Call it a football hangover or general complacency, whatever was holding back Seaside’s boys basketball team early in the season seems to have lifted.
The top-ranked Seagulls (9-2), virtually intact from last year’s repeat 4A championship team, showed what they can do last weekend with an impressive run through the Oregon Holiday Hoopfest at Summit High School in Bend.
They took out two 6A schools in South Eugene and Bend to reach the final of the eight-team bracket, where they came from behind to beat reigning 5A champion Thurston 49-45. Losses to two 4A contenders -- co-No. 2 Marshfield and No. 6 Stayton -- in the first 10 days of the season have faded for Seaside, which has eight players from the state runner-up football team.
“It took us a while to get going after football season,” coach Bill Westerholm said. “We had that loss at Stayton that kind of woke us up. The last two weeks of practice, we’ve kind of been energized after Stayton.
“I’m not sure if it was because of the late start from football. I’m not sure if we weren’t just going through the motions, thinking that everything was going to be given to us. But even though we have everybody coming back, the kids understand that this is a new season and nothing is going to be given to us.”
Since scheduling for the Oregon Holiday Hoopfest in the spring, the Seagulls were hoping to meet Thurston, according to Westerholm. And they got their wish.
“We thought it would be kind of cool to get an opportunity to play Thurston in the championship,” Westerholm said. “We figured Thurston would be in the championship, and we knew we had to play really well to get there.”
Seaside trailed Thurston 31-22 in the third quarter, but senior guard Payton Westerholm sparked the Seagulls with back-to-back three-pointers, and when senior guard Chase Januik hit another triple with 3:25 left in the game, they led 42-40. Junior wing Ryan Hague made five free throws in the last minute to secure the win.
Before the tournament, Bill Westerholm said he heard plenty of talk about how the Seagulls faced an uphill battle against the bigger schools. Seaside’s enrollment of 377 is dwarfed by that of South Eugene (1,371), Bend (1,558) and Thurston (1,143).
“I told them if we win a game I’ll be kind of happy,” the coach said. “But I also added on that I wouldn’t be surprised if we won it all, knowing what these kids can do.”
The Seagulls got their feet wet at the tournament with a 68-51 win over South Eugene (8-3) as Januik scored 29 points. The next day, Hague scored 23 points to lead a 61-59 win over Bend (5-4).
Bill Westerholm said he didn’t think the Axe took Seaside very seriously, but the Seagulls had the full attention of Bend, which scouted the South Eugene game.
“They were ready for us. They knew what they were getting into,” he said of the Lava Bears. “And Thurston definitely wasn’t looking by us, by any means.”
The coach said he believes it took the Seagulls a while to emotionally recover from football season. The team had only four practices together before opening the season with a 47-43 loss at Marshfield. Eight days later, they lost at Stayton 56-49.
“Both of those teams are final-eight type teams,” Bill Westerholm said. “Both of those teams have an opportunity to win it all, as well.”
Seaside is loaded with experience. Januik and Payton Westerholm, second-team all-state picks last year, started on the last two state championship teams. Hague, senior post Duncan Thompson and junior wing Beau Johnson were starters last season. Junior wing Brayden Johnson is back in his sixth-man role.
Januik is averaging a team-high 18.5 points and Westerholm and Hague are averaging 12.0 points each. Januik and Westerholm are shooting about 45 percent from three-point range.
“A lot of teams have been gearing up to figure out how to beat us,” said Bill Westerholm, in his 21st season as the team’s coach. “We had a bullseye on our back last year, and I think this year we’ve got a bigger bullseye. I think our kids are understanding that.”
