For the Bearcats, it was a game to put a bit of a bounce back in their collective step — a rivalry win, with signs that the icy 3-point line may be thawing.
For the Tigers, it was something a bit less inspiring.
W.F. West outscored Centralia 42-20 in the middle quarters and coasted to a 70-45 Evergreen 2A Conference win Wednesday night in boys basketball action at Chehalis.
“They were a nice team tonight,” Tiger coach Ron Brown said of the host Bearcats, “Certainly a better team than us.”
Freshman Brock Wade scored 16, Mitch Gueller added 14 and Q Davis had 13 for the Bearcats, who improve to 4-3 in league.
“It feels real good,” Davis said. “We’ve been slacking lately, but the last couple of practices have been good.”
It was close from the outset, though. Two DeVan Hawes free throws tied the game at 14-all late in the first quarter, but W.F. West went ahead 16-14 on a Zach Flynn jumper and won the second quarter 19-8, behind 7 points off the bench from Yasser Khan.
The Tigers wouldn’t get closer than 11 points the rest of the game.
“I liked our defensive intensity,” Bearcat coach Ryan Robertson said. “We played with that until the last second of the game. I thought we played 32 minutes, real hard.”
Davis was key to that defensive intensity.
“Q’s pressure really set the tone,” Robertson said. “He made it real difficult to get the ball upcourt.”
The Bearcats shot 27 of 51 (53 percent) from the floor, and hit three 3-point goals in the third quarter — two from Tyler Coleman, and one from Davis.
“Shooting hasn’t been our specialty lately,” Davis joked, of the Bearcats’ 1 for 34 figure from long range over their two prior games.
Wade, who got W.F. West going with 6 first-quarter points, was happy to be 1-0 in his career against the rival Tigers.
“It’s always nice to beat ‘em on your home floor,” Wade said.
Centralia’s Steven Hamilton scored a team-high 12 points, with nine rebounds. James Green added 9 for the Tigers (2-12, 0-7 league).
“They’re resilient,” Brown said. “Kids bounce back better than coaches do.”
Notes: W.F. West hosts Black Hills on Friday, and will play five of its next seven games at home. Centralia is at Tumwater on Friday. ... The Tigers were 1 for 12 from long range, while W.F. West was 3 for 14.
