The W.F. West Bearcats’ fire and the improved play was evident on Thursday night in Chehalis in their District 4 2A play-in game against Washougal.
The shots just didn’t fall when they were most needed.
In his final game in a Bearcat uniform, senior Adam Schwarz posted 21 points and one thunderous dunk, but it was the Panthers who advanced to the District 4 2A Boys Basketball Tournament with the 46-41 victory.
“I wish we would've had a better shooting night,” W.F. West coach Chris White said. “I was proud of the way the kids played. We just had to hit more shots.”
The Bearcats shot 31 percent from the field and scored just 6 points in the second quarter, but kept themselves in the game with tenacious defense. With seniors Nolan Hawkins, Garrett Yarter and Schwarz all trying to keep their season alive, the game rarely tipped in either team’s favor by more than a few points.
“These seniors have seen some tough nights and it was nice to be able to do what we’ve done the past four games for them,” White said.
Indeed, the past four games for the Bearcats — who went winless last season — were all decided by less than 2 points. The Bearcats fell at Black Hills on Feb. 2, 51-49; dropped a Swamp Cup stunner, 47-46, to Centralia on Feb. 4; and outlasted Evergreen 2A/1A League co-champion Aberdeen, 42-41, in their first District 4 pigtail game on Tuesday.
“It was a good win from the program against Aberdeen and it showed nice improvement by us,” White said. “We just would have also liked to keep playing after this one.”
W.F. West jumped out to a 7-2 lead with 5:28 left in the first quarter against Washougal but the Panthers ended the stanza on a 9-3 run for an 11-10 lead. Schwarz put the Bearcats up again with a bucket to begin the second quarter — which saw just three field goals made by both teams — and both teams were tied 16-16 at halftime.
The scoring pace picked up considerably in the third quarter, as Washougal started the second half off on a 6-0 run for a 22-16 lead at the 4:17 mark. Brandon White then hit a 3-pointer for the Bearcats and Schwarz dunked in traffic over a Washougal player — much to the delight of the Chehalis crowd — then sunk an and-1 to tie things up 22-22.
“That was a lot of fun,” Chris White said of Schwarz’ dunk. “It was kind of like ‘Alright, here we go, that’s a momentum getter,’ and we just weren’t able to capitalize on it and get rolling.”
Washougal built its lead back up to 30-24 with less than a minute to go before Nole Wollan and Schwarz each hit a pair of free throws to pull it to within 30-28 heading into the fourth quarter.
Schwarz nailed a 3-pointer to begin the fourth for a 31-30 Bearcat lead, but Washougal replied with a 7-0 run. Schwarz and Dakota Hawkins would score the next 8 points for W.F. West to pull within 41-39 but a late turnover meant the Bearcats had to start fouling.
“In the third and fourth quarter we were executing things more cleanly and we were finding the right people,” White said. “Things were looking promising and we had that last play, looking for a post feed, that would have tied things up and couldn’t convert. We had to start fouling then.”
Wollan put in a 2-point shot to pull to 43-41 with eight seconds left, but Washougal then put in just one of its two free throws and the Bearcats looked as if they could keep their season alive. Another late-game turnover, however, put the ball back over into the Panthers hands, where it stayed until they were able to draw a foul, hit two more free throws and ice the victory.
Along with Schwarz’s 21 points, the Bearcats got 6 points from both Hawkins and Wollan. Washougal had an equally tough shooting night, hitting 34 percent of their shots but going 16 of 18 from the foul line.
W.F. West was 11 of 14 from the free throw line.
“Adam was really aggressive tonight and some of the young guys we sprinkled in also played well,” White said. “The future looks bright. We’ve got a great coaching staff and youth with a lot of positives.”
W.F. West will return two juniors and seven sophomores from this year’s squad. The Bearcats finished the year 5-17 overall and had lost previously to Washougal in the regular season, 56-51, on Dec. 17.
The win means Washougal moves to the District 4 tournament as a No. 4 seed, and will face Greater St. Helens 2A Conference champ Mark Morris in Longview on Saturday.
