Elma came up short in a battle for the top spot in the 1A Evergreen League as we review Thursday’s boys prep basketball action on the Harbor.
BOYS PREP BASKETBALL
Tenino 55, Elma 52
Close games in basketball often come down to execution in the waning moments.
In a first-place 1A Evergreen League matchup on Thursday, Tenino made the plays that Elma didn’t to hand the Eagles a 55-52 loss.
After a close first half that saw the two teams never separated by more than four points, Elma (8-6 overall, 2-1 1A Evergreen) got behind by 11 after turnovers and ramped-up energy from the Beavers (11-4, 4-0) led to a 36-25 Tenino lead at 5:22 of the third quarter.
“It was just dumb things and we were tentative coming out in the second half to attack the zone,” Elma head coach Matt Ferrier said, lamenting his team’s turnover woes early in the third quarter. “That’s where they jumped on us.”
Elma answered back to trim the Tenino lead to 40-38 late in the third quarter and got to within a point three separate times in the fourth quarter.
Trailing 50-46 with just under two minutes left in the game, Eagles senior guard Cason Seaberg hit a clutch three to bring Elma to within a point.
After a Beavers turnover, Seaberg was fouled with 1:25 to go. The 6-foot-3 standout hit the second of two free throws to tie the game at 50-all.
RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Elma senior Cason Seaberg (22) puts up a 3-pointer against Tenino’s Preston Snider during a 1A Evergreen League game on Thursday in Elma.
On the ensuing possession, Tenino junior Noah Schow grabbed a weak side offensive rebound and scored as the Beavers regained the lead.
On the next possession, an Elma missed jumper was rebounded by Tenino guard Will Feltus, who then found himself open in the far corner for a dagger 3-pointer, giving the Beavers a 55-50 lead with 25 seconds left in the game.
Elma junior guard Traden Carter converted a jump shot on the next possession and – after Elma forced a turnover on the ensuing inbound pass – the Eagles had a chance to tie the game with 10 seconds left.
After Carter was fouled as the Beavers had fouls to give, Elma had an inbound play with 6.4 seconds on the clock.
The ball was inbounded to Carter, who took a dribble before dishing to Seaberg. The senior shooting guard – who hit 3-point buzzer-beaters at the end of both the first and second quarter – rose up to take a long three from 10 feet behind the 3-point line. But his shot hit off the back iron as the buzzer sounded, cementing Elma’s first league loss of the season.
“We turned it on, but playing from behind because that’s where your comfortable, that is going to have to stop for us,” Ferrier said. “The guys wanted it so bad. Obviously, Tenino wanted it to. It was an incredible basketball game. We’ve got to move on. We know what’s in front of us. Losing at home in this league is kind of a no-no. Obviously, we’re disapointed tonight, but we have to move on.”
Seaberg led Elma with 18 points on a heavily-wrapped left ankle he sprained in the final moments of Tuesday’s win over Montesano.
RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Elma’s Cason Seaberg (22) is called for a foul against Tenino’s Noah Schow during Thursday’s game at Elma High School.
Carter added 14 points for an Eagles team that hit 19-of-54 shots (35%) from the field – including 7 of 21 from beyond the arc (33%) – and went 7 of 11 from the free-throw line (64%).
Schow led all scorers with 26 points while Austin Gonia added 15 for the Beavers.
Elma takes on Eatonville in a league game scheduled for 7 p.m. on Tuesday at Eatonville High School.
Tenino 12 12 17 14 – 55
Elma 14 9 15 14 – 52
Scoring: Tenino – Schow 26, Gonia 15, Feltus 5, Snider 5, Moore 2, Burkhardt 2. Elma – Seaberg 18, Carter 17, Studer 8, Holmes 3, Flores 3, Vessey 2, McGaffey 1.
Ilwaco 71, Raymond 41
Two big runs spelled doom for Raymond in a 71-41 loss to Ilwaco on Thursday at Raymond High School.
The Seagulls (7-6, 5-3 2B Pacific) surrendered a 12-0 run in the second quarter and a 19-3 streak from the end of the third through the early fourth quarter as Ilwaco (11-3, 7-0) put the game away.
“Outside of those two runs, we did a pretty decent job defensively,” Raymond head coach Mike Tully said. “Our biggest problem was that we just couldn’t get anything going offensively. We had a couple stretches where we struggled with turnovers and we couldn’t get shots to fall on any sort of consistent basis. I liked our effort, it just wasn’t enough against a good team.”
Talan Yearout and Chris Banker led Raymond with 13 and 12 points, respectively.
The Seagulls take on Aberdeen at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday in Aberdeen.
Ilwaco 11 18 18 23 – 71
Raymond 8 10 10 13 – 41
Scoring: Ilwaco – Turner 20, Morris 14, Cutting 10, Pelas 9, Needham 7, Gordon 5, Caron 4, Rogers 2, Sanders 2. Raymond – Yearout 13, Banker 12, Quintana 6, Snodgrass 4, Welch 4, Stephens 2.
North Beach 62, Lake Quinault 25
Ten different North Beach players scored in a 62-25 victory over Lake Quinault on Thursday in Ocean Shores.
The Hyaks (4-9) got out to a 14-1 lead after the first period and held the Elks (0-11) to 15 points through three quarters.
“We played a really good team game tonight. We had balanced scoring and everyone scored,” Hyaks head coach Larry Moore said. “Our two floor generals – Tyrrell Curry Sith and Parker Johnson – did an excellent job of getting us organized on offense.”
North Beach was led by Tyrell Hovland (14 points, 6 rebounds, 4 steals) and Jeremiah Eastman Jr. (13 pts., 6 reb., 4 stl.).
Lake Quinault was led by senior Lewis Anderson with 12 points while freshman Colin Tiemeyer added nine points for the Elks.
Lake Quinault faces Wishkah Valley in a 1B Coastal League game set for 7 p.m. on Friday at Wishkah Valley High School.
North Beach plays a non-league game against Taholah at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday at Taholah High School.
Lake Quinault 1 9 5 10 – 25
North Beach 14 16 16 16 – 62
Scoring: Lake Quinault – Anderson 12, Tiemeyer 9, A. Morfin 4. North Beach – Hovland 14, Eastman 13, J. Charley 9, Williams 7, K. Charley 7, Curry 4, Lauderdale 2, Bighead 2, Johnson 2, Boatwright 2.
Chief Leschi 81, Ocosta 61
Ocosta fell behind early against the pressure of Chief Leschi en route to an 81-61 loss on Thursday in Westport.
The Wildcats (3-9, 2-6 2B Pacific) trailed 11-0 just 90 seconds into the game and by as much as 15 in the first quarter as the Warriors (8-4, 5-2) used its full-court press defense to great affect.
Ocosta rallied to cut the deficit to six points in the second quarter on the backs of seven points in the frame from Jesus Agramon and two 3-pointers by Kayden Turner.
But the Wildcats defense had no answer for the Leschi offense, which scored 70 or more points in a game for the fourth time this season.
“While I was disappointed with our defensive execution most of the night, I thought outside of the first couple of minutes, we expanded on our offensive output from the other night and continued to grow into a team that will be able to compete with some of the better teams we face as the season continues,” Ocosta head coach Jason Quinby said.
Ocosta was led by Agramon (15 points), Turner (14 pts., 5 rebounds, 4 assists) and Tarren Lewis (10 pts., 3 reb.).
The Wildcats play at Pe Ell at 4 p.m. on Saturday.
Chief Leschi 28 14 14 25 – 81
Ocosta 16 16 8 21 – 61
Scoring: Chief Leschi – Lara 25, Spino 20, Dillon 13, Oyos 12, Taraya 4, Tom 3, George 2, Colon 2.
Ocosta – Agramon 15, Kay. Turner 14, Lewis 10, Prigmore 8, Priest 4, Ceja 4, White 2, Wyland 2.
Willapa Valley 57, Columbia Adventist 52
Willapa Valley picked up a key league win on Thursday, defeating Columbia Adventist Academy 57-52 in Menlo.
Willapa Valley (7-7, 6-1 1B Columbia Valley) was paced by its defense, which held the Kodiaks (8-4, 7-3) to 19 points in the first half as the Vikings held a 10-point lead at halftime.
Offensively, Valley was led by Nathan Fluke with 21 points that included six 3-pointers, and Brody Ritzman, who had a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds.
Valley went 21 of 53 from the field (40%), including 11 for 23 from the 3-point line (48%).
“This was a big league win for us at home. I thought we played pretty disciplined basketball for most of the night,” Valley head coach Derek Rask said. “We turned the ball over too much down the stretch of the game, so we need to clean that up moving forward. We rebounded the ball well, and our defensive intensity was great tonight.”
Valley is tied with Mossyrock for second place in the league standings and will take on Pe Ell at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Pe Ell High School.
CAA 10 9 17 16 – 52
Willapa Valley 15 14 13 15 – 57
Scoring: Willapa Valley – Fluke 21, Ritzman 14, King 12, Young 3, Keeton 3, Russell 2, Swartz 2.
White River 59, Montesano 47
Montesano lost a non-league game to White River 59-47 on Thursday in Montesano.
The Bulldogs (10-4) fell behind early to the Hornets (10-2), the 2A class’ 7th-ranked team.
Monte trailed 23-12 after a first quarter that saw White River junior guard Greg Schmitz score 11 of his game-high 20 points, including three 3-pointers.
The Bulldogs rallied by hitting 7-of-16 shots (44%) and held the hot-shooting Hornets to five points on one field goal and a pair of free throws in the second quarter to take 29-28 at halftime.
But White River answered with a big third quarter as five different Hornets hit shots from the field while the Bulldogs went 4 of 18 (22%) in the frame to trail 45-37 going into the final period.
That turned out to be enough as the Hornets outscored the Bulldogs by four over the final eight minutes of the game to hand Monte the loss.
Monte was led by junior guard Delon Chan with 19 points followed by senior guard Jaxson Wilson with 10.
The Bulldogs went 21 of 64 from the field (33%), including 5 of 24 from 3-point range (21%), and had 31 rebounds and 14 turnovers as a team.
Monte hosts Hoquiam in a 1A Evergreen League game at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.
White River 23 5 17 14 – 59
Montesano 12 17 8 10 – 47
Scoring: White River – Schmitz 20, Senon 13, Schmidtke 13, Rathbun 6, Caldwell 4, Donovan 3. Montesano – Chan 19, Wilson 10, Bodwell 8, Taylor 6, Peterson 2, Cobb 2.
Other games
Black Hills 60, Aberdeen 50
Forks 71, South Bend 12
