ELMA — With just three games left in the regular season, the Bearcats are rolling.
W.F. West scored at least 20 points in every quarter and had five players in double-figures in an 83-46 drubbing of Elma here Tuesday night in Evergreen 2A Conference boys basketball action.
“They were sitting a game behind us (in the standings) coming into this thing, so we really tried to approach it like a playoff game,” Bearcat coach Ryan Robertson said.
That approach included a quick 8-0 lead — all off of steals — and a 20-point advantage at halftime, against a team the Bearcats beat 69-60 in Chehalis last month.
Mitch Gueller led the way with 16 points, Ben Ternan and Zach Flynn each scored 13, Q Davis notched 11 and Yasser Khan scored 10. All 10 players on the W.F. West roster scored at least 2, and the team shot a fiery 33 of 59 (56 percent) from the field.
Three starters — Davis, Tyler Coleman and Brock Wade — were each saddled with fouls in the second quarter and taken out of the game.
“I didn’t have to put them back in, because our subs played so well,” Robertson said. “Flynn, Khan and (Colton) Schoelkopf all came in, and you didn’t see any drop-off.”
Defensively, W.F. West held Elma’s Garrett Stoney — who scored 33 and 34 in Elma’s two previous games — to 16 points, and no other Eagle scored over 8.
“Really, the key to this one was our defensive energy for 32 minutes,” Robertson said.
The Bearcats also hit 7 of 15 from beyond the 3-point line.
W.F. West will host Aberdeen on Friday in a boys/girls doubleheader. The Bearcats (10-7, 8-3 league) lost the first matchup, in Grays Harbor, 54-45, but lead the Bobcats (7-4 league, third place) by a game in the standings.
