Standing-room-only gym. Nineteen seconds on the clock, down a point, at the free-throw line — with a trip to the state tournament on the line.
Napavine forward Reece Stanley had every right to be nervous.
His coach — and uncle, Rex Stanley — wasn’t.
Stanley’s two foul shots gave Napavine a 37-36 lead, and the Tigers added another free throw after a missed Pe Ell jumper for a 38-36 District IV 2B Boys Basketball Tournament semifinal win on Centralia’s Ron Brown Court Tuesday night.
“I just knew I was gonna make ‘em,” Reece Stanley said. “That’s what you live for.”
Stanley polished off a 13-point, 11-rebound performance at the line, sending Pe Ell into the consolation bracket and punching Napavine’s sixth straight trip to state.
“I couldn’t think of a better guy to go to the line with a trip to state on the line,” Rex Stanley said. “His effort, alone, was unbelievable. If it wasn’t for him, we wouldn’t have been in it at the end.”
Napavine, headed into the game, had a plan: keep the scoring, both ways, under 50.
“We can’t play with them to 70,” Rex Stanley said. “We wanted to crowd Hank (Robinson) and get out on their shooters.”
The plan worked, to some extent, in the first half: The Trojans led 22-14 at the break, but Napavine had nearly as many turnovers (16) as field goal attempts (17). Pe Ell got 12 first-half points from Tyler Ratkie, on 3 of 6 shooting from outside.
After the break, though, Pe Ell went cold, and the Tigers took advantage.
“We stopped making shots,” Trojan coach Clayburn Lusk explained. “We stopped being aggressive, and started settling for long jump shots.”
Pe Ell shot 5 of 25 from the floor in the second half, and made it to the foul line three times. Napavine, meanwhile, attempted 20 foul shots in the second half, hitting 11 — and cut the turnovers down to four.
“Our defense was solid all night,” Rex Stanley said. “We wanted to keep it close, and steal it at the end.”
That’s exactly how it turned out. Napavine got its first lead since the opening minutes late in the third quarter on a Micah Brown jumper, but didn’t lead again until Stanley’s free throws. The Tigers also hit just one field goal — another Micah Brown jumper — in the final quarter.
“We just had a good game plan coming in,” Reece Stanley said. “Even though the shots weren’t falling, we stuck to the game plan and it worked out in the end.”
For Pe Ell, Ratkie finished with 15 and six boards, and Hank Robinson added 11 with five rebounds and four assists. The Trojans turned the ball over just six times in the game, but shot a woeful 12 of 54 from the field (22 percent).
The Tiger coach praised the play of seniors Mason Keller (two steals) and Micah Brown (8 points, eight rebounds) for keeping the team focused through a rough regular season.
The finish sets up the Tigers (14-9) in the District IV title game against Toutle Lake — XX-XX winners over Willapa Valley Tuesday night — on Saturday. The teams split games during the regular season.
Pe Ell will meet Highway 6 rival Adna on Thursday in a loser-out, winner-to-state grudge match. Both games will be played in Chehalis.
The Pirates took both regular season matchups from the Trojans (17-5).
“We’ve had our difficulties with them,” Lusk said. “We know what to expect.”
