LONGVIEW — Eric Hersman views coaching basketball from two different lenses.
One is the analytical side. The other is the artsy angle.
Does the Napavine High School boys basketball head coach know what side he chooses?
“I’m probably more on the artsy side,” Hersman said. “When the ball moves, we’re better. Good basketball is like poetry in motion. It is tough to have good basketball with no motion; it is tough to have good music with no rhythm.”
It took until the third quarter on Friday night, but the ninth-seeded Tigers' ball movement was the primary reason behind winning the frame 24-7 and taking control of a Class 2B State Tournament Opening Round contest by beating 16th-seeded La Conner 69-51 at Mark Morris High School.
Despite finishing with 21 turnovers, Napavine notched 14 assists and it was the forwards of Karsen Denault plus Jack Nelson that led the way with four each.
“We started to run the floor more and played our basketball and took over,” Denault said. “That is our best (brand of) basketball.”
It marks the fourth straight postseason the Tigers (22-3) will play in Spokane. They’ll face the loser of the Columbia (Burbank) and Northwest Christian matchup on March 5 at 2 p.m. in a Round of 12, elimination contest.
For a team that is under the guidance of a first-year head coach and a handful of players in expanded roles, the standard of playing into March never changed.
From one of the first practices in July to now, the Napavine locker room never wilted in its internal belief.
“Regardless of a new head coach or anything like that, we’re not going to settle,” junior guard Hudson Chambers said. “We want to go far.”
A seven-point halftime cushion for Napavine was ballooned to 18 by the time the Braves (14-10) called their first timeout in the third quarter. Turnovers forced led to transition buckets and its half-court set plays worked the inside-out game.
Denault finished with 12 of his game-high 22 points in the stanza. All five of the Tigers’ starters made at least one field goal in the period.
Napavine never let La Conner get as close as 18 the rest of the night.
“If you play for something larger than yourself, you play for the team or the town or the community, it gives you a chance to play pretty special,” Hersman said. “There’s probably a life analogy in there, too.”
It was a physical game from the opening whistle. The size advantage of the Tigers won the rebound battle 42-23 and tripled the amount of offensive rebounds (12-4). Even though La Conner’s head coach got a technical foul, Napavine had more overall fouls by four.
Still, the physicality went Napavine’s way in the critical moments of the first half.
“That gave us even more momentum,” Denault said. “I like the spot we’re in. I don’t mind it at all.”
It was a dream start for the Tigers.
They scored five points within the first minute and led 9-0. In the blink of an eye, the Braves closed the frame on an 18-3 spree to turn a nine-point deficit into a six-point lead.
“Sometimes you gotta get punched in the nose to know you’re in a dogfight,” Hersman said. “Responded pretty well.”
Another 9-0 run for Napavine in the second gave it the lead and a Chambers triple put it out in front for good.
Chambers added 15 points for the Tigers while Beckett Landram added 14. Nelson recorded eight points and nine boards for Mossyrock.
“It has got to be spread out,” Chambers said.
Over this stretch of consecutive state tourney appearances, Napavine has only taken a win in the Round of 12 and quarterfinals just once.
This version of the Tigers – an underdog for maybe the first time in their athletic careers – don;’t plan for a short stay.
“When you’re on that floor in Spokane, it is a different atmosphere,” Chambers said. “Everyone’s got to man up.”
