By John Raffel
Roy Johnston has been coaching boys’ basketball at Beaverton for a long time. But he’s able to especially enjoy that winning feeling this season, as the team has started off 8-0.
“We have a good point guard in Spencer [Johnston], my grandson,” Johnston said. “Hogan Hayes has added a good scoring punch for us. I have another grandson, a sophomore, Carter [Johnston], who hits from the outside. We have another kid, Ryan Duvall, who is getting on the boards pretty good and is playing some good defense. Ron Remer is improving weekly, which is really good.”
The Beavers aren’t that tall, Johnson admits, with the tallest player regular player measuring 6’1″. A substitute center is 6’4″.
Spencer Johnston, a senior, is averaging 20 points and nine assists per game. “He’d rather pass the ball a lot of times than shoot it,” Coach Johnston said. ‘He’s pretty quick. He drives the basket good and penetrates really well. If you’re open, you’re going to get the ball.”
Hayes is a 6’1″ junior who plays wing or guard. He averages more than 16 points a game.
Carter Johnson, a sophomore and Spencer’s brother, also plays guard, with eight points a game. He was the team’s sixth or seventh man as a freshman. “Spencer just goes, goes, goes,” Coach Johnston said. “Carter is more of a thinker. He’s not playing up and down the court like that.”
Duvall is a senior forward. “He’s hitting the boards pretty good and plays pretty good defense for us.”
The coach continued his player evaluations by adding that Remer “has been doing a pretty good job defensively inside, and he’s improving every week, which we have to have out of him. He’s only 6’1″, so he has to play pretty hard.”
The team’s potential depends on how much it improves, according to Johnston. “Other teams get better throughout the year,” he said. “We have to make sure we’re concentrating on getting better. We have some real good talent. It’s just a matter of how much improvement we make the rest of the year on how far we go.”
Johnston’s first year as coach at Beaverton was 1974. Not only has he not missed a year, but neither has he missed a game. “In 1984, when I had my son play for me, the father of these three grandsons I had play, we went to the semifinals. We’re usually fairly good. We’ve been in the quarters and regionals quite regularly. Last year in the regional finals we lost in overtime when Spencer fouled out. It depends. You have to be a little lucky.”
The closest scare the Beavers have had this year was a 42-41 victory over Clare on the road. The two teams have a rematch later this season in Beaverton.