The 2B No. 2 Morton-White Pass boys basketball team definitely looked like a team that just came off a 10-day break early Thursday, but figured things out in time to down 1B No. 2 Willapa Valley 64-44 to open its run at the Viking’s Jack Q. Pearson Holiday Classic.
“Overall, holding a good team like that to 44 points, we did a good job,” MWP coach Chad Cramer said. “I thought we could have done a little better, but it was a good job.”
Early on, the T-Wolves’ trademark trap and zone was a step slow, and the Vikings — a game removed from getting shut out in the first quarter by Napavine — gave the home crowd a whole lot to get excited about, trailing only by two points after eight minutes.
“I don’t know if we did a single thing right defensively in the first quarter,” Cramer said. “Just did not follow the game plan, and allowed them to kind of feel good about themselves.”
Once the defense clicked, though, the game shifted. MWP took a 35-20 lead into halftime after holding Valley to just five points in the second quarter, and stretched the gap by another eight in the third with just 11 points allowed.
Four T-Wolves finished the game in double-figures, led by Hunter Hazen’s 18 points. Jake Cournyer and Josh Salguero both added 15, and Judah Kelly pitched in 12.
MWP’s 64 points were by far a season low in a win, but Cramer didn’t have any complaints with the final result.
“Sometimes it goes like that,” he said. “I’ve been wanting to win a game in which we didn’t go out and score 80 points, win a game like that, against a good team on the road. We didn’t score the way we’re accustomed to scoring, and we won on the back of our defense, which is what we’ve been wanting to do.
Morton-White Pass will be back in Menlo for a second game at the JQPHC on Friday, taking on Ilwaco out of the Pacific 2B League.
