Elma beat Montesano while Aberdeen and Hoquiam lost league games as we review Wednesday’s boys hoops action on the Harbor.

~~~

BOYS PREP BASKETBALL

Elma 47, Montesano 37

Elma flipped the script from its previous meeting against Montesano, clutching up down the stretch to close out the regular season with a 47-37 win over the Bulldogs on Wednesday at Elma High School.

The Eagles (13-7 overall, 5-3 1A Evergreen) trailed Monte (11-10, 6-2) by as much as 10 points early in the game after a three by guard Terek Gunter put Monte up 14-4 late in the first quarter.

But Elma closed the frame on a 7-0 run – highlighted by back-to-back 3-pointers from senior guard Theo Flores – and would close to within a point at 18-17 on a bucket from senior Armani Phan in the low post with 3:15 to play in the first half.

RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Montesano’s Terek Gunter (left) and Elma’s Theo Flores compete for a loose ball during the Eagles’ 47-37 win on Wednesday at Elma High School.

It would take the Eagles the rest of the second quarter to pull even, tying the game at 22-all on a corner three from senior guard Traden Carter with 18 seconds left in the half.

The East County rivals traded leads early in the third quarter until the Eagles took the lead for good on a three from Flores and ended the frame on a 9-0 run, capped by another Flores three at the buzzer.

Leading 35-27 entering the final eight minutes of play, Elma kept Monte at arm’s length, stretching its lead to 43-35 on a drive and score by junior guard Tanner Moe with just under four minutes to play.

Elma secured the victory with a pair of Phan free throws followed by a Carter drive and layup to take a 47-37 lead with 1:36 left in the game.

RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Elma guard Traden Carter (left) looks to pass while defended by Montesano’s Mason Fry (22) and Terek Gunter during the Eagles’ 47-37 win on Wednesday in Elma.

“We came in with the motto that we were going to play free and let it fly,” said Elma head coach Matt Ferrier, whose team was locked into the 1A Evergreen League’s No. 3 spot regardless of Wednesday’s outcome. “So our kids played great. They played carefree and down the stretch, we executed.”

The victory snapped Elma’s three-game losing streak against their East County foes and while it didn’t mean much in the standings, it does mean the Eagles closed out the regular season riding a three-game winning streak of their own.

“It’s great to get the Montesano monkey off our back,” Ferrier said. “They’ve been an incredibly good and athletic basketball team. … It’s huge for our program to go into the district tournament with a win. … We’re dialed in, kids are focusing better and when we’ve had practices, they’ve been spot on.”

Flores led Elma with 16 points – including four 3-pointers – with Carter also finishing in double digits with 11 points, four rebounds and three assists.

“Coach (Ferrier) was being hard on for being a bit on the weak side because (Monte) is bigger and stronger than us. We know that,” Flores said. “Coming into this game, our mental side was to be more physical than them.”

Junior forward Isaac McGaffey scored seven points, grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds, had four assists, five steals and two blocks for Elma with Moe adding six points and three rebounds for the Eagles.

RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Elma’s Tanner Moe (left) gets around Montesano defender Mason Fry during the Eagles’ 47-37 win on Wednesday at Elma High School.

Elma went 16 of 42 from the floor (38%) and hit 10-of-18 free throws (56%), including six straight to close out the game.

“Coach said to play free,” Flores said. “We didn’t really have anything on our shoulders, so coming into this game we kind of played more free and attacked and played more physical.”

“I think we just really wanted to win,” Carter said. “(Monte) hit shots but we just kept hitting shots after they did. We just wanted to win more tonight.”

Montesano was led by forward Caden Grubb with 10 points and nine rebounds as the Bulldogs shot 24% from the field on 12-of-49 shooting, including 3 of 22 from beyond the arc (14%).

Guard Colton Grubb had eight points and a team-high five steals for the Bulldogs.

Montesano ended the regular season tied with Tenino for the top spot in the 1A Evergreen, but with the Bulldogs having a higher RPI rating than the Beavers, Monte will enter the 1A District 4 Tournament as the 1A Evergreen League’s No. 1 seed.

Elma enters the postseason as a No. 3 seed having won three straight games.

“To me, personally, it’s just another game,” Carter said. “But to the team it was really special. This is kind of a younger team and I think it’s a good rolling stone for these next couple of seasons.”

“It feels great actually,” Flores said of the win. “Playing at home one last time, coming on this court and beating Monte. … It was just a great overall feeling.”

Montesano 14 8 5 10 – 37

Elma 11 11 12 13 – 47

Scoring: Montesano – Ca. Grubb 10, Co. Grubb 8, Gunter 7, Fry 4, Dowler 4, Williamson 2. Elma – Flores 14, Carter 12, McGaffey 7, Moe 6, Phan 4, Myer 4.

~~~

Rochester 63, Hoquiam 56

A slow start proved to be fatal in Hoquiam’s 63-56 loss to Rochester on Wednesday at Hoquiam High School.

The Grizzlies (6-14, 2-6 1A Evergreen) fell behind by seven points early in the first quarter and never caught up as a sluggish defense hampered Hoquiam throughout the game.

“I think you’ve got to give credit to Rochester. They came out of the gates better than us,” Hoquiam head coach Jeff Niemi said. “Really slow start by us defensively. We had trouble keeping the ball in front of us all night. … We just didn’t come out ready to play and they jumped on us and we never could quite catch up from that.”

Tage Dayton had a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds to lead Hoquiam.

“He played great,” Niemi said of Dayton.

Joey Bozich (16 points, 4 rebounds) and Lincoln Niemi (14 pts., 7 assists) also scored in double figures for the Grizzlies.

Hoquiam enters the postseason as the 1A Evergreen League No. 4 seed and will play in a pigtail play-in game on Tuesday.

The Grizzlies close out the regular season with a non-league Myrtle Street Rivalry matchup against Aberdeen at 7 p.m. on Saturday in Hoquiam.

No further information was available for this game at the time of this writing.

Scoring: Hoquiam – Dayton 16, Bozich 16, Niemi 14, Maxfield 8, Abbott 2.

~~~

Tumwater 62, Aberdeen 36

Aberdeen struggled to find offense in a 62-36 loss to Tumwater on Wednesday at Aberdeen High School.

The Bobcats (7-11, 3-6 2A Evergreen) scored five points in the first quarter and trailed 31-15 by halftime.

After winning the third quarter 16-11 against the second-place T-Birds (14-5, 7-2), the Bobcats offense manged just five points over the final eight minutes of play to suffer the loss.

Aberdeen was led by junior Isaac Garcia with 13 points, five rebounds and three steals.

Ryker Scott scored 10 points and had six rebounds with guard Xanta Raya adding 10 points, a team-high seven rebounds and three steals for the Bobcats.

Aberdeen went 15 of 57 from the field (26%) – including 4 of 26 from 3-point range (15%) and had 12 steals and 17 turnovers as a team.

The Bobcats close out the league schedule against first-place Black Hills at 7 p.m. on Friday at Aberdeen High School.

Tumwater 12 19 11 18 – 62

Aberdeen 5 10 16 5 – 36

Scoring: Aberdeen – Garcia 13, Scott 10, Raya 10, Lewis 3.