Pe Ell reeled off a 20-10 run in the fourth quarter to comeback from a three-point deficit in a 50-43 road victory Tuesday in 1B Columbia Valley League play.
Senior Joey McCalden scored a team-high 16 points for the Trojans, while Michael Sanford and Aaiden Lee each added nine, Wyatt Marrs had eight and Carter Phelps finished with four.
“We almost had four double-digit scorers, which was good,” Pe Ell coach Clayburn Lusk said.
It was a tight ball game throughout, with both squads tied at the half. The Trojans fell behind by three in the fourth quarter before breaking off a 20-10 run to end the game and seal the victory.
Pe Ell improves to 4-3 overall and travels to Three Rivers Christian on Thursday in another league contest.
Willapa Valley’s Tyler Adkins and big-man Beau Buchanan combined for 38 points to deal Mossyrock a 65-55 defeat on Tuesday in Menlo.
Adkins finished with a game-high 20 points and Buchanan was right behind with 18.
“First time this season I thought we were out-hustled and out-worked,” Mossyrock coach Adam Deck said. “Give Valley a lot of credit for the effort on the glass and on the defensive end.
Zack Munos led Mossyrock with a team-high 18 points, while Gunner Mulligan added 16 points, six rebounds and five steals.
“Outside of them, I thought Tryn Thompson gave maximum effort on both ends,” Deck said. “I hope we learn from this loss and understand we have to come ready to give everything we have every game.”
Mossyrock (5-3) hosts Three Rivers Christian at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Saturday.
It’s been a rough season for Tenino boys. The Beavers are currently without 11 players due to either season-ending injuries or COVID-19 quarantine.
After Friday’s loss to Hoquiam, Beavers coach Joe Chirhart had to make a tough decision on whether or not to continue the season as he’s working with just 18 total players among the varsity, junior varsity and c-squad teams. Twelve of those 18 are eighth graders.
He decided to merge all the c-squad players into the JV team and bring up his top three eighth graders to varsity and continue the season.
The move paid off.
Two of the eighth graders were the Beavers top-two leading scorers in their 52-37 loss at home to Montesano on Tuesday night, an encouraging sign of the future for Chirhart and the program.
Eighth grader Noah Schow led the Beavers with a team-high 11 points, while fellow eighth grader Austin Gonia added nine points.
“The highlight of the night was definitely our eighth graders making a huge impact,” Chirhart said.
Junior post Takari Hickle chipped in nine points and a team-high 10 boards as well as the Beavers trailed just 19-12 at the half against a team they lost by 26 to in the season opener.
“It was the first time all year we weren’t run out of the gym in the first quarter,” Chirhart said. “Very happy with how we battled against what I think is the best team in the league. We had our chances.”
Tenino (0-5) hosts Hoquiam on Wednesday.
