Boys Prep Basketball Roundup: Elma moves into first place in league with win over Montesano

Published 1:30 am Thursday, January 22, 2026

The 1A Evergreen League race just got exponentially more interesting after Wednesday’s Twin Harbor boys prep basketball action.

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BOYS PREP BASKETBALL

Elma 60, Montesano 44

The race for a 1A Evergreen League boys basketball title just tightened up.

By sustaining its high-energy play, the Elma Eagles were able to pull away from the Montesano Bulldogs to earn a 60-44 victory on Wednesday at Elma High School, leaping into first place in the league standings in the process.

In front of a packed Elma Gymnasium, the Eagles (9-4 overall, 3-1 1A Evergreen) scored the first eight points of the game, culminating with a breakaway slam dunk from senior star forward Isaac McGaffey at the 3:32 mark.

The Bulldogs (10-5, 3-1) got back in the game with the long ball, hitting three 3-pointers in the period – two by junior guard Colton Grubb – and pulled to within a point at 12-11 on a triple from senior guard Terek Gunter with just under a minute to play in the first.

The Eagles led throughout the second quarter, which was without the services of the scoreboard due to multiple stoppages in the first half due to clock issues.

Elma had its biggest lead of the second when sophomore guard JanCarlos Moreno whipped a pass to senior wing Trey Yeager for an easy layup with approximately 1:30 to play in the first half.

But Monte would score the final four points of the second quarter on a Mason Fry jump shot and a Ryan Weidman layup to cut Elma’s lead to 26-25 at the half.

With the game clock and scoreboard back to full function in the second half, the Eagles stretched their lead over double digits with a 10-2 run capped by a McGaffey breakaway layup off a pinpoint outlet from Moreno to take a 42-31 lead with under two minutes to play in the third quarter.

Two free throws from Weidman followed by a bucket in the paint from Gunter put Monte down seven points before a free throw from Elma’s Tyrone Aguilar gave the Eagles a 43-35 lead at the end of three quarters of play.

With Elma up 45-39 with five minutes left in the game, Eagles senior wing Trayton Webb hit a three that sparked a 9-0 run that included a layup from senior guard Tanner Moe off a sharp feed from McGaffey and back-to-back buckets from Moreno – the latter on an extra-pass assist from Moe – to put Elma up 54-39 and force a Monte timeout with three minutes left.

Down the stretch a Moe rebound to a Moreno outlet turned into an emphatic McGaffey dunk to provide an exclamation point to Elma’s 60-44 win.

“I think our energy just spiked and it was amazing,” Moe said of his team’s fourth-quarter performance. “To be a part of that, with the atmosphere here, it was just a great thing to be a part of and truly a blessing.”

“We got tired,” Monte head coach Shaydon Farmer said of his team’s fourth-quarter stumble. “(Elma) came out physical and it affected us and we did not like that.”

The Eagles had arguably its most balanced offensive performance of the season.

Four Eagles – Moreno (13 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, steal), McGaffey (12 pts., 10 reb., 5 ast., 2 stl., 2 blocks), senior post Dylan Myer (12 pts., reb., 2 ast., blk.) and Moe (10 pts., 6 reb., 5 ast.) – scored in double figures as Elma shot 60% from the field on 28-of-47 shooting.

Elma had 18 assists on 28 made field goals and committed just 12 turnovers in the game.

“The stretch to start the basketball game and the stretch to end the basketball game was humongous,” Elma head coach Matt Ferrier said. “When it mattered the most, we figured out a way to run our stuff and be completely unselfish. I’m proud of them they did it collectively together without a star and it was just great to watch. It was great execution.”

“We know that’s when we are at our strongest and how we beat tough teams is when we share the ball with our teammates,” Moe said. “We knew (Monte) is a really good team. They can rebound the ball and score at all levels. We had to go in there and work hard, box out, stay to our defensive principles and just play team basketball. That’s how we got the win today.”

Weidman led the Bulldogs with 12 points as the Bulldogs shot 13 of 48 from the floor (27%) – including 5 of 19 from beyond the arc (26%) – and hit 9-of-11 free throws (82%), one of their better free-throw shooting performances of the season.

“This was the best we shot free throws all year long,” Farmer said. “This is by far our best free-throw shooting night, and in an environment like this, that’s nice. But the other stuff, there is a lot to improve on.”

The win combined with Hoquiam’s loss to Rochester (see below), the Eagles now sit alone in first place over Montesano in the league standings due to the head-to-head tiebreaker.

The Bulldogs sit in second place, one game ahead of both Hoquiam and Rochester in league.

Monte takes on Tenino at 6:45 p.m. on Friday in Tenino.

Elma hosts a red-hot Rochester at 7 p.m. on Friday.

Montesano 11 14 10 9 – 44

Elma 12 14 17 17 – 60

Scoring: Montesano – Weidman 12, Gunter 8, Ca. Grubb 6, Co. Grubb 6, Fry 4, Bruland 2. Elma – Moreno 13, McGaffey 12, Myer 12, Moe 10, Webb 6, Yeager 4, Muir 2, Aguilar 1.

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Rochester 67, Hoquiam 64

For the second time in as many games, Hoquiam fell victim to a last-second buzzer beater at the end of the game.

But against Rochester on Wednesday night, the Warriors last-ditch shot led to a Grizzlies’ loss.

Freshman Tyson Canales’ 3-pointer as time expired proved to be the difference in Hoquiam’s heart-wrenching 67-64 loss in a 1A Evergreen League game at Hoquiam Square Garden.

Just one game removed from a one-point win over Elma that saw the Eagles’ Isaac McGaffey hit a three-quarters court shot at the buzzer, the Grizzlies’ game against the Warriors ended in a somewhat similar fashion.

Much like last Thursday’s 52-51 victory, standout junior guard Lincoln Niemi was at the free-throw line late in the game with much at stake.

On Wednesday, Hoquiam (7-8, 2-2 1A Evergreen) was down 64-61 with 13 seconds to play when Niemi drew a foul from approximately 37 feet from the hoop.

Niemi clutched up to hit all three free throws to tie the game at 64-all.

Enter Canales, who took three dribbles and pulled up to hit the game-winner, providing the proverbial gut-punch to the Grizzlies’ faithful in attendance.

Despite getting double-digit scoring from Niemi (25 points), senior Joey Bozich (18 pts.) and freshman K.J. McCoy (13 pts.), the Grizzlies defense allowed 12 threes against Warriors shooters.

“Got to give credit to them. They played a great game,” Hoquiam head coach Jeff Niemi said. “I put the blame on myself, for whatever reason, we were not ready to go. We started kind of slow and that was one of the messages, ‘Don’t look down on someone and don’t play down because they are skilled and talented.’ We couldn’t stop the ball well all night, they hit 12 threes on us and that was the big difference in the game.”

Hoquiam went 20 for 51 from the floor (39%) – including 10 of 33 from beyond the arc (30%) – and hit 14-of-19 free throws (74%).

The Warriors went 26 of 56 from the field (46%) and hit 50% of their 3-pointers (12-24).

Hoquiam takes on Aberdeen in a Myrtle Street Rivalry game at 6:45 p.m. on Thursday in Hoquiam.

Rochester 11 24 14 18 – 67

Hoquiam 18 11 15 20 – 64

Scoring: Rochester – Canales 17, Hines 10, Turnquist 10, Driver 9, Knutson 8, Mancuso 7, Hayden 5, Gravett 2. Hoquiam — Niemi 25, Bozich 18, McCoy 13, Abbott 8.

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Willapa Valley 64, Morton-White Pass 51

Willapa Valley had another balanced offensive performance in a 64-51 victory over Morton-White Pass on Wednesday at Morton High School.

The Vikings (12-5, 5-0 1B Coastal) got double-digit scoring efforts from senior center J.B. Russell (21 points), junior point guard Lucas Lusk (15 pts.), senior guard Blane King (14 pts.) and junior forward Brody Aust (13 pts.) to extend their current winning streak to six games.

“We struggled this evening rebounding the basketball. This led to many MWP offensive rebounds and points off those rebounds,” Valley head coach Derek Rask said. “We really need to clean that up moving forward. We had four of our starters score in double figures, so we had nice balance on offense from those guys.”

The Vikings play at Pe Ell in a non-league contest at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Willapa Valley 15 15 14 20 – 64

Morton-White Pass 18 10 8 15 – 51

Scoring: Willapa Valley – Russell 21, Lusk 15, King 14, Aust 13, Price 1.

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Ocosta 60, Oakville 42

Ocosta’s defense led the way to a 60-42 win over Oakville on Wednesday in Westport.

The Wildcats (5-9) had 16 steals as a team and had a whopping 51 rebounds, 24 on the offensive glass, leading to the victory over the Acorns (6-8).

“Tonight we did a pretty good job of pressuring Oakville,” Ocosta head coach Jason Quinby said. “We also did a good job of rebounding tonight, for the most part. We also moved the ball around pretty well. The only thing we really struggled with tonight was finishing our shots at the rim. We must have missed 12-15 ‘bunnies’ tonight, which allowed Oakville to stay within reach until the last five minutes of the game.”

Ocosta held Oakville to less than 10 points in both the second and fourth quarters and had four players – sophomore post Sonny Beard (15 points, 12 rebounds, 4 steals), sophomore guard Bryce Bottleson (14 pts., 4 reb., 2 assists, 2 steals), sophomore Luis Solis (12 pts., 4 reb., 2 ast., 2 stl.) and junior Michael Priest (11 pts., 10 reb., 2 ast., 5 stl.) – finish in double figures.

“I was happy again to see four guys hit double digits scoring as we are doing better of finding the open guy in our offense,” Quinby said. “Overall, our effort level was great and that was what carried us to the victory as our shooting tonight was sub-par.”

Ocosta hosts North Beach in a non-league game at 7 p.m. on Saturday.

Oakville 14 9 15 4 – 42

Ocosta 14 13 19 14 – 60

Scoring: Oakville – Rodas 14, M. Rhoades 8, White Eagle 6, A. Rhoades 5, Koser 5, Sanchez 2, Roane 2. Ocosta – Beard 15, Bottleson 14, Solis 12, Priest 11, White 6, Ashby 2.