Elma holds on down the stretch to beat Aberdeen

Published 1:30 am Thursday, January 1, 2026

ABERDEEN–Elma held off a fervent Aberdeen comeback attempt to hold on for a 68-66 win on Tuesday at Aberdeen High School.

The marquee matchup of two Twin Harbors teams on the upswing, it was the Eagles (6-5 overall) that opened the game with more energy and pace, a characteristic normally associated with the fast-paced Bobcats (4-3).

Elma capped a 6-0 first-quarter run on a steal and layup from standout senior wing Isaac McGaffey to go up 15-10.

After a bucket in the paint from Aberdeen senior Gabe Matthews, the Eagles closed out the frame with a pair of free throws from junior post Tyrone Aguilar to take a 17-12 lead.

Elma continued to attack the key in the second quarter, highlighted by McGaffey’s baseline drive and two-handed dunk to open the period.

The Eagles led 22-15 halfway through the frame until Aberdeen sharpshooting guard Jhacob Quezada splashed in his second 3-pointer of the period to cut the Eagles’ lead to 22-18.

Dynamic Bobcats guard/forward Isaac Garcia followed with a layup off a rare Elma turnover to bring the Bobcats to within a bucket with 3:40 to play in the first half.

Elma responded with a quick 5-0 run capped by a pull-up jumper off the dribble from sophomore guard JanCarlos Moreno to push the lead back up to 28-20, the Eagles’ largest of the first half.

Trailing 32-24 with 1:35 on the clock, the Bobcats closed the half on a 7-2 run, capped by back-to-back layups from Garcia to cut the deficit to 34-31 at the break.

Elma stretched the lead to 41-31 with a 7-0 run to start the third quarter, with senior wing Trayton scoring on a baseline jumper followed by a 3-pointer then feeding a nifty interior pass to senior post Dylan Myer for two more Eagles points in the paint.

Two straight threes from Quezada halfway through the third cut the Eagles lead to 45-40, but Elma regained its double-digit lead on a three from Moreno off a kickout assist from senior guard Tanner Moe to make it a 52-42 game at the 1:38 mark.

Elma would took a 56-46 advantage into the fourth period when sophomore guard Gavin Muir scored in the paint with 16 seconds left in the third.

The Eagles held its largest lead of the game at 58-46 and 60-48 early in the fourth quarter before the Bobcats clawed back into the game largely due to consistent, high-energy play.

Trailing by 12, a three from Aberdeen senior guard Xanto Raya sparked an 11-2 Bobcats run, capped by a pull-up jumper from Quezada to cut the Eagles’ lead to 62-59 and forcing an Elma timeout with 4:17 to play.

The Elma lead would dwindle further when Raya hit his third 3-pointer of the period to make it a 67-66 game with 1:14 to play.

“(Elma head coach Matt Ferrier) was telling us we just need to calm down, play our game and not play theirs,” McGaffey said of the Eagles’ late-game strategy. “They were dictating to us, they were bossing us around. We just had to play our game, calm down and do our press break and we were right back in there.”

Aberdeen had the ball with 19.9 seconds to play, but a drive to the lane by Quezada – defended by Myer and Webb – failed to draw a foul call. The ball was deflected away by Myer and was scooped up by Moreno, who was immediately fouled by Bobcats senior guard Ryker Scott.

Moreno subsequently hit 1-of-2 foul shots with 1.5 seconds left and Aberdeen never put up a final shot, securing Elma’s 68-66 victory.

“Stay calm, collected and disciplined,” Ferrier said of his instructions to his team in the game’s final minutes. “Control the pace and time a little bit and it worked out for us in our favor.”

“In the fourth quarter, we played our pace of game. If we would’ve played our first three quarters like we did the fourth quarter, I think it would’ve been a different story tonight,” Aberdeen head coach Brandyn Brooks said. “We were all in agreement of how we wanted to turn the pressure up, but the defensive discipline wasn’t as sharp as it should’ve been, especially against a really good Elma team. We have to be way sharper going forward.”

The Eagles shot 45% from the field on 27-of-60 shooting and hit 10-of-17 free throws (59%) as a team.

Elma had balanced scoring with four players scoring at least 10 points or more, had 18 assists and just seven turnovers.

Moreno (15 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists), Webb (14 pts., 4 reb., 2 ast.), McGaffey (12 pts., 6 reb., 6 ast., 3 steals, 2 blocks) and Myer (10 pts., 8 reb., 2 ast., stl., blk.) each scored in double figures for the Eagles.

“It’s fun to see us penetrate through the gaps and find somebody that’s open on the backside,” Ferrier said of his team’s interior passing. “To have trust in a teammate that he’s going to make it instead of shooting the ball is huge for our program at this point in time.”

“It was not part of the game plan, but having that many people participating in the offense is huge,” said McGaffey, who leads Elma with 19.7 points per game. “It opens up everything, not just scoring for me, but scoring for everybody.”

Aberdeen went 16 for 37 from the floor (43%), including 11 of 26 from beyond the arc (42%), and shot just four free throws in the game, making one.

Quezada led the Cats with 23 points, hitting 7 of his 13 3-point shots (54%).

Garcia scored 19 points on 8-of-16 shooting (50%) and had four steals in the game while Bobcats senior forward Gabe Matthews grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds in the game.

Aberdeen committed 13 turnovers in the game and had 31 rebounds as a team.

“What I told the boys was, ‘We don’t take losses, we take lessons,’ and the lesson we took from this was we have to play at our speed at all times,” Brooks said. “We have to be high-tempo, up and down all night and wear a team out.”

Ferrier said the win shows his team in continuing to grow and improve.

“We are on a transition. Our group has become incredibly close over the last two and a half weeks,” he said. “It’s one of the reasons why we have faith in the guys on the backside. It’s incredible to see their growth and we’re in the right spot at the right time going into 2026.”

The Bobcats open 2A Evergreen Conference play at Centralia at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.

Elma takes on Rochester in a 1A Evergreen League game at 6:45 p.m. on Tuesday in Rochester.

Elma 17 17 22 12 – 68

Aberdeen 12 19 15 20 – 66

Scoring: Elma – Moreno 15, Webb 14, McGaffey 12, Myer 10, Moe 6, Muir 6, Yeager 3, Aguilar 2. Aberdeen – Quezada 23, Garcia 19, Raya 8, Matthews 5, Scott 4, Howard 4, Knabe 3.