After W.F. West’s rivalry game win on Wednesday, Q Davis commented that the Bearcat offense just needed to get guard Ben Ternan going to really be firing on all cylinders.
It turned out to be a good call.
Ternan shot 9 of 18 from the floor and finished with 26 points as the Bearcats (7-7, 5-3 league) got a runaway 68-53 Evergreen 2A Conference win over Black Hills Friday night in Chehalis.
“I think the chemistry of our team got me going,” said Ternan, who pointed out that he hadn’t hit a shot in two games. “They just kept saying, ‘Knock it down,’ and that does it.”
The Bearcats’ other senior starters — Davis and Tyler Coleman — each had four steals and scored 13 and 15 points, respectively, as W.F. West scored 28 points in the fourth quarter to break the game open.
The finish was a full turnabout from the first frame.
“We didn’t get off to a great start,” said W.F. West coach Ryan Robertson, “which oftentimes spells our doom.”
The Wolves jumped out to a 10-3 lead, and got 5 straight points from Anye Turner to lead 17-12 in the second quarter. Turner, a 6-foot-5 forward, did not play in the teams’ first meeting this season, which Chehalis also won.
“That kid is so dangerous,” Robertson said of Turner, who grabbed 13 rebounds, blocked six shots and scored 20 points — all team-highs. “I thought our guys did a good job on him. He worked for his points.”
The Wolves scored 4 quick points to open the final quarter and take a 3-point lead, before the Bearcats went on a 20-2 run that pushed the lead to 15 with 3 minutes remaining.
The raucous crowd — including a W.F. West student section decked out, for the most part, in all-white clothing — had no small impact on the home team’s play.
“It’s awesome,” Ternan said. “I think that’s kind of what we’ve been missing. The team feeds off of it.”
The defense, spearheaded by Coleman and Davis, caused problems for the Wolves throughout the game.
“Even when we were struggling early, our defense was solid,” Robertson said.
The Bearcats shot 47 percent from the floor, but more importantly hit 18 of 23 from the foul line — including 10 of 11 in the fourth quarter.
“For my guys, I think the biggest thing is to relax and play,” Robertson pointed out. “I thought we did a nice job of that in the second half.”
Robertson also commended the play of Yasser Khan off the bench.
Notes: The W.F. West student section’s chants throughout the game included, at various points: the names of both Yasser Khan and Colton Schoelkopf; “We want Peterson,” referring to Black Hills forward, and Naval Academy-bound football player, Cody Peterson; and “Just like football,” in reference to the Bearcats’ 14-0 EvCo-sealing grid win. ... Brock Wade added 11 points on 4 of 7 shooting for W.F. West. ... Coleman pulled down a team-high nine rebounds and — much to the crowd’s delight — partially blocked a dunk attempt from Turner in the third quarter. ... Zeke Baxter scored 15 for River Ridge. ... W.F. West hosts Hoquiam on Tuesday and Tumwater on Thursday.
Tigers Stumble in Tumwater
TUMWATER — The Thunderbirds stormed out to a 21-10 advantage after the first quarter and cruised to a 72-55 over Centralia here Friday night in Evergreen 2A Conference hoops action.
The Tigers fought back — besting Tumwater 16-13 in the second quarter — but the damage had been done.
“They got on us quick with their aggressive defense and just like in the Chehalis game, it got us out of rhythm,” said Centralia coach Ron Brown. “But I was proud of our kids, they came back and made it respectable.”
Tumwater took a 34-26 lead into halftime, then came out in the second half to outscore the Tigers 38-29 while hitting five 3-pointers in the process.
“Those 3-pointers in the second half kind of blew the lead open and we weren’t able to answer,” Brown added.
The Tigers spread the scoring around on Friday night with Easton Masteller leading the way with 12 points, while Dominick Courcy, Andrew Pullin, Tyler Shumate and James Green each scored 8.
“Pullin did a nice job for us,” said Brown. “He showed some signs of being able to help us down the final stretch of the season.”
The T-Birds outrebounded Centralia 21-13 with Green leading the Tigers with 6 boards.
“I was happy with the fact that we played with a lot of energy,” said Brown. “We weren’t as good as them tonight but at least we plaed with a lot more fire.”
The Tigers travel to Aberdeen on Tuesday for a boys-girls doubleheader, with the boys playing in the nightcap at 7:30 p.m.
