Camas downs Union for share of first league title since 2011 — a win fueled by a holiday pep talk and a late-night text

Carson Frawley led Camas past Union's furious comeback effort. The performance was a product of a late-December talk with his coach.

CAMAS, Wash. — Carson Frawley’s phone lit up Monday night with a text from Camas coach Ryan Josephson. The head coach was reminding him of a conversation they had after losing in the finals of a holiday tournament in late December.

It was then Josephson felt Frawley shied away in the fourth. He was terse. 

You’re the best player on the floor. Be confident in yourself.

Josephson’s text Monday was a reminder to his team’s leader of how much he’s blossomed since.

“Tomorrow’s no different,” Josephson wrote.

Those words were on Frawley’s mind in the fourth quarter Tuesday night as he scored eight of his 19 points — including a chase-down block, a two-handed dunk in transition and a key free throw — in the final seconds to lift the Papermakers (18-2, 5-1 4A GSHL) to their biggest win of the season. 

Camas, SBLive’s No. 5 team in 4A, held off a furious late rally to beat No. 2 Union 80-77 and force a share of the 4A Greater St. Helens League title, its first since 2011. 

The two split the regular season series 1-1 and play again at 6 p.m. at Heritage High School for the top 4A GSHL seed in the 4A District 3/4 tournament, which starts Saturday.

The 6-foot-5 senior forward, averaging a team-high 21 points per game, relishes Josephson’s critical encouragement, and feels he’s earned his coach's trust.

“I put hours and hours in the gym with (Josephson) at 6 a.m.,” Frawley said. “He’s not just saying that. He’s seen me put in all the work.”

He went straight to the free throw line after the sardine-like packed gym cleared out. and building staff cleaned up the bleachers. He couldn’t shake going 1 for 3 at the line in the final seconds. 

Camas hopped up to an early double-digit lead, pushed its lead into the 20s and led wire-to-wire. But it took more than just Frawley to stave off Union’s furious comeback. And they didn’t want to lose to the Titans the same way they did at Union on Jan. 12 — in comeback fashion.

Porter Hill stole a baseline inbound and finished an open laying to cut Camas’ lead to 79-77 with 11.9 seconds left. 

Frawley was fouled on the other end with 6.1 seconds left and missed the front end of a one-and-one, but got the rebound and was fouled again. 

He made the first, but missed the second. Union guard Bryson Metz zoomed down the court and hoisted a contested 3 that would have sent the game to overtime as the buzzer sounded, but it rimmed off. 

Union (16-4, 6-1) has dominated the league and region in recent years, and appeared poised to pull a rabbit out of a hat once more Tuesday night. 

The win cleared a mental hurdle for a Papermakers team set on making a run at March’s 4A state tournament.

“Guys understood what beat us last time,” Josephson said.

Camas scored 30 points in the first quarter and senior Stephen Behil led the early charge, scoring 14 of his 17 points in the first half. Freshman guard Beckett Currie scored eight of his 14 points (and four 3s) in the third quarter as Camas built its 20-plus point lead. Theo McMillan had eight assists.

Yanni Fassilis had a game-high 21 points and Metz added 17 for the Titans, passing the 1,000-point career scoring mark.

“I’m really proud of the guys,” Josephson said. “They started the season with huge ambitions on what they could accomplish and made sure to put in the work months in advance. They were united in that effort.”

Especially Frawley, who tied Camas’ scoring record in January with 43 points, then broke it with 44 last week against Marshfield of Oregon. The record previously stood for 58 years.

He'll carry all of it — the confidence, the late-game clarity — into Wednesday's seeding game, which was arranged by a league vote because of the disparity between the first two district seeds (4A GSHL No. 1 gets a state berth with one win; No. 2 must win three loser-outs).

It all traces back to a Dec. 30 loss to Mission Hills (Calif.), the title game of the Holiday Classic Presented by SBLive Sports.

“Ever since that moment, I haven’t looked back,” Frawley said.

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