In a game where neither team shot well, the Montesano Bulldogs found a rhythm late in the game to pull away from Elma 53-37 on Friday in Montesano.
Monte (3-1 overall, 3-0 1A Evergreen) and Elma (2-3, 1-2) combined to shoot 32% from the floor as neither team found much offensive consistency until the final quarter.
The Bulldogs led 16-10 after the first quarter, led by Trace Ridgway’s seven points in the frame.
Elma cut the lead to 16-14 early in the second quarter, but Monte responded by stretching its lead to eight points after Cayden Lovell put back an offensive rebound to give the Bulldogs a 24-16 lead halfway through the period.
RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Elma’s Nick Church goes up for a shot against Montesano’s Trace Ridgway, middle, and Mason Dineen (55)
The Eagles went on a run late in the first half to cut the deficit to 28-24 before Ridgway closed out the first-half scoring with a jump shot to give Monte a 30-24 lead at halftime.
Neither team broke 10 points in the third quarter as Monte took a 38-27 lead on two Ridgway jumpers followed by another Lovell offensive rebound and putback with 2:25 left in the frame.
Elma trimmed the Monte lead to 39-31 at the end of the third when Derique Richey scored with 0:45 left, keeping the Eagles within striking distance.
With just about every player except Ridgway struggling to find their offensive game through the first three quarters, Monte finally found a rhythm on the offensive end to pull away over the final five minutes.
With neither team scoring a point through the first three minutes of the fourth quarter, a pair of Christian Tyler free throws put the Bulldogs back up by double digits at 41-31 with 5:07 left.
Mason Dineen followed with a jumper and two more free throws as Monte’s lead ballooned to 45-31 with approximately 4:30 to play.
After Elma’s Cobey Moore scored in the paint to make it a 45-33 game, Dineen scored four straight points on a pair of free throws followed by a baseline jumper and Lovell drilled a dagger 3-pointer to give Monte its biggest lead of the night at 52-35 with 1:44 left in the game.
A couple of Elma garbage-time baskets completed the scoring at 52-37.
“We just kind of kept plugging away at things,” Montesano head coach Doug Galloway said. “We had some big shots at times and some great stops at times that helped us.”
Ridgway led all scorers with 21 points on 9-of-16 shooting while Lovell and Dineen added 13 and nine points, respectively, for the Bulldogs.
Monte shot 34% as a team on 20-of-58 shooting from the field and went 9-for-18 (50%) from the free-throw line.
Elma went 14-for-47 (30%) from the floor — including 2-for-18 from 3-point range — and 7-of-14 (50%) from the charity stripe.
The Eagles were led by Brady Johnston, who scored 13 points in his first game back from COVID quarantine.
RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Elma’s Brady Johnston, right, pump fakes against Montesano’s Mason Dineen during the Bulldogs’ 53-37 victory on Friday in Montesano.
Sawyer Witt and Logan Witt added eight and seven points for Elma, respectively.
“I thought we didn’t hit shots and that played a role in not just the score of the game but we let it get us down at times,” Elma head coach Luke Niemi said. “We talked about it in the locker room (after the game) that good teams find ways to dig in and score in other ways when the shots aren’t going in. … We have to figure something else out on nights when we aren’t shooting the ball well. They were good looks, we just couldn’t hit any.”
Elma 10 14 7 6 — 37
Montesano 16 14 9 14 — 53
Naselle 78, Willapa Valley 56
Willapa Valley struggled against undefeated Naselle in a 78-56 loss on Friday in Naselle.
Naselle (6-0 overall, 5-0 1B Columbia Valley) jumped out to a 32-11 lead after one quarter.
Willapa Valley (4-1 overall, 1B Columbia Valley) trimmed the Comets lead to 39-26 by halftime but 28 Vikings turnover thwarted any comeback attempts.
“I knew Naselle was a good team, but their speed and physicality got to us,” Willapa Valley head coach Jay Pearson said. “They were quicker and more physical than us and we backed up instead of attacking.”
Riley Pearson scored 14 points while Tyler Adkins (11 points) also scored in double figures for Willapa Valley.
Derek Fluke was cited by Pearson as having a nice game off the bench with five points and seven rebounds in 12 minutes of play.
Willapa Valley 11 15 14 16 — 56
Naselle 32 7 21 18 — 78
North Beach 64, South Bend 62
Josh Bighead continued his stellar season, scoring 30 points to lead North Beach to a 64-62 victory on Friday in Ocean Shores.
Bighead went 12-for-25 from the field and hit on 3-of-4 free throws to lead the Hyaks (2-2 overall, 2B Pacific), which won when a South Bend shot with seven seconds left to tie the game was off target.
Charlie Coburn scored 11 points and had four assists while Kyle Fry had 10 rebounds and six assists for the Hyaks.
Nathan Ashley led South Bend with 26 points.
Devin Wirkkala and Kyle Strozyk scored 14 and 12 points for the Indians (0-4 overall, 2B Pacific), respectively.
South Bend 17 11 18 16 — 62
North Beach 16 14 19 15 — 64
Other scores
Hoquiam 71, Tenino 30
Men’s College Basketball
Highline 88, Grays Harbor 75
GIRLS PREP BASKETBALL
Montesano 47, Elma 25
Montesano’s Paige Lisherness scored 21 points as the Bulldogs defeated Elma 47-25 on Friday at Elma High School.
“Paige had a really solid game tonight,” Montesano head coach Mark Mansfield said. ” She did a really nice job inside going up strong to the basket.”
Maia Young had nine points for Montesano.
Jackie DeMoss led Elma with seven points.
Montesano moves to 3-1 overall, 2-1 in the 1A Evergreen League with the victory.
Elma drops to 0-3 overall and in league with the loss.
Montesano also defeated Elma in the junior varsity game by a score of 28-21 on Friday.
Montesano 9 14 16 8 — 47
Elma 4 5 8 8 — 25
Naselle 55, Willapa Valley 24
Willapa Valley’s offense found it difficult to score in a 55-24 loss to Naselle on Friday in Naselle.
The Vikings (3-2 overall, 1B Columbia Valley) committed 25 turnovers and shot 9-for-50 from the field in the loss.
A Naselle run turned a 16-16 game with five minutes left in the second quarter into a 30-18 halftime lead for the Comets.
“The end of the second quarter really hurt us as we melted down, emotionally,” Willapa Valley head coach John Peterson said. “We tried really hard in the second half, but couldn’t throw it in the ocean.”
Chayse Coady led Willapa Valley with 10 points while Lanissa Amacher and Lauryn McGough grabbed six rebounds each for the Vikings.
Willapa Valley 11 7 5 1 — 24
Naselle 12 18 12 13 — 55
Other scores
Hoquiam 56, Tenino 25
RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Montesano senior Trace Ridgway (10) is hounded by Elma’s Cobey Moore (10) and Brady Johnston (15) during the Bulldogs’ 53-37 victory on Friday in Montesano.
