ROCHESTER — Willapa Valley showed every bit of fight it had on Saturday, but came up just short as the Vikings fell to Napavine, 57-56, in a District IV 2B Boys Basketball Tournament quarterfinal contest at Rochester.
The Vikings (16-5) will face North Beach in a loser-out contest scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Monday at Chehalis.
Despite trailing by more than seven points for much of the second half, Valley clawed its way back to within five with just over a minute left in the game. From there, Matt Pearson used his sharpshootingskills to hit a 3-pointer from NBA range to cut the lead to two (55-53)with 33 seconds left.
A rare missed free throw by Napavine’s Jordan Purvis gave the Vikings the ball back with just 20 ticks remaining.
Pearson found teammate Logan Walker with a pass to the corner. The freshman dribbled in to the elbow before he put up a shot, but his attempt was blocked and the Tigers came down with the ball.
A pair of free throws by Dawson Stanley put the game out of reach for the Vikings, even as Walker hit a trey to cut the final deficit to one as time expired.
“We knew going in that it was going to be a battle with the Central League style of play and I’m very proud of our kids for how they handled the physicality,” Willapa Valley head coach Jay Pearson said.“About three times we thought that Napavine had us and the kids came back. These kids never give up.They love the game and they battle right to the very end.”
Valley started strong and grabbed a 9-2 lead midway through the first quarter, but the Tigers came roaring back to cut the lead to 13-10 at the end of the first eight minutes.
In the second quarter, the Vikings grabbed another sizable lead to go up 18-12 on a basket by Ryon Ashley. However, Napavine would go on a 9-point run, capped by a jumper from Purvis.
It would be just the start of the senior heating up for the Tigers. Purvis finished the night with 25 points to lead all scorers, with 19 of those points coming in the second half.
The Vikings took a 22-21 lead into halftime. The lead lasted just 11 seconds in the second half as Purvis drained a 3-pointer to give the Tigers their second lead of the game, but Napavine wouldn’t trail again the rest of the way.
In addition to watching Purvis continue to hit shots that answered almost every bit of momentum the Vikings mustered in the second half, Valley struggled with missed free throws and turnovers down the stretch. The Vikings finished the game 12 for 23 from the charity stripe.
“Our game plan going in was to force Purvis to beat us over the top and he did,” Jay Pearson said. “We worked to take his drive away and I thought we did a pretty good job of that, but he shot the ball really well tonight. All four of our loses this season came down to free throws and turnovers. You have to hand it to Napavine, with their pressure they got us on turnovers, but free throws are on us.”
Jay Pearson cited Matt Pearson, who came back from an ankle sprain a week ago to lead the Vikings with 16 points on the night. Walker added 13 points for Valley, while Ashley finished with 11 points and
Chad Flemetis chipped with 10 points.
Napavine 10 11 20 16 – 57
Valley 13 9 13 21 – 56
Napavine (57) – M. Pearson 16, Walker 13, Ashley 11, Flemetis 10, Hamilton 6, Roonsburg, Deniston. FG — – N/A. FT – 3/8.
Willapa Valley (56) – Purvis 25, D. Stanley 10, Lantz 8, P. Stanley 6, Evander 6, Kinswa 4, Subitch, Perz-Stewart. FG—N/A. FT – 12-23.
