W.F. West coach Chris White figured that Centralia would come out swinging on Friday night.
The Tigers, who were celebrating their senior night, were hosting White’s Bearcats in the second Swamp Cup meeting of the season, and they wanted to cap a disappointing season with a strong performance against their rivals.
Centralia went toe-to-toe with W.F. West in the first half on Friday, but the Bearcats pulled away for a 58-43 victory.
“We knew they’d have a ton of energy,” White said. “But I was proud of our guys. We didn’t get too worried. We just stayed calm.”
The first half was back-and-forth throughout, as both defenses dominated the first 13 minutes of play. With just a few minutes left until halftime, the game was tied at 19.
“We just let everything out,” Centralia coach Jordan Thomas said. “That was probably the most amped up we’ve been all season. I’m just proud of the guys. They’ve given us a lot, especially our six seniors. They knew it was their last night, so there was a lot of motivation.”
A quick barrage of three-pointers made it 25-25, and W.F. West scored the final five points of the half shortly after to take a 30-25 lead into the locker room.
In the third quarter, the W.F. West defense was nearly impenetrable, as the Bearcats forced multiple turnovers and held the Tigers to just four points.
“I thought we played our zones a little better and we had better energy on our ball pressure,” White said, specifically commending Gage Brumfield, Wyatt Hoffman, and Fox Rogerson. “A bunch of guys contributed with good ball pressure and it shortened things up for us.”
While the defense went to work, the offense put up 16 to extend their lead to 17 entering the fourth.
Grady Westlund had already tallied 13 rebounds in the first half, and he added nine more in the second to finish with 22. It’s the third time this season he’s finished with at least 20 rebounds.
“His rebounding is so relentless,” White said. “He’s been doing it all year. He just keeps possessions alive by getting on that offensive glass and shuts down their possession by squeezing the defensive glass. Very happy with how he did.”
Westlund just missed a double-double with nine points, and he also blocked five shots. Weston Potter finished with a team-high 14, while Brumfield finished with nine of his own.
Carlos Vallejo added eight points and three rebounds, and Ross Kelley scored five points and dished out four assists.
Eleven different Tigers got on the scoresheet in their season finale. Terrell Sanders, Jordan Yeung, and Trevor Griffis scored six apiece, while Alfonso Villalba and Kadin Yeung both added five and Joseph Aguilar Angel and Braden Baine both added four.
Centralia ends its season 2-18 and will graduate six seniors: Sanders, Kellen Rooklidge, Jordan Yeung, Adin Stratton, Johntah Pirtle, and David Daarud.
“They were everything for us,” Thomas said. “I’m gonna miss them big time. Those six are special. I love all those kids.”
Thomas, who just finished his first season at Centralia, thanked the community for the patience and support of him and his assistant coaches, and he also noted how proud he was of the growth he saw over the course of the year.
“Where we started in the summer to where we got to, night and day,” Thomas said. “You could see that end result in the final product (on Friday).”
Now officially the No. 3 seed from the EvCo, the Bearcats (10-10, 6-3 2A EvCo) will turn their attention to the district pigtail. They’ll host Hockinson, the GSHL’s five, on Thursday.
First, they’ll wrap up their regular season on Monday with a rescheduled game against Shelton that was originally postponed due to weather.
“We’re just trying to continue to grow,” White said. “Monday is a good live lab for us that doesn’t have a lot of bearing on things, but we wanna play well. Just looking forward to Monday’s game and getting ready for Thursday.”
