SPOKANE — Weathering a 3-point whirlwind performance from No. 5 Brewster’s Brady Wulf, the No. 6 Napavine boys basketball team hung around for 28 minutes, but couldn’t put the finishing touches on a 2B state quarterfinal win, dropping its matchup Thursday at Spokane Arena, 71-61.
The Tigers were outscored, 21-9, in the fourth quarter, and after taking a one-point lead midway through the fourth, had a hard time putting the ball in the basket against a bigger Bears squad.
“We had some defensive breakdowns and then poor execution on offense in those last few minutes and that’s the difference in these games,” Napavine coach Rex Stanley said. “You have to be airtight for 32 minutes and we weren’t tonight. It shows where we’ve come, to not play our perfect game and be in position to win, but the frustrating part is we were just right there.”
Despite a game-high 30 points from Wulf, who nearly broke the tournament record for 3-pointers in a game with nine, the Tigers’ balanced scoring attack kept them in the game. James Grose scored 18, Karsen Denault had a team-high 19 points and 11 rebounds, and Cael Stanley chipped in 11 points with a trio of made 3s.
But that balance went away in the final moments of the fourth, with the Tigers pressing too hard and an experienced Bears squad pulling away to vault into the state semifinals.
That, combined with a poor effort boxing out in the first half leading to kickouts to Wulf, spelled doom for the Tigers.
“There’s 10 teams not playing today that easily could be,” Stanley said. “The margin for error is really small. Obviously Gebbers is a big-time No. 1, but Wulf is too. He’s as good of a shooter as you’re going to see. He’s good at what he does. He catches and shoots. We lost him a few times in the first half, but those offensive rebound kick-outs are killer.”
The Tigers fall to a consolation semifinal loser-out game Friday against either No. 2 Morton-White Pass or No. 9 Lind-Ritzville/Sprague/Washtucna at 10:30 a.m. With their season on the line, while they can’t accomplish the ultimate goal, they still have their sights set on a new one.
“You have to change your focus,” Stanley said. “We came here to win the whole thing and we were in position to win it, but now our focus is we want to win the last game of the year. Only three teams do it and we’re still in a position to do that. Tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. is our biggest game of the year.”
