Bruins liven up with tournament title

The Bear River boys basketball team began to find its stride last weekend in winning the Live Oak Tournament in impressive fashion. The Bruins picked up two double-digit victories and a buzzer-beating triumph on a half-court heave to win the tournament. The tournament title came at a crucial time for the young Bruins, and head coach Randy Billingsley felt this could be the turning point in their season. "We have a lot of great energy and we're really young in a lot of positions," Billingsley said. "Out of our top seven or eight guys, I think four guys are sophomores. We have two seniors in that whole group so there's a lot of youthful energy and positive attitude. Guys are starting to buy in, I believe, now, which is really the most fun part of basketball." The Bruins opened the tournament with a 66-55 victory over Oroville, but the most dramatic triumph came in the semifinals against former Pioneer Valley League foe Sutter. Bear River trailed by five with under a minute to play, but a 3-point shot and basket inside had the game tied at 55. Bear River squandered a chance to take the lead and turned it over, giving the Huskies the ball with a chance to win the game with four seconds remaining. As Sutter looked to push it up the floor, the ball was stolen by Bear River sophomore Kyle Smith near midcourt with just enough time for him to take one step and heave a Hail Mary at the buzzer. Smith's shot banked off the backboard and into the hoop, securing a 58-55 victory and sending the Bruins to the tournament championship. "Our athletic director, who is a former coach here and was my assistant last year, said that he thinks that's probably the best buzzer beater in the history of Bear River basketball. At least in his 30 years there," Billingsley said. "It was incredible for us and it was a heartbreaker for them." Not only was the buzzer beater an emotional and convincing turn for the Bruins, Billingsley said the game was the most growth he's seen from the team so far. "That was kind of the moment I saw us growing up," Billingsley said. "It was kind of a frantic ending. It was kind of one of those moments that you just don't have very often in high school basketball. I think I've been on the other end of that type of buzzer beater more than I've been on the good side of one." The Bruins kept the momentum going in Saturday's championship game, defeating Colusa 73-57 behind a 25-point effort from Smith. Luke Jeffers grabbed 12 rebounds and had three assists. Smith was named tournament MVP. Bear River (5-3) will be in action at the Justin Gardner Memorial Tournament at Nevada Union starting Thursday against Northern Section power Redding-Enterprise. The Bruins will host the Nathan Cavolt Bruin Challenge from Dec. 26-28 in Lake of the Pines. Billingsley said he was pleased with what he saw in Live Oak, adding the next two weeks are crucial as they are the last tournaments for the Bruins before Pioneer Valley League play begins in January. Said Billingsley, "For us, it's more a matter of just getting repetitions offensively and making right reads. We have kids who can play basketball, but they're still young when it comes to varsity basketball and things that they thought would be open when they were JV players, they're just not open now. Over the last the first four or five games, we struggled defensively. The last four or five games we're starting to come into our own and play that typical Bear River basketball."