Things just got real interesting in the race for a 1A Evergreen League boys basketball title.
Paced by a big night from its big man in the middle, Elma defeated Montesano for the second straight time this season, winning 62-43 on Tuesday at Elma High School.
Derique Richey scored 25 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in a double-double effort that saw Elma grab as much as a 22 point lead in the second half.
Montesano (5-4 overall, 4-3 1A Evergreen League) entered the game without leading scorer, senior Trace Ridgway, who is out for the season due to COVID quarantine after missing Monte’s previous meeting against Elma on May 19 due to a knee sprain.
Without their senior captain, Monte got out to an 11-9 lead in the first quarter and led 20-14 with 4:30 left in the second quarter — thanks in large part to center Mason Dineen’s seven points in the frame.
RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Montesano’s Mason Dineen (55) secures a rebound against Elma’s Cobey Moore during the Bulldogs’ 62-43 loss to Elma on Tuesday in Elma. Dineen led Monte with 13 points.
But Elma (4-5, 3-4) closed out the quarter on an 11-3 run that included three 3-pointers — two by senior point guard Canon Seaberg — to close out the half with a 27-23 lead.
Monte pulled to within three on a Dineen free throw to open the half, but that was as close as Monte would get as Elma dominated the second half.
The Eagles went on a 9-3 run over the next three minutes, taking a double-digit lead when Cason Seaberg scored on a breakaway layup that began with a Sawyer Witt steal.
After another Canon Seaberg 3-pointer made it a 39-28 game with 3:12 left in the frame, Richey scored five straight points in the paint followed by converting on a nice assist from senior forward Nick Church to give Elma a 44-28 lead at the 2:22 mark.
Monte junior forward Caydon Lovell scored on a baseline, pull-up jumper to stop the bleeding with 1:20 left in the third, but Richey followed with another interior basket to stake the Eagles to a commanding 46-30 lead heading into the fourth.
Elma’s wide-shouldered, 6-foot-5 center wasn’t done, scoring six straight points to give the Eagles a 54-32 lead with 4:46 left. He completed his best game of the season with a pump-fake make and subsequent foul shot with 35.6 seconds left to the delight of the Elma faithful.
“(The coaches) wanted us to get the ball inside and look for in-and-out plays. … They talked to me about going through contact because, normally, I’ve been avoiding it, but to go through it and get the foul call and that’s what I tried to do,” Richey said of his coach’s instructions. “I love the challenge and I like my teammates being able to look at me as a reliable person and I hope I can continue to do it.”
Richey scored 18 of his game-high 25 points in the second half as the Eagles outscored Montesano 35-20 over the final 16 minutes of the game. The senior hit 7-of-8 free throws in the game.
“One of our points of emphasis was to go inside and we really didn’t feel like we did it enough in the first half,” Elma head coach Jeff Niemi said. “We just said, ‘We’re going to do it in the second half. We have to do it.’ … Hats off to Derique. He did a great job finishing and pretty much made all of his free throws as well.”
Monte was led by Dineen’s 13 points, eight of those coming in the first half as the Bulldogs struggled to hit shots from the floor and find an offensive rhythm.
“We didn’t execute in the second half very well,” Montesano head coach Doug Galloway said. “(Elma) went to a man defense and we seemed to be confused about that for whatever reason. (Elma) started hitting some open jumpers. They had some open looks and when you start hitting open shots, a lot of cures take place. … They played a lot better in the second half than we did.”
RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Elma’s Nick Church gets through Montesano’s Jackson Busz, left, and Caydon Lovell during the first half of Elma’s 62-43 victory on Tuesday in Elma.
The loss was Monte’s third in a row as the Bulldogs have fallen out of first place after starting the league season 4-0. Montesano sits one game up on Elma for the second spot in the league standings with three games left on the schedule and will have to find a way to win games without the services of league MVP candidate and leader Ridgway.
“We’ve go to make some adjustments because we’re used to playing with him,” Galloway said. “We made some pretty good adjustments in the first half but in the second half, I don’t know if we got tired or they just played that much better than us. I’m not really sure. … They played great. Elma did a really good job.”
The win puts Elma in the hunt for a top-two seed in the league and helps wash away the taste of Saturday’s bitter two-point loss to last-place Tenino.
“Unfortunately, on Saturday night we did not do a good enough job against Tenino and coughed it up a little bit,” Niemi said. “We have the veterans that have been in these games and it’s starting to show more now down the stretch.”
“We took our time, played under control and tried not to rush as much and understand the game more,” Richey said. “Seems kind of simple, but lately we’ve had trouble with it. But an assist is half the job to a bucket and I feel like we did a good job with that.”
Raymond 73, Chief Leschi 69
Raymond picked up its first win of the season with a victory over the Chief Leschi Warriors in Puyallup.
The Warriors led 41-38 at the half after a strong shooting performance over the first 16 minutes of the game.
But Raymond responded with its defense, holding Chief Leschi (0-2 overall, 2B Pacific) and its hot-shooting guards in check in the second half.
Raymond (1-6 overall, 2B Pacific), which has struggled this season after all-state guard Tre’ Seydel was sidelined for the year with a broken foot in just the second game of the season, may have found a player to fill Seydel’s big shoes in Morgan Anderson.
Anderson had a massive game on Tuesday, scoring 42 points to go along with seven rebounds.
Adrian Quintana had a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Joseph Villalpando added six steals for the Seagulls.
“I’m really proud of our effort. Chief Leschi has a young, talented basketball team, so we had to play our best game to win,” Raymond head coach Derek Rask said. “When our defense was connected to our offense, we were successful.”
Other scores
Hoquiam 60, Tenino 46
GIRLS BASKETBALL
Montesano 46, Elma 21
Montesano jumped out to an early lead and never looked back in a victory over Elma in Montesano.
The Bulldogs (8-2 overall, 6-1 1A Evergreen) shot 9-of-16 (56%) as a team to take a 20-8 lead after the first quarter.
Montesano dominated a young Elma team throughout the game, outscoring Elma (0-8, 0-7) in each quarter en route to the victory.
“We got off to a pretty good start,” Montesano head coach Mark Mansfield said. “We were able to get out in transition a little bit and hit a couple of buckets. It was a solid effort for us tonight.”
Paige Lisherness led Montesano with 10 points and nine rebounds for a Monte team that committed just nine turnovers in the game.
Maia Young added nine points. Zoee Lisherness and Vanna Prom scored seven apiece for the Bulldogs.
Four Elma players — Janessa Sample, Ella Moore, Aaleigha Weld and Mercy Spencer — scored four points each to lead the Eagles.
Monte sits in a tie for first place with Tenino for the top spot in the 1A Evergreen League.
The two teams are scheduled to face off today in Tenino.
Tenino 39, Hoquiam 23
Hoquiam had trouble keeping Tenino’s Ashley Schow in check as the Grizzlies fell in Hoquiam.
Hoquiam (5-5 overall, 2-5 1A Evergreen) struggled to keep the Beavers’ standout center from scoring, as Schow tallied 24 of Tenino’s 39 points in the game.
“I felt we did a good job defensively to hold a team like Tenino to 39 points, but we have to put some more time into scoring opportunities,” Hoquiam head coach Chad Allan said. “I’m proud of my players for always battling to the end and learning as we go.”
It was Senior Night for the Grizzlies as Hoquiam honored its two seniors, Sharaya Brydon (6 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 5 steals) and Sadie Carlyle (2 pts., 4 reb., 3 stl.), during the game.
“They will be missed,” Allan said of his two seniors.
