After a few years of the series being on the shelf, the Centralia boys basketball team resumed its international series with Australia’s Modbury High School, and celebrated the occasion with a close 42-41 win.
“We really did a good job flying around the court tonight,” Centralia coach Kyle Donahue said. “Defensively, I thought my guys were fantastic.”
Donahue, who himself played against the Australian school when he suited up for the Tigers in the 1990s, said the Kangaroos held a significant size advantage across the board, but his team put in their best rebounding effort of the young season.
Cohen Ballard led the Tigers with 13 points, while Brady Sprague and Von Wasson had seven each. David Daarud scored six, and drew a crucial charge on Modbury’s final possession to seal Centralia’s one-point win.
“It’s a really fun experience, but for us as a basketball team, we were really treating it as another game on our schedule,” Donahue said. “This was our third game this week, it was a long week, probably the toughest first week I’ve had since I started coaching.”
Centralia will get back to playing Americans on Monday, at home against Elma.
