The Central 2B League proved just a bit tougher than its Pacific counterpart in the opening round of the District IV 2B Boys Basketball Tournament.
In a curious first day of play, White Pass upset Wahkiakum, Mossyrock kept South Bend at bay, Napavine thrashed North Beach and Toutle Lake powered by Northwest Christian.
The aforementioned winners play on Wednesday, while the losers play again on Saturday.
Viks Hold Off South Bend
ROCHESTER — Mossyrock played three solid quarters and held its collective breath through the fourth for a 47-44 District IV 2B Boys Basketball Tournament win over South Bend here Wednesday.
Mossyrock went into the fourth quarter leading 45-35 and, with a little over 5 minutes to play, scored for the last time of the night to push the lead to 47-35. The Indians chipped away at the lead, finally cutting it to 3 points on a bucket from Ty Lorton with 1:23 left.
Over the course of a nail-biting final 66 seconds, the Viks were whistled for travelling, threw a rebound out of bounds and missed three straight free throws. The Indians, though, missed a series of 3s and managed to toss a rebound of their own out of play.
“It was kind of nerve-racking there at the end,” Viking coach Chad Mitchell said. “We started playing tentative, and you’ve still got to be aggressive.”
Defensively, though, Mossyrock managed to hold South Bend brothers David and Ty Lorton to 8 and 6 points, respectively.
“They’ve got some great shooters. I thought we did a good job of getting through screens and getting a hand in their faces,” Mitchell said.
Offensively, the Vikings came out looking more like Princeton than a team that finished sixth in the seven-team Central 2B League. The Vikings found a hole in South Bend’s 1-2-2 zone defense, continually hitting Jordan Bradley in the high post and finding cutters for easy buckets. In the first half, Mossyrock hit three free-throws and scored the remainder of its points on lay-ups and point-blank jumpers.
Bradley led Mossyrock (9-11) with 13 points. Jordan Bowman and Austin Anderson each added 9, as the Viks shot 20 of 49 (41 percent) from the floor.
“It’s huge for them,” Mitchell said of his team, which lost its first five C2BL games but has won four of its last five. “Just to see how much we’ve improved — we’re doing a lot better job of taking care of the ball and rebounding.”
Mossyrock (9-11 overall) will face off with Pe Ell on Wednesday night in Rochester. South Bend will wait for Saturday, when it plays the loser of Wednesday’s Adna/Toutle Lake contest.
Panthers Shake Up Wahkiakum
ROCHESTER — The District IV 2B Boys Basketball Tournament got off to a predictably unpredictable start here Monday, with White Pass, the Central 2B League’s last-place team sending No. 3 Wahkiakum into the consolation bracket with a 58-55 win.
Trevor Blackburn scored all 12 of his points in the second half and held Cody Olsen, the leading scorer in District IV, to 12 points and just a single field goal in the second half.
“I’m just proud of the kids,” Panther coach Tony Gillispie said. “Obviously, we’re a seventh-place team, and at times we didn’t look great.”
At other times, though, the Panthers looked very tough. Trailing by 5 at halftime, White Pass rattled off a quick 16-2 run, started by a pair of 3-point buckets from Blackburn, and led by 6 going into the fourth quarter.
A string of Panther turnovers midway through the fourth helped the Mules cut the lead to just a point with about 30 seconds left in the contest. Kyle Kelly converted a pair of free throws to push the lead back up to 56-53, but Olsen answered with a bucket to bring the Mules back within a point with under 20 seconds to play.
Cameron Sume, though, absorbed a foul and hit both free throws with 7.9 seconds on the clock to seal the victory.
“We handled it, for the most part, pretty well,” Gillispie said, of taking down an experience Wahkiakum team. “We hung in there.”
Kelly led White Pass with 14 points, including 9 in the second half. Devin Sume had 11, Cameron Sume finished with 8, and the Panthers (6-14 overall) shot 10 of 14 from the foul stripe. John Chambers led Wahkiakum with 19 points.
The win puts the Panthers in a quarterfinal matchup with Willapa Valley — the No. 2 seed from the Pacific 2B League — Wednesday night in Montesano. Wahkiakum will play the Napavine/Naselle loser on Saturday.
Tigers Truck Past North Beach
ROCHESTER — Before Monday afternoon’s District IV 2B tournament matchup with North Beach, Napavine coach Rex Stanley stressed to his team the importance of not letting the Hyaks hang around.
The Tigers then proceeded to run over, around and through North Beach for a 77-43 victory.
The opposition hanging around, as it turned out, wasn’t much of an issue.
“Any time you get a district win, we’ll take it,” Stanley said. “I was really happy with our approach.”
The Tigers led by 10 in the first quarter, stretched the lead to 20 in the second quarter and had the Hyaks running 30 points behind in the third.
Colton Brown led the way with 18 points and seven rebounds, twins Trevor and Jordan Brown scored 12 apiece, and Reece Stanley scored 8 and grabbed nine rebounds.
Napavine also dominated the boards, holding a 53-28 rebounding advantage and scoring 26 second-chance points.
“We were bigger and stronger inside,” Stanley said. “That was basically the game.”
The win puts Napavine (12-9 overall) up against Naselle — which the Tigers knocked out of the district tournament last year — Wednesday night in Montesano. North Beach, on Saturday, will play the Willapa Valley/White Pass loser.
Ducks Hold Off NWC
ROCHESTER — Toutle Lake spotted Northwest Christian (Lacey) 10 points here Monday afternoon, and still picked up a win.
The Navigators raced out to a 10-0 lead, but the Ducks quickly found their groove and answered with a 15-0 run before holding on late in a 55-49 victory.
Dan Schilter led Toutle Lake with 18, Anthony Heintzman added 12 and Chris Foster had 10 for the winners. Steven Dunn had 16 and Robbie Groeschell 11 for the Navigators.
Toutle will play Adna back in Rochester on Tuesday, while Northwest Christian will wait for Saturday to play the loser of Wednesday’s Pe Ell/Mossyrock contest.
