Falling behind in another league contest early, the Tumwater boys basketball team bounced back in a big way in the second half in a 71-61 doozy against rival Black Hills Tuesday.
The Wolves led the Thunderbirds, 34-26, at the half, with multiple T-Birds on the bench with foul trouble and the Wolves shooting the lights out of the ball.
Tumwater’s Andrew Collins nearly single handedly kept the T-Birds in the game, with 15 first half points and leading scorer Luke Brewer sitting on the bench with no points and in foul trouble.
But then the Thunderbirds got to work in the second half, outscoring the Wolves, 26-11 in the third quarter and Luke Reid’s three makes from deep. The Wolves just didn’t go away, though, and got it back to two points in the fourth quarter with just under three minutes to go.
Enter Brewer, who hit a 3-pointer, and after a Black Hills turnover, Collins splashed home another trey to give the T-Birds an eight-point lead in the blink of an eye. Senior forward Ryan Otton put the finishing touches on the night with a strong two-hand slam in his last regular season home game as a Thunderbird.
Collins ended up leading Tumwater with 26 points, and Brewer had 15 points all in the second half. Otton finished with 13 points.
Black Hills was led by Luke Ellison’s 17 points, who has scored nearly 80 combined points over his last three outings. Johnnie Stallings had 15 to round out the Wolves double figure scorers.
Tumwater will take on Rochester next on the road, while the Wolves take on W.F. West in their final regular season game at home.
