MWP's Josh Salguero (44) takes a shot over Napavine's defender Kieth Olsen (44) during a Central 2B League boys basketball game Friday night in Napavine.
MWP's Hayden Young (11) goes up to block a shot by Napavine's Gavin Parker (10) during a Central 2B League boys basketball game Friday night in Napavine.
MWP's coach Chad Cramer yells to players during a Central 2B League boys basketball game Friday night in Napavine.
MWP's Josh Salguero (44) strips Napavine's Cade Evander (34) of a rebound during a Central 2B League boys basketball game Friday night in Napavine.
Mossyrock junior Aidan Weist pulls up for a halfcourt shot at the halftime buzzer during the Vikings match at Toledo Friday night.
Images from a Central 2B League boys basketball game between Napavine and Morton-White Pass played Friday night in Napavine.
NAPAVINE — There’s nearly four weeks remaining until the playoffs begin in earnest but neither Morton-White Pass nor Napavine showed any interest in waiting any longer before they uncorked some intensity here on Friday night.
In a raucous gymnasium that began as half full and ended with everyone on their feet the Timberwolves were able to eke out a 62-61 victory over the hosts in a double-overtime rendition of some hard scrabble Central 2B League boys basketball.
“Both of us were battling foul trouble all night and I think they’re a little deeper than we are,” said Napavine coach Rex Stanley. “We’ve got a young team and you get into late game situations and try to protect a lead and those are things that you can only get better at by going through it. To try to simulate what we went through tonight you can only do by going through the fire.”
Josh Salguero, a 6’4” freshman post from MWP, earned his first start of the season just in time to square off with Keith Olson, Napavine’s 6’5” behemoth on the baseline. All the freshman from East Lewis County did with the opportunity was go off for a double-double with team-highs in points (15) and rebounds (10).
“It was my first game starting this year so it was pretty exciting and it was a real fun game playing against Keith,” said Salguero as friends, family, and fans dappled in green and orange chanted his name postgame. “It’s my first time playing against a real big post that’s bigger than me. It was hard holding Keith down.”
It may have been tough, but Salguero took the assignment in stride as he held Olson, who is averaging a healthy double-double on the season, to just eight points and a dozen rebounds. Fellow titan of the Tigers front court, Cade Evander, was also held in check by the T-Wolves defense as he settled for 10 points and 11 rebounds on the night.
“We’ve been bringing him along slowly and he’s really proven the last few games that he’s ready. Josh (Salguero) is immensely talented and he’s big bodied and that does help against Keith,” said MWP coach Chad Cramer of his diaper dandy. “We held them to 61 points in a double overtime game so defensively we were doing okay. Our game plan was to make somebody else besides Keith beat us and they almost did.”
The T-Wolves came out of the first quarter with a two point lead but wound up trailing by two points before heading to halftime to talk things over.
Napavine also did some talking around the whiteboard, though, and used their newfound strategy to rattle off an 18-8 advantage in the third quarter to grab what felt like a safe, if not insurmountable, lead with only eight minutes remaining in regulation.
With the T-Wolves focused on limiting open looks for Napavine’s formidable front court somebody else was forced to take their shot on offense and that person was Caleb Perz-Stewart. The 6’2” wing posted a game-high 20 points on 9 of 19 shooting. Perz-Stewart was particularly effective in the third quarter when Napavine tried their best to run away with the game for good.
“With our size of Keith and Cade that’s problem number one for everyone to deal with and they were kind of picking their poison and decided to make Caleb hit some shots and he came through in a big way,” said Stanley.
Cramer put Perz-Stewart’s night into different context.
“He got every open look he could ask for tonight and he shot the crap out the ball,” said the T-Wolves coach.
Trailing by eight points as they started the fourth quarter MWP elected to engage in a full court press in order to get Napavine out of their comfort zone and the plan worked perfectly. In less than four minutes they’d cut their deficit in half and then a wet baseline jumper from Salguero with 1:30 remaining in regulation gave the T-Wolves a 44-43 lead. It was their first advantage since early in the second quarter.
After Evander sank a pair of free throws on the Tigers ensuing possession to give the home team a one point lead with 46 seconds remaining the
T-Wolves managed to get a representative to the line and watched with bated breath as Kysen Collette knocked down one of his freebies to tie the game up at 45-45 and send the game to overtime.
Keith Olson had to sink a pair of free throws with ten seconds remaining in the first overtime period in order to force a second round of extra basketball. In that final overtime period several players tried to play hero. First Gary
Dotson dropped in a putback off a rebound and then Layten Collette got loose for a fastbreak bucket to give MWP a four point lead. Then, with twenty seconds left in the game Cael Stanley sank a cold blooded 3-pointer to knot the game up at 58-58.
Morton-White Pass was able to steal a quick bucket and then a pair of free throws by Hayden Young gave the T-Wolves a four point lead that wound up neutralizing a last-second 3-pointer from Stanley that ripped the net as time expired and Tigers looking at a one-point loss.
Young added 13 points to the MWP tally while Layten Collette chipped in 11 points and five steals.
After the game Rex Stanley called the game an authentic roundball battle that’s indicative of the cutthroat nature of the C2BL this year.
“I think it’s the whole league, honestly. I think top to bottom it’s as competitive as I’ve seen and I’ve been in this league for a long time,” said Stanley. “As much as that loss hurts for us, and it’s a tough one, all you can do is learn from it and get better before the playoffs.”
As for Cramer, he was disappointed that his team knocked down just 14 of 32 free throw attempts and lamented that a better effort would have allowed everyone to make it home a bit earlier. He then added a caveat that sounded as though he were speaking in bolded font.
“I never feel bad about a win. Ever. Wins in this league are incredibly difficult to get, especially on the road, so I’ll take them however I can get them,” said Cramer. “There are no style points in sports. It is a bottom line business.”
Morton-White Pass (7-8, 3-2 league) will host Toutle Lake on Wednesday.
Napavine (9-4, 1-3 league) will play at Mossyrock on Wednesday.
WINLOCK — The Cardinals rebounded from a blown double-digit fourth quarter lead to fend off Wahkiakum, 68-55, in overtime here Friday night in a Central 2B League matchup.
Four Cardinals registered double-digit scoring with senior Bryce Cline leading the way with a team-high 16 points, senior Noah Patching contributing 15, sophomore Nolan Swofford 14 and senior Coleson Richendollar 12.
“I’m really happy we survived overtime,” Winlock coach Nick Bamer said.
Winlock raced out to a 48-37 lead after three frames, only to see the Mules break off 21 fourth-quarter points behind a bombardment of free throws. But the Cardinals hit free throws when it mattered, sinking 3 of 4 in the final 30 seconds to pull out the win.
“We played well enough,” Bamer said. “We made free throws when we needed to and withstood their barrage of free throws.”
Winlock (9-2, 0-2) faces Naselle at Lower Columbia College Monday at 1:30 p.m.
TOUTLE — Onalaska couldn’t break a red-hot Toutle Lake’s six-game win streak, falling 63-45 to the Ducks Friday on the road in a Central 2B League matchup.
The Loggers lost for the second time in three games and were led offensively by 14 points each from senior Carter Whitehead and junior Kayden Allison.
Onlaska trailed 33-18 at the half and couldn’t muster a comeback against one of the Central 2B’s two undefeated teams in league. The Loggers were outrebounded 31-20 in the loss.
“We didn’t play very well tonight,” Onalaska coach Wayne Nelson said. “We tried to get pressure in man-to-man and they beat us off the dribble and penetrated. We’ll work hard and get better.”
Broc Keeton scored a game-high 22 points for the ducks.
Onalaska (9-3, 3-2) travels to Morton White-Pass Wednesday at 7 p.m.
TOLEDO — Carlo Arceo-Hansen scored 20 points and nine assists, leading Toledo to a 62-48 win over Mossyrock here Friday in a Central 2B League boys basketball game.
Toledo’s Duke Schaplow and Jaxon Cook both scored 12 points each. Miguel Soto scored six on the night, Jake Cournyer added four and Ryan Bloomstrom scored three points.
“In the beginning we played very sluggish and things didn’t go our way,” Toledo coach Grady Fallon said. “In the second half our guys started to step up. Schaplow scored 10 of 12 in the third quarter and Arceo-Hansen scored 14 of 20 in the fourth.”
Mossyrock’s Dyllan Padrick scored 13 points and Aiden Weist and Keegan Kolb each scored 12 on the night. Ryan Bellino scored four points and Tryn Thompson added three.
Toledo (6-9, 2-3) plays next at Adna on Friday, while Mossyrock (2-11, 0-5) travels to Onalaska on Saturday.
CHEHALIS — W.F. West boys followed up the girls win over the Thunderbirds Thursday by delivering an upset victory here over Tumwater boys, 55-52, in thrilling overtime fashion Friday.
Senior Kayden Kelly scored a team-high 18 points, junior Carter McCoy added 15 and junior Cade Haller dropped in 10 as the Bearcats won their third in a row.
The Bearcats overcame an off night of shooting, just 38 percent from the field and 50 percent from the charity stripe, to snap the Thunderbirds’ 12-game win streak and hand them their first 2A Evergreen loss of the year.
W.F. West (9-4, 3-1) faces Mark Morris at 7 p.m. Monday at Lower Columbia College.
CENTRALIA — The Tigers’ offensive woes continued here Friday, as Centralia scored just nine first-half points in a 43-41 2A Evergreen loss to Aberdeen.
Junior 6-foot-5 center Alejandro Valencia tallied a double-double with a team-high 16 points and 10 rebounds for the Tigers as Centralia lost its third in a row.
Despite posting just single digit numbers in the first half and shooting 35 percent from the field, Centralia coach Kyle Donaghue said the Tigers actually executed well on the offensive end, they just couldn’t get the ball to fall in the basket.
And while they gave up points in transition to the Bobcats off turnovers, Donaghue praised his team’s defensive effort.
“First half was a good defensive game,” Donaghue said. “We did a good job with the press and the defense stayed disciplined. The kids executed that part of the game plan.”
Centralia (2-12, 1-3) travels to Rochester at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
