Breaking into the new year to the tune of a dominant win, the W.F. West boys basketball team thumped 2A Evergreen Conference foe Aberdeen in Chehalis Tuesday night, 73-37.
The Bearcats had every player but one on their varsity roster score, led by Tyler Klatush’s game-high 22 points, and three total players score in double figures.
“Usually you can’t get that deep into your bench and get good, quality substance on offense,” Bearcats coach Chris White said. “It was pretty good tonight. It keeps the morale really high, you really like when everyone can feel connected like that.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever had this much depth.”
Soren Dalan scored a modest 10 points, but dished it out to the perimeter with newfound strength for shooters to hit shots, and Lucas Hoff chipped in 10 more off the bench.
Dalan’s passing from the post spurred the Bearcats to move the ball well on the perimeter, leading to eight 3-pointers.
“I wish we could’ve gotten it to Soren a bit more,” White said. “We settled for a lot of 3s. But I liked how we were sharing the ball, I didn’t want to squash that confidence. Soren really improved on his passing out of the post, he’s been much stronger, that’s been great growth.”
But before all that, the W.F. West defense was smothering, holding the Bobcats to single-digit scoring in two quarters. Trying out a new full-court trap and press, the Bearcats forced a lot of turnovers that led to run-outs and easy buckets.
“We’re trying to be in charge of the tempo of the game more,” White said. “It allows us to get into our bench more readily. I hate when I have to overcoach offense, I’d rather us play great defense and get some easy points.”
The Bearcats will head to crosstown rival Centralia next on Thursday for a Swamp Cup matchup in the Hub City.
