parents, our two great managers. It’s been a huge commitment, great sacrifices, and to see it all come together and be able to celebrate like that was pretty special.”

Slide show photos courtesy of Sini Fernandez and Ron Strandin. Trophy shot courtesy of Sini Fernandez.