Mark Morris defeated Ilwaco in the finals to win the 2023 Battle at the Beach championship.

ILWACO — More than a dozen boys basketball teams from around the state and region descended upon Ilwaco to compete in the annual Battle at the Beach tournament last weekend, where the hosting Fishermen reached the championship game before falling to Longview powerhouse Mark Morris.

It was the best-ever Fishermen finish in the deeply competitive field, where Ilwaco notched impressive wins over several bigger schools with rich basketball traditions, including Brewster, W.F. West, Kettle Falls and Astoria before ultimately losing to 2A powerhouse Mark Morris in the championship game.

Other participating teams included Naches, Wahkiakum, Onalaska, Kalama, La Center, Woodland, Hockinson and Granger.

The games were held throughout the day on Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Ilwaco High School and Hilltop Middle School. The games were played under typical high school rules, albeit with a unique format, including two 20-minute halves with a running clock and no 30-second shot clock.

Varsity bracketThe Ilwaco team, featuring five senior starters, dazzled the home crowd throughout the tournament with their competitive play.

“We tied our program’s best finish in the tournament at second place. Losing to an exceptional team and program like Mark Morris is no reason to hang our heads,” reflected Fishermen head coach Eric McMillan.

“One thing I never have to worry about with our boys is how competitive they will be, even when we are outmatched. We may have not had the firepower and size Mark Morris had, but I’m extremely proud of the effort and hustle our boys showed. We had some really good wins this weekend beating Brewster, W.F. West, and Kettle Falls, so it was a great showing by our boys.”

The impressive summer showing against stiff competition was a promising sign for the Fishermen, who will return a strong starting core when the 2023-2024 season officially tips off this fall, including seniors Beckett Turner, Kyle Morris, Sam Needham and Derrick Cutting. Senior Logan Kuhn has also shown strong improvement, McMillan said.

“Only graduating Alex West, we are lucky to have five seniors who know what I expect and a couple underclassmen who are starting to gain more and more confidence. Our biggest mission this summer was to build depth and I like to think we are doing exactly that.

“Beckett Turner, Kyle Morris, Sam Needham, and Derrick Cutting are returning starters for us and Logan Kuhn has been steadily improving from his reserve role last season,” McMillan continued. “Dylan Pelas (sophomore) earned a role on varsity about midway through the season and is getting more confident and is a great defensive stopper for us on the perimeter. Jacob Gordon (sophomore) has gotten better every game and utilizes his length to contribute on the defensive end and is steadily improving on the offensive end of the floor. Robert Sanders (junior) and Cooper Petit (sophomore) got some varsity minutes and are coming along well with more experience as they work to carve out a role on varsity.”

Junior varsitySeven teams participated in the junior varsity Battle and the Beach tournament, including Ilwaco, W.F. West, Granger, Onalaska, Hockinson, Woodland and Kalama.

Ilwaco narrowly lost their first two games to Kalama (34-33) and Woodland (42-38) before notching a win over Granger (41-30). Onalaska eventually won the championship after defeating Ilwaco (51-41), W.F. West (37-28) and Hockinson in the title game.

“Nathan Needham is doing an excellent job working with the JV as they had a good weekend with some of the returning sophomores and incoming freshmen,” McMillan said.

“We haven’t had a ton of time with the younger guys as they are doing Babe Ruth [baseball], but they definitely showed that they are cut from the same cloth as our varsity guys as they really get after it and leave everything out on the floor; really exciting to see the new faces battling like they are.”