LONGVIEW — Not much went right for the W.F. West boys basketball team Saturday night in the first round of the 2A District 4 tournament at the Lumberdome in a 73-37 loss to R.A. Long.
The Bearcats fell into an early hole, giving up 15 first quarter points to Lumberjack senior guard Cavin Holden alone and scoring just five themselves, and couldn’t come close to making up the deficit in a crushing defeat.
“We had a lot of silly turnovers and played right into their schemes,” Bearcats coach Chris White said. “We underachieved in a lot of ways. We’re a lot better than that. We’re trying not to overthink this. This was very discouraging. We lacked mental toughness and focus and we certainly have to refine that and right the ship.”
Up until the final moments of the first half, Soren Dalan scored all of W.F. West’s points, and led the way with 18 points and 12 rebounds from the post. No other Bearcat scored more than five in a tough shooting night from the floor.
RAL’s Holden led both teams with a game-high 26 points, Lonnie Brown Jr. added another 13, and TraMayne Jenkins scored 12 for the home team, which will advance to play Tumwater in the district semifinals.
Saturday night’s loss will feel all too familiar for the Bearcats, who fell to another Longview team — Mark Morris — by double-digits last season in their district opener before fighting back through the consolation bracket to earn a regional bid.
“We had a bad opener last year and then we refocused it,” White said. “I’m committed to hard work and refocus and to go climb back in the backside. Very discouraging night, but we’ll have to do our best to grind it out and get it right.”
Step one for the Bearcats will be to find some scoring options outside of their big man, with just two 3-pointers made against the Lumberjacks — that won’t cut it against Ridgefield in a do-or-die rematch of last season’s winner-to-state game.
If the Bearcats win, they’ll advance to a winner-to-state game against the loser of Black Hills and Mark Morris, if they lose, their season is over.
W.F. West will play the Spudders at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Tumwater High School.
