2A Boys: Tight Game, Wild Finish in Tigers' Rivalry Win

For all the back-and-forth, and all the tension, and all the emotion, it came down to the simple things.

Simple, like Nolan Wasson picking up a loose ball that happened to be headed his way and flipping it off the glass and into the hoop for the easiest 2 of his game-high 16 points on Thursday night in Chehalis.

Simple, like a missed free throw on the other end — with half a second left — clinching the Tigers’ 47-46 rivalry win over W.F. West, even if there were a few complications towards the end of what was a tooth-and-nail game throughout.

The game featured 19 lead changes, with far more missed 3-pointers (32) than turnovers (17) between the two squads, and a wild final act that hit its peak when Wasson found the ball in his hands.

Jordan Thomas — inserted into the game less than a minute earlier, when a fifth foul had forced the Tigers to sub for the first time all game — drove to the hoop on what turned out to be Centralia’s last possession. He saw forward Layne Pertzborn under the hoop and made a pass, which went through Pertzborn’s hands and bounced across the key to Wasson.

“It bounced our way on that one. It was kind of a fumblitis, fumbled, kicked, and a lost ball, and he comes up with it,” Brown said.

Centralia guard Deter Voetberg declined to classify the play as lucky.

“I mean, it was a good decision to drive, so (Thomas) did a good job there,” Voetberg said. “But the ball definitely did bounce the right way.”

Wasson laughed off an explanation.

“Basically it just fell into my lap,” Wasson said. “It’s a little bit of destiny right there, I guess, but it felt good. I got a big smile when it landed right in my hands.”

The layup gave Centralia a 47-45 lead with 7.3 seconds left, and provided just enough of a cushion for the win.

Voetberg scored 14 points and Christian Peters added 13 for the Tigers, who didn’t sub until the final minute of action.

“It’s not an easy challenge when we say to them that they’re going to go the whole way — don’t foul, don’t get hurt, and stay cool,” Brown said of his starters. “So it’s kind of tough, and it’s a credit to our two subs (Thomas and Isaiah Trevino). They had to be ready, and they went in and knew what they were doing.”

The Bearcats stretched out the biggest lead of the game in the third quarter, blanking the Tigers for the first seven minutes to go on a 10-0 run and pull ahead 31-24.

Centralia, though, got back-to-back 3s from Voetberg and Wasson to cut that lead to 1 heading into the final quarter.

After four lead changes in the fourth quarter’s first four minutes, Adam Schwarz converted a 3-point play to put the Bearcats up 4 and mark the final stanza’s only two-possession separation. Peters, though, answered with a falling-back 3 on the other end, and Pertzborn added a pair of free throws that gave Centralia the lead.

After a missed Bearcat 3, Voetberg scored on a backdoor cut and pass from Peters, putting the Tigers up 3 just before things started to get interesting.

Schwarz drove from the corner and drew Cale Shute’s fifth foul, forcing the Tigers’ first substitution with a minute left. Schwarz hit 1 of 2, and Nole Wollan stole an inbounds pass and drew a foul 10 seconds later for his own trip to the foul line.

Wollan hit both free throws, and the foul was Voetberg’s fifth, requiring another sub by the Tigers with 34 seconds to go and the game tied.

Centralia worked the clock on its next possession before the ball wound up in Wasson’s hands. After the bucket, Wollan made a strong drive to the basket and drew contact but not a foul, only to see his lay-up rim out. Brandon White grabbed the board, drew a foul putting the ball back up and headed to the foul line with five-tenths of a second left.

“I loved the attack Wollan had on the rim. That’s a great look he gave us right there,” Bearcat coach Chris White said. “Brandon White crashed the boards, and didn’t make the free throws like we were hoping, but that’s the way it goes sometimes.”

Schwarz led W.F. West with 13 points. The Bearcats lost 71-43 in Centralia back on Jan. 15.

“The main thing that’s glaring to me is just the effort is up,” White, in his first year as the Bearcats’ head coach, said. “People are caring. They’re playing really hard, and that’s really positive. That’s just what I want to see from my guys.”

Wollan scored 10 for W.F. West, while Garrett Yarter knocked down a trio of 3-pointers for 9 points. Nolan Hawkins added a game-high six rebounds.

All in all, though, the Bearcats went 7 of 30 from behind the 3-point line, and 7 of 14 from inside it.

“We just took way too many 3-pointers,” White said, referencing the stats. “It tells me we should have attacked more. Shots like Wollan had at the end, more of that would have been helpful.”

W.F. West finishes the regular season with a 4-16 record, and an 0-6 mark in EvCo play. The Bearcats, though, still have postseason play ahead of them, with a play-in game against Aberdeen — a 2A school playing a technically independent schedule — in Chehalis on Tuesday night. The winner of that game will host the fifth-place team out of the Greater St. Helens 2A Conference on Feb. 11 in a District 4 pigtail game for the No. 4 EvCo seed into the tournament.

“I’m really proud of how hard they’re working, and I’m very blessed that we have a new season on Tuesday,” White said. “We’re seeing the light, we’re seeing the positives, and the potential to do something here.”

Centralia’s previous win over W.F. West was helped along by guard Hodges Bailey, who scored 36 points in three quarters of action. Bailey has since been ruled out for the remained of the season with a fracture in his right foot.

“He’s definitely missed out there, for sure, offensively and defensively,” Voetberg said. “We just need to figure out better ways of getting shots.”

The Tigers’ offense hit a few lulls on Thursday, most notably in the third-quarter drought.

“I knew going in it was going to he hard,” Brown said. “We’ve lost so much manpower, and we don’t score with ease. Everything has to be really gutted out.”

Centralia shot 18 of 41 from the field (44 percent), but just 4 of 13 from long range. The Tigers were also outrebounded, 21-13.

Still, Brown said, the win will be a boost heading into the postseason.

“Every win’s a boost,” Brown said. “A loss going in would have been more of a disaster, but the practices will be better because of it.”

Centralia (9-11, 3-3 league) is a half-game behind Black Hills for second in the four-team EvCo standings, though the Wolves close out the season against first-place Tumwater on Friday night. Should the teams wind up tied in the final standings, the tiebreaker will be based on point differential in league games. Centralia’s final point differential is negative-7; Black Hills’ is plus-1 going into the Tumwater game, meaning Centralia will place second if Black Hills loses by more than 8 points.

A second-place finish means Centralia hosts its first-round District 4 tournament game next Friday against the GSHL third-place team; a third-place finish means the Tigers are on the road against the GSHL runner-up.