Camas falls to Gonzaga Prep on final day of basketball season

Paul Valencia
ClarkCountyToday.com

TACOMA — The final day of the boys basketball season, and the Camas Papermakers were a part of it in the Tacoma Dome.

No, they did not win the game.

But they won the season.

They even beat history.

“This is the first time Camas has ever been to the dome, let alone to be playing on the last day,” senior Jamison Carlisle said. “It felt really good.”

Gonzaga Prep rallied in the second half to beat Camas 59-51 in the fourth-place game Saturday morning. The Papermakers ended up with a sixth-place trophy, the highest finish in school history and first trophy since 1962.

“This is the perfect way to wrap it up,” said Carlisle, a senior. “This was a tough loss, but to be here on the last day and get sixth in the Tacoma Dome is big.”

“It’s an amazing accomplishment,” Camas coach Ryan Josephson said. “Not everybody gets to end their season on a win.”

Camas jumped out to an eight-point lead in the first quarter. The Bullpups responded in the second quarter, but Camas had an answer: Carlisle scored six consecutive points in the closing minutes of the game to give the Papermakers a three-point lead at the break.

GPrep used a 13-2 run in the third quarter to take the lead for good.

The Papermakers would end up posing for the sixth-place trophy, but they weren’t thrilled with it. And that’s OK.

“I think it’s strangely a good thing that so many of them are upset right now,” Josephson said.

It means the Papermakers have even higher expectations than sixth place.

“Gonzaga Prep is an amazing program. They belong in the upper tier,” Josephson said. “I thought for us to go out there and have a lead at many points of the game and that we played them so close, it says a lot about our guys.”

Carlisle finished with 19 points on 8-for-12 shooting in his final game with the program. Theo McMillan, Beckett Currie, Jace VanVoorhis, and Josh Dabasinskas each had eight points. McMillan had six assists, and Currie had five assists.

The Papermakers wished they had fared better. But they also know this program is on the rise.

“It’s everything,” Carlisle said of his time with the team. “I’ve been hanging out with these boys my whole life. Win or lose, I’m happy to be doing it with them.”