BOYS PREP BASKETBALL

Montesano 71, Centralia 41

Montesano used a high-pressure defense to overwhelm Centralia from the opening tip in the Bulldogs’ 71-41 at home on Thursday.

Monte applied some full-court pressure early on which forced turnovers and fueled the transition game, allowing the Bulldogs to take a 20-11 at the end of teh first quarter.

Evan Bates was a consistent finisher around the rim and ended up with a team-leading 19 points.

Bulldogs head coach Doug Galloway said he was impressed with the energy his team showed from the opening tip.

“I was proud of the way the kids came out. They came out pretty hard and pretty fast,” he said. “When you play hard sometimes you play too hard and you can’t finish, but I was exited by our play.”

Monte’s defensive effort stayed strong heading into the second quarter where they held the Tigers to six points to help the Bulldogs take a 38-17 lead into halftime.

With this season’s team featuring a younger roster, Sam Winter, a three-year varsity veteran, said he has been encouraged by the way some of the younger players have adjusted.

“Those younger guys are coming in and getting the hang of varsity speed,” he said. “Coming in, they don’t know exactly what varsity speed is so you have to set the standard and make them go hard.”

Montesano slowed down the pace a bit in the second half with the game in hand.

This allowed the Bulldogs to get some first-year varsity players some in-game experience when the starters were pulled halfway through the fourth quarter.

The Bulldogs will get some time off before their next matchup at Rochester on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

Galloway isn’t sure where the Bulldogs will end up this season but was pleased with the way his team handled the adjustment of playing with a new lineup.

“When you lose seven guys (to graduation) you never know how it’s going to look when they strap it on, but I was pretty pleased with the first day,” he said.

Centralia 11 6 11 13 – 41

Montesano 20 18 13 20 – 71

Top Players: Montesano – Bates (19 pts), Winter (14 pts), Braden Dohrmann (10 pts), Shaydon Farmer (10 pts); Centralia – William Brown (17 pts), Malakai Emmons (10 pts)

Eatonville 49, Elma 42

Despite limiting Eatonville to just three points in the first quarter, the Eagles were outscored by 20 points over the next two frames en route to a 49-42 loss on Thursday at Eatonville High School.

Elma played a strong defensive first quarter but held just an 8-3 lead after the first eight minutes of play after struggling to knock down some of their open looks.

After what looked like a promising start for the Eagles, Elma found itself down 24-21 at halftime.

Elma’s offense ran into another rough patch in the third quarter when the Eagles scored three points while the Cruisers put up 14.

Elma cut into the deficit in the fourth quarter with the help of some late three pointers from Sam Schneider, who lead the Eagles with 11 points.

Eatonville and Elma both hit 18 shots from the field, but the Cruisers gained the advantage at the charity stripe. The Cruisers hit 10-of-17 at the free-throw line while the Eagles went 2-for-6.

“(The first quarter) and the third quarter tell the story,” Elma head coach Jeff Niemi said. “We fought back to make it a game in the fourth. I am very proud of the kids for battling adversity as things were not going our way in the third at all.”

The Eagles will take the court in search of their first win of the season at home against Klahowya at 7 p.m. on Friday.

Elma 8 13 3 18 – 49

Eatonville 3 22 14 9 – 42

Top Players: Elma – Sam Schneider (11 pts), Cobey Moore (9 pts, 8 rebs, 3 blks); Eatonville – Kekoa Visperas (12 pts), Zach Smith (11 pts)