Elma advanced while ending Montesano’s season with a 49-48 win in a 1A District 4 elimination game on Wednesday at Montesano High School.

The Eagles (14-8 overall) started off slow, scoring four points through the first seven minutes of the game until senior guard Theo Flores hit a 3-pointer at the 12-second mark as the Bulldogs (11-12) led 9-8 after one quarter of play.

Elma took a 15-11 lead on an Isaac McGaffey baseline drive and layup halfway through the second quarter before Monte rallied to tie the game at 15-all on bucket by sophomore forward Caden Grubb with 2:37 to play in the first half.

The two teams would tie on five different occasions in the second frame, including at 19-19 when Elma senior guard Traden Carter scored off a Tanner Moe assist with 25 seconds to play in the first half.

In the third quarter, Elma took an early 23-19 lead when Flores scored on a pump-fake shot from the low block before Monte went on a 6-0 run capped by a bank shot by sophomore guard Colton Grubb to put the Bulldogs up 25-23 at the 4:41 mark.

Neither team led by more than three points the remainder of the quarter as Monte took a 33-31 lead when an Elma turnover off an inbound pass led to a Mason Fry layup at the buzzer.

Enter Carter, who helped turn the game in Elma’s favor with his play on both ends of the floor in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter. The 6-foot-0 guard gave the Eagles a 34-33 lead with a corner three immediately followed by a steal and subsequent and-1 bank shot. Carter buried the free throw to put Elma up 37-34 with 6:52 on the clock.

RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Elma senior guard Traden Carter (0) surveys the floor while defended by Montesano’s Colton Grubb during the Eagles’ 49-48 victory on a 1A District 4 elimination game on Wednesday at Montesano High School.

Two minutes later, Carter was at it again, using his active hands and hustle to steal the ball and earn a pair of free throws. Carter buried both freebies to put the Eagles up 39-33, forcing a Monte timeout.

A pair of free throws by McGaffey put Elma up 41-33 with 3:48 to play, the Eagles’ largest lead of the game.

Monte got to within two possessions at 45-41 on an offensive rebound and putback by Caden Grubb with 1:32 on the clock, but Elma immediately followed with a nifty tic-tac-toe pass play with Moe feeding McGaffey on the move, who zipped a pass to 6-foot-5 junior post Dylan Myer for a layup and a 47-41 lead at 1:20.

McGaffey hit a pair of clutch free throws to put Elma up 49-42 with 41 seconds remaining, and it turned out the Eagles needed every one of those points as Monte – which had hit just 2-of-14 shots in the period to that point – cut the deficit to 49-48 on consecutive threes from Nathan Dowler and Gunter, the latter coming with just 1.7 seconds left in the game.

Carter was immediately fouled on the inbound play, sending him to the free-throw line with 0.7 left.

After two misses from the line, Caden Grubb grabbed the rebound and heaved the ball toward the Elma end, but it fell well short of the net as the Eagles advanced with the 49-48 victory.

“I’m proud of the way they didn’t quit,” Montesano interim head coach Shaydon Farmer said. “Rivalry game in a do-or-die situation, I know my guys aren’t going to quit right there. I’m proud of them and happy for them, wish we could’ve pulled it out. Wish we had 10 more seconds.”

Elma head coach Matt Ferrier said the difference for his team in the second half was playing a more physical brand of basketball, executing on offense and increasing the defensive intensity.

“We matched their physicality from the first half,” he said. “We went in at halftime and were playing a little helter-skelter and (Monte) took advantage of that. We came out in the second half and dialed in to what’s been our butter, which is slowing the basketball game down when we needed to and we got great execution and held them down, defensively.”

RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Montesano’s Caden Grubb (23) is defended by Elma’s Dylan Myer while Monte’s Nathan Dowler looks on during the Eagles’ 49-48 victory on a 1A District 4 elimination game on Wednesday at Montesano High School.

“Just realize what is on the line. Don’t let it crumble you,” Carter said of Ferrier’s words to his team in the locker room at halftime. “(Monte) is such a repetitive team in their offense, we kind of picked up on it and they didn’t do a thing. We must’ve just showed up better tonight.”

McGaffey (16 points, 5 rebounds) and Carter (13 pts., 3 reb. 2 assists, 5 steals) led Elma, which shot 39% on 16-of-41 shooting and hit 15-of-25 free throws in the game (60%), including 9 of 15 in the fourth quarter (60%).

With the pressure of facing their East County rivals in a district-elimination game for the second consecutive season, Carter said he realized how important this game was to the local community by an encounter he had earlier in the day.

“I had someone at the store today talk to me about this game. I had no idea who they are, but they bought me a Red Bull,” Carter said. “It honestly hit my heart because they actually really care about my team. So that’s everything to me, that the community loves me. … It got me out of selfish mindset that no one cares about me or my team, but I realized a lot of people love my team.”

Montesano was led by Gunter (16 pts.) and Caden Grubb (12 pts., 19 reb.) and went 18 of 59 from the field (30.5%), including 5 of 20 from beyond the arc (25%), and hit 7-of-12 free throws (58%).

Montesano ends the season with four-straight losses – two at the hands of the Eagles – after earning the No. 1 playoff seed out of the 1A Evergreen League.

“It was a weird year,” said Farmer, noting Monte’s massive roster turnover from last season’s state-tournament team and head coach Doug Galloway stepping aside midseason for personal reasons. “I’m happy the way they worked and went to battle. Obviously, we’re going to miss (Monte senior) Caleb Bruland. He’s done great things for us and is going to go on and do great things in the future. But looking at it next year, I’m excited to get that main corps back and hopefully make some noise next year as well.”

Elma advances to face La Center in a 1A District 4 winner-to-state-loser-out game at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday at Centralia High School.

“We had a group of guys that had their backs against the wall and didn’t want to go home,” Ferrier said. “Our senior leader tonight was Traden, he did a great job in the second half just taking the game over.”

“I was just so happy for my community, honestly, I don’t even care about the win,” Carter said. “But I know that so many people do and I love that.”

Elma 8 11 12 18 – 49

Montesano 9 10 14 15 – 48

Scoring: Elma – McGaffey 16, Carter 13, Myer 8, Flores 5, Moe 4, Phan 2, Webb 1. Montesano – Gunter 16, Ca. Grubb 12, Co. Grubb 7, Fry 6, Dowler 5.