No one’s happy after a loss.
For the Bearcats, though, there was a silver lining Tuesday night in Chehalis, where River Ridge clinched the Evergreen 2A Conference boys hoops title with a gritty 68-61 win over the hosts.
“Ultimately, that game’ll help us get better,” W.F. West coach Ryan Robertson said. “I thought we did well.”
Despite the loss, Chehalis wrapped up second place in the league standings, thanks to Tumwater topping Aberdeen 59-58 on Tuesday.
The bigger, faster Hawks made the Bearcats’ situation bleak by shooting a hot 55 percent in the contest, hitting on 6 of 12 long range attempts coming up with a few more big shots late in the game.
The hosts weren’t exactly shooting blanks themselves, though, firing at a 48 percent clip and hitting an eye-popping 8 of 13 from behind the arc.
“I thought we competed well,” W.F. West guard Tyler Coleman said. “It was just a couple of costly turnovers in the second half that made the game.”
The Bearcats ran out to a quick 8-0 lead, but the Hawks took a 32-29 halftime advantage after a second quarter with seven lead changes. Mitch Gueller converted a 3-point play to knot the game at 36 midway through the third quarter, but the Hawks closed out the frame with a 3-pointer to lead by 7.
With 1 minute, 37 seconds left, Brock Wade cut to the hoop and scored to bring the lead down to 3, but River Ridge’s 6-foot-5 center Rayburn Neal scored inside and, after being fouled, added the free throw to put the Hawks up 6 with just over a minute to play. Chehalis wouldn’t score again.
Robertson said the Hawks’ 2-3 zone defense, headed up by 6-3 guard Joel King, was one of the more defenses the team had seen up to this point. In addition, River Ridge’s size and speed kept it one step ahead of the Bearcats’ zone.
“We survive off of pressure,” Robertson added, “and we couldn’t pressure them.”
Gueller and Wade, who scored 11 and 16 points, respectively, both crashed the boards hard, the coach added.
Coleman and Ternan each scored 14 for W.F. West, with Ternan hitting four 3s in the first half.
The Hawks — ranked No. 9 in the latest AP poll — beat W.F. West 72-33 on Jan. 21 in Lacey.
“I think we grew a lot as a team tonight,” Coleman said. “When we get to districts and see teams like (No. 4-ranked) Mark Morris, we’ll be better prepared.”
W.F. West (11-8, 9-4 league) plays at rival Centralia on Thursday in the regular season finale for both teams. With a 9-4 record, the Bearcats are well ahead of Tumwater, Aberdeen and Elma (7-6 apiece) in the EvCo standings with just a game left to play, and will host a first-round District IV 2A Boys Basketball Tournament contest against the No. 3 team from the Greater St. Helens League on Saturday, Feb. 27.
