WEED – It was everything you’d expect from a Mt. Shasta Bears versus Weed Cougars boys’ basketball game—tons of contact, athletic plays, and a battle to the end. On Tuesday night, it was the Bears that handled the Cougars 50-44 to remain in sole possession of first place in the Shasta Cascade League.

Mt. Shasta opened the game with back-to-back 3-balls from Zack Morris and Gene Kenyon to take a quick 6-1 lead. Weed’s Jake West played long-ball to make it a 6-4 game. J. West then dropped a dime to his big brother Robert West to tie the score at 6-6. Mt. Shasta responded with a 14-2 run to close out the first quarter, capped by a 2/3 court buzzer-beater by Miguel Rodriguez.

R. West broke the run with the first basket of the second frame, making the score 20-10. The Bears extended their lead to 24-10, before Tyler Wilson hit a 3-pointer for Weed to make it 24-13. Mt. Shasta pushed its lead to 16 points, 30-14, when Erik Thelander blocked a shot and then took it coast-to-coast for a lay up. At the intermission Mt. Shasta led 30-17.

Wilson nailed his second 3-pointer of the contest to open the scoring in the second half, cutting the Bears’ lead to 30-20. Trailing 35-26, R. West narrowed the gap to just six points, when he dialed long distance at the buzzer, making the score 35-29.

Weed cut the deficit to four points, 35-31, on a put back by J. West to start the fourth quarter. Rodriguez took the ball to the hole, making it 37-31. After Weed’s Robert Gonzales scored, the Bears went on a mini run of 8-0 to lead 45-33. Kenyon had five points in the run—including a sweet baseline drive.

A pair of J. West freebies and a bucket by Aaron Power-Bearden cut the Bears lead to less than 10 points, 45-38. Trailing 46-37, Power-Bearden converted an old fashion 3-point play, making it a two possession game, 46-40, with 2:02 left to play. Down 47-40, J. West stole a Bears’ in bound pass and turned it into two points, making it 47-42 with less than a minute remaining. However, that was as close as the Cougars would get, as the Bears went on to win 50-44.

Eric Thelander led the Bear attack with 13 points and two blocks. Steven Reed had nine points and 10 boards. Zack Morris and Gene Kenyon each contributed seven points.

Weed was led by Jake West with 13 points and nine rebounds. Robert West put up 10 points and had six boards. Aaron Power-Bearden grabbed five off the glass, and scored nine points. Tyler Wilson had nine points

The Bears lead the SCL at 5-1 followed by Etna at 5-2 and Trinity at 3-2. The Bears have beaten both Etna and Trinity this season. Mt. Shasta will travel to McArthur to take on Fall River this Friday.

Weed dropped to 3-3 in the SCL and will host Trinity on Friday. Weed lost earlier in the SCL season at Trinity.

Junior Varsity

The Weed Cougar JVs continued to roll with a 56-30 win over Mt. Shasta’s JVs. Weed only led 11-9 after the first quarter, but took control in the second quarter, limiting the Bears to just two points. At the half it was Weed 23 – Mt. Shasta 11.

The Cougars extended their lead to 18 points after three quarters, 37-19, and cruised to victory 56-30. Mykeil-Nat White led Weed with 19 points, followed by Roberto Sanchez with 11, and Brandon Ede with 10 points.