Tenino's Justin Conklin takes a jumper against the Forks defense during SWW 1A Evergreen Division boys basketball action on Tuesday night on the Beavers' home court.
Tenino's Devante Harris takes a jumper against the Forks defense during SWW 1A Evergreen Division boys basketball action on Tuesday night on the Beavers' home court.
TENINO — The Beavers cut down the net — their own net, on their own home court — here on Tuesday night.
On a night when Tenino celebrated a win over Forks, a share of the league championship, and the final home game in the careers of eight seniors, running up a stepladder with a pair of scissors to chop the nylon just seemed like the evening's natural culmination.
The Beavers' 46-36 victory pushed their SWW 1A League Evergreen Division record to 10-1 with one game remaining and a half-game lead over No. 2 Hoquiam, meaning that, at worst, Tenino will share the Evergreen championship with Hoquiam.
And at best, the Beavers will wrap up the league title outright at Rainier Friday night.
"It's huge. For our seniors, it means a lot to all of them," Tenino senior forward Justin Conklin said. "We've kind of been playing together for a long time, and we didn't have much to look up to when we were sophomores and freshmen. Our junior year was pretty good, and this year it's even better."
Conklin scored 13 Tuesday night, in a game that featured 12 lead changes in the first half. Devante Harris scored with 20 seconds left in the second quarter to give the Beavers a 22-21 lead, and Gabe Egge hit a pair of free throws with just under a minute left in the first half that put Tenino up 24-21.
Tenino then opened the second half with an 8-0 run, courtesy of a back-to-back 3-pointers from Dustin Hammond and Conklin.
"I told them at halftime, we're going to get our run, and they're going to get their run," said Tenino coach Rod Enos, who was coaching against his alma mater on Tuesday. "Ours just has to be a little bigger. And we were pretty mentally tough and resilient."
Egge put back a missed layup at the buzzer to end the third quarter with the Beavers up 34-28, and canned a 3-pointer to open the fourth-quarter scoring. Forks, which lost 49-48 to the Beavers back on Jan. 4 on a last-second free throw, wouldn't get closer than 5 points the rest of the way.
Egge scored 17 points, and post Ben Peterson finished with 6 points and seven rebounds. Tenino was able to limit Forks' Braden Decker, the defending league MVP, to just 2 points.
"We put Dustin Hammond, our best defensive player, on Decker," Conklin said. "We pretty much just tried to stop him as the center of their offense."
The tempo of the game, controlled early on by Forks, was slow, and the Spartans hit five of their first six field goal attempts. The pace and potential for another tight game didn't bother the Beavers.
"We said we'd grind one out," Enos said said. "We knew it was going to be in the 40s, and if it came down to it, we knew we'd made that play before, and we knew we could make it again."
Conklin, though, hit all four of his free-throw attempts in the final 2 minutes to ensure Tenino would not have to make a last-second play to beat the Spartans a second time, and that there would be no reason not to cut down a net.
The Beavers (15-4, 10-1 league) now play at rival Rainier — where Beaver forward Mac Shaw was a student up until this season — on Friday with a chance to win the league title outright. It's a big change from Enos' first year at the helm, when this year's seniors were freshmen.
"From where we started and where we've come, it's been great," said Enos. Tenino was winless five years ago, went 2-18 in Enos' first season, and finished an even 12-12 last year. "It's all due to the chemistry. They don't care who scores, or who gets the rebounds, as long as somebody gets it done."
Warriors Hold Off Elma, 45-39
ELMA — Rochester had a comfortable lead early, and managed to hold on late in a 45-39 win over the Eagles here Tuesday in SWW 1A League Evergreen Division boys basketball action.
"This was a pretty good game. We held them to just 9 points in the first (half) but we didn't write up the game yet," Warrior coach Mark Goldrick said. "We weren't in as much control as it seemed."
Tyler Yarber led the Warriors with 13 points while Aaron Blanchard scored 10 and Colton Smith contributed 8 with nine rebounds.
Elma trailed 20-9 at the half, but put up 17 in the third quarter to cut the lead to 7 going into the final stanza.
"All our guys contributed to the win. It was very balanced and we moved the ball around a bit," Goldrick added. "They all found ways to help."
Rochester (5-14, 3-8 in league) will play at Montesano on Thursday.
Toledo Blows Out Stevenson
STEVENSON — Austin Trafelet scored 27 points for Toledo in a comfortable 77-30 win over Stevenson here Tuesday in SWW 1A League Trico Division boys basketball action.
"We had a solid first half despite missing some easy shots," Toledo coach Scott Merzoian said of his team, which led 35-22 at the intermission. "We really improved our efforts in the second half."
Toledo held Stevenson to 8 in the third quarter, and the Bulldogs didn't score in the final frame.
"Defensively we didn't play up to par in the first half but we improved our intensity and put the game away in the third quarter," Merzoian mentioned. "Our intensity helped us in a lot of areas."
Brennan Rakoz added 16 points for the winners. Ten different players scored for Toledo.
"We spread the scoring around our guys and everyone contributed," Merzoian added. "They put up a good game and I am proud of their efforts."
Toledo (18-1, 16-1 in league) will host Castle Rock on Thursday to close out the Trico regular season. The Indians are tied with Kalama for the league lead, and the teams will share the league title both teams — Kalama plays at Seton Catholic on Thursday — win their final game.
Boys Basketball
At Tenino
BEAVERS 46, SPARTANS 36
Forks 13 8 7 8 —36
Tenino 13 11 10 12 —46
Forks (36) — Jacobson 4, Gonzalez 8, Harris 15, Decker 2, Abrahams 2, Gilmore 1, Hatch 4
FG: 15 of 41 —.366 FT: 4 of 5 —.800 Reb. 24 (Gonzalez 10)
Tenino (46) — Egge 16, Conklin 13, Harris 7, B. Peterson 6, Shaw 1, Hammond 3
FG: 16 of 49 —.327 FT: 6 of 11 —.545 Reb. 31 (B. Peterson 7)
At Elma
WARRIORS 45, EAGLES 39
Rochester 10 10 13 12 —45
Elma 7 2 17 13 —39
Rochester (45) — Rigsbee 5, Singer 4, Yarber 13, Gedney 5, Blanchard 10, Smith 8
FG: 15 of 57 —.263 FT: 11 of 22 —.500 Reb. 34 (Smith 9)
Elma (39) — Collin 8, Nauman 2, Stark 3, Risse 5, Bremer 9, Stevens 12
FG: n/a FT: 7 of 11 —.636 Reb. n/a
At Stevenson
INDIANS 77, BULLDOGS 30
Toledo 18 17 30 12 —77
Stevenson 9 13 8 0 —30
Toledo (77) — Brent Wood 3, Wallace 5, B. Rakoz 16, Blake Wood 8, Trafelet 27, Muyskens 1, McEwen 8, D. Rakoz 3, Hoff 2, Durham 4
FG: n/a FT: 12 of 19 —.632 Reb. n/a
Stevenson (30) — Stump 4, O'neal 2, Phillips 11, Rodriguez 8, West 3, Bialowsky 2
FG: n/a FT: 4 of 7 —.571 Reb. n/a
