NAPAVINE — This time last year, an undefeated Napavine boys basketball team that got a late start due to a deep postseason run for the football team went east for a pair of big-time tests, and found out just how much of a gap there was between itself and the best 2B teams eastern Washington had to offer, losing both games by a combined 40 points.
Fast forward to this weekend, and the only thing that differed in the setup is that the eastern teams came to Lewis County — and that the Tigers passed both of their winter exams with flying colors, capped by a 78-47 blowout of Mabton on Saturday.
“I can just see the maturity of our team is different,” Napavine coach Rex Stanley said. “We’re all a year older, we’ve been through some tough times together. I like the maturity of this group, we’ve just got to get in a little bit better shape and not be satisfied where we are.”
The Tigers (7-0, 3-0 C2BL) didn’t play the perfect game Saturday. They blew far too many layups, turned the ball over 14 times and only managed 12 points in the first quarter. But when they got going in the second, it was game-over, with Stanley’s boys putting their best foot forward in a dominant run.
With 5:15 left in the second quarter, Mabton scored on a putback to cut Napavine’s lead to 18-16. Four minutes later, it was 37-19, after a 19-3 run on the back of three 3-pointers and four layups in transition.
“I thought we played harder, and brought a little more energy,” Stanley said. “That energy, as it usually does, helps your offense. We started the game a little flat, missed some layups. We were kind of waiting for our offense to generate our energy, and that’s never a good way to go.”
The run started, as most things for Napavine’s offense do, with senior James Grose, who scored 17 points in the second quarter en route to a 33-point afternoon.
The senior drilled seven 3-pointers less than 24 hours after sinking eight against Brewster, and went 12 for 21 from the field.
“He’s about as consistent as it gets,” Stanley said. “He just shows up and makes shots.”
Napavine’s supporting cast struggled at times inside, but shot just as well from the perimeter. The Tigers ended up going 8 for 14 from beyond the arc in the second half, with Cal Bullock and Cayle Kelly both hitting two 3-pointers and Cael Stanley sinking the only one he attempted.
Jarin Prather came in on 12 points and logged seven rebounds, while Stanley had seven points and five assists. Karsen Denault had an off-night shooting the ball, but still brought in 16 rebounds.
“We definitely have guys who are definitely capable, it’s just meshing together and having everybody play off of each other,” Rex Stanley said.
After that run in the second quarter, the Tigers continued to turn defense into offense, logging 29 points off of 22 Mabton turnovers. By the end of the third quarter, Napavine had its lead up to 30 points, despite the Vikings drilling nine 3-pointers on the night.
The Tigers will come back from Christmas with a game on another sort of big stage, going down to the Moda Center next Friday to face Tenino.
