ROCHESTER — It’s hard to beat a team three times in a season.
That phrase is often uttered when discussing the National Football League, but it also holds true on the boys side of the Central 2B League, where every team plays each other twice in the regular season before likely meeting for a third time in the district tournament.
Not only did Onalaska sweep Toutle Lake in the regular season, but the Loggers defeated the Ducks on Toutle Lake’s senior night by 18 just five days prior to their meeting in the first round of the 2B District 4 Tournament on Saturday in Rochester.
“I knew they were gonna come back ready to punch us,” Onalaska coach Fred Sturza said. “We just had to keep responding.”
The Loggers withstood Toutle Lake’s blows on Saturday, topping the Ducks 56-49 to advance to the district quarterfinals.
Onalaska’s offense got rolling early, helping the Loggers build a 32-24 halftime lead. Noland Brady hit two threes and went into the break with 10 points, Ethan Thayer added eight, and Logan Sturza added a pair of threes.
The offense slowed down after the break, though, as Onalaska struggled to adjust to Toutle Lake’s 2-3 zone.
Defensively, the Loggers were able to maintain their lead in the third quarter, but the Ducks began chipping away early in the fourth. Toutle Lake made it a priority to get the ball to Easton White inside, and White consistently took advantage of his size advantage to get high-percentage looks underneath.
With 3:23 to play, Toutle Lake cut the deficit to just two at 49-47, forcing an Onalaska timeout. Out of the timeout, Austin Sturza hit a three to push the lead back to five.
“We were letting that (zone) pressure get to us,” Fred Sturza said. “But they went out and executed at the end. We just had to take a second to compose, and they did.”
Brady hit two free throws in the final 20 seconds to put a finishing touch on his wonderful performance. He finished with a team-high 14 points, nine rebounds, six assists, and three steals.
“You just see all that work and him getting healthy pay off,” Fred Sturza said, mentioning that Brady battled a bout of pneumonia midway through the regular season. “He’s been our backbone the entire second half (of the season). Anytime we need a big bucket, anytime we need a guy to calm everybody down. He’s such a scrappy player. It’s always nice to have that guy to rely on.”
Maddox McKinley finished with 12 points and four steals, while Thayer ended the afternoon with 12 points of his own and brought down five rebounds. Both Austin and Logan Sturza finished with six points, Brodey Triana tallied four, and Haze Hamrick collected three.
Four different Loggers — Brady, Austin Sturza, Logan Sturza, and McKinley — finished with two three-pointers each.
“Whatever type of zone you face, you gotta have a couple of threes to get them to relax that pressure up top,” Fred Sturza said. “I was glad, especially down the stretch, to hit a couple big ones.”
The Loggers (11-10) will now advance to the district quarterfinals, where they will face Ilwaco, the Pacific 2B League’s No. 1 seed, on Wednesday in Rochester. The Fishermen won all eight of their league games and have won 15 games in a row after losing their first two games of the season back in December.
The winner of that game will face either Mossyrock or Toledo in a winner-to-state semifinal.
“That’s gonna be a tough matchup, because they’re a very good zone team,” Fred Sturza said. “They’re gonna be a tough one for us. We’re gonna have to have our best game … We just got to rest and then get ready to get back to work on Monday.”
