Banks, Braves, Sports

Lightning strikes twice: Banks Braves win state basketball championship

Photo: Trevor Beard

FOREST GROVE – Once again this school year, the Banks Braves are state champions with a 62 – 56 win against their rival Seaside Seagulls.

After a season of successes for both teams, Banks prevailed in the championship match for 4A schools at the Forest Grove High School, beating Seaside in a tight match that saw both teams taking the lead before the Banks boys climbed to the lead in the second half.

The Cowapa League rivals played at 3:15 p.m. Saturday, March 9, drawing a large, high-energy crowd in the neighboring city of Forest Grove.

Ending the first half with Seaside in the lead at 29 points and Banks at 22, the Seagulls saw their high of an 11-point gap shrink down and then evaporate as Banks swept up to tie at the end of the third. 

The two teams swapped leads a few times in the last quarter, each spending time in the lead, before the Braves widened the lead, taking the championship with a final score of 62-56

The win marks the second time that the Braves boys have taken a championship this school year, after the team beat Seaside to take the football championship in fall 2018.

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Chas Hundley is the editor of the Banks Post and sister news publications the Gales Creek Journal and the Salmonberry Magazine. He grew up in Gales Creek and has a cat.

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