TUMWATER — With just under three minutes to play against W.F. West, Black Hills was clinging onto a four-point lead. The Wolves led by 12 just minutes prior, but the Bearcats were threatening.
Peyton Faught took the momentum right back, hitting a three with 2:36 to play, and after a turnover, Quinton Morrill added a three-point play. The quick six re-extended the Black Hills lead, and the Wolves held on for a 48-38 win that puts them on the cusp of a league championship.
“Sometimes there’s things a kid’s gotta do that you can’t really draw up,” Black Hills coach Jeff Gallagher said, still soaking wet from the celebration in the locker room. “And they came out and did those. Our kids have done a really nice job of rallying and competing in close games.”
It was just as tight as the first matchup between the two teams, and the first half was just as much of a defensive battle. The two teams were tied at 16 at halftime.
Early in the second half, Black Hills took control. Peyton Faught hit two threes to kickstart a 10-3 lead, and James Morgan added seven more points across the rest of the frame to give the Wolves a 10-point lead entering the fourth.
Morgan finished with 17 points, while Faught ended the night with four threes and 16 points to lead the Wolves. Morrill added nine, and Talon Morrill scored five.
Gallagher credited assistant coach Shane Dover for the second-half adjustments, saying that Black Hills was too passive in the first half.
“We were passing the ball on the perimeter too much, not really going anywhere,” Gallagher said. “We attacked space and got into gaps, it made a huge difference because it opened up some shooters and opened some high-low stuff. I think that was the biggest difference.”
Gallagher also gave credit to another assistant, Michael Snow, for building a gameplan to slow down the Bearcats offensively. W.F. West struggled to get going in the second half, scoring just five points in the third quarter.
“We just didn’t have a very good rhythm on offense,” W.F. West coach Chris White said. “We got a little stale sometimes. Just didn’t have a good flow.”
The Bearcats best offensive stretch came when they were down 12 in the fourth, as they went on an 8-0 run to get back within four before Faught and Morrill put the game back out of reach.
White said that they were hoping to get more touches inside to Grady Westlund, but Westlund got into foul trouble early and had to sit a majority of the first half.
“It was missing for a lot of spells out there,” White said. “We were right there … Just a few too many hollow possessions.”
Westlund had a big second half on the boards, finishing with 13 rebounds, and he scored four points. Weston Potter scored a team-high 14 points, while Gage Brumfield scored seven and added five rebounds. Ross Kelley scored six points and dished out four assists.
W.F. West (8-10, 4-3 2A EvCo) is now in sole possession of third place in the EvCo, one game behind Tumwater for second.
“We just want to keep fighting for a good spot,” White said. “Just trying to get the highest seed we can get and then just give it a good fight … We just want to be playing our best ball at the end of it.”
The Wolves (12-5, 7-0 2A EvCo) are now two games up on Tumwater with three league games to play, and they could clinch their first league title since 2020 with a win at Tumwater on Friday.
“It’s something that we’ve talked about since we got beat by R.A. Long in the district tournament,” Gallagher said. “I’m proud of the kids … It won’t be hard to get our kids excited to play at Tumwater on a Friday night. We’re looking forward to it.”
