When Napavine center Keith Olson picked up his fourth foul with just over five minutes left in the third quarter, Adna boys basketball coach Luke Salme had one simple message for his team in the huddle.
“Fellas, if you want to win, here’s your chance.”
Down by two at the time, the Pirates went on a 14-3 run to end the quarter, and picked up a huge, 53-46, win over the Tigers in the 2B District IV third-place game at W.F. West High School Saturday.
Braeden Salme chipped in a game-high 15 points, Aaron Aselton dropped a huge 11 points, Lane Johnson had 10, and the Pirates were fist-bumping, hugging, and pumped to pull out a victory over their league rivals in Chehalis.
“It took a lot of grit and a lot of leadership,” Luke Salme said. “I told them how much I loved them, those guys collectively haven’t beat that school in a lot of sports that often. But I had a feeling, when I saw them at shootaround, they were excited.
“Every kid was fired up and chest bumping, this is what you want. It’s so cool when you get the reward of winning that game.”
But the key was getting the big man Olson in foul trouble. The Napavine senior picked up his fourth early in the third quarter, and his fifth midway through the final quarter, and missed a huge chunk of the game, eliminating the Tigers' size advantage.
Olson finished with eight points, while James Grose and Gavin Parker led Napavine with 10 points apiece.
“It’s so hard, he’s so unlike anything we’ve ever faced,” Luke Salme said of Olson. “Life is so much easier when you can get him in foul trouble. I’ll take my chances if Aaron Aselton can be involved in attacking him and playing defense on him. That played a huge role that he was on the sideline for a third of the game if not more.”
On the Tigers side, it was about the rebounding while Olson was off the floor. A team that typically feasts on the boards and kills teams on the glass, limiting possessions, the Tigers didn’t have the same success with foul issues.
“They just killed us on the offensive glass,” Tigers coach Rex Stanley said. “We were getting some initial stops, but I just felt we couldn’t get the key defensive rebound.”
After suffering a buzzer-beating defeat to Kalama in the district semis, and a close defeat at the hands of Adna Saturday, the Tigers postseason seeding fate will be decided on Sunday after finishing fourth in District IV.
“This is a new season that starts basically right now for us,” Stanley said. “We’ll get to regionals and get dialed in and be ready to go.”
But a win for the Pirates over the Tigers, who have typically had their number, will be huge, not just for seeding implications but also for team morale. Luke Salme said that Napavine is a surefire state title contender, and running the gauntlet through District IV will only help them at regionals and the state tournament.
Despite not getting the chance to cut down nets after a loss to Morton-White Pass in the district semis on Wednesday, the win is just another testament to how close the Pirates have grown this season.
“Aaron and Chase (Collins) have given everything to the program for two years, it starts there,” Luke Salme said. “Chase hasn’t shot it well recently, but he’s still fully committed. I will probably never coach another human being that works as hard as Aaron. The leadership for those guys, and our kids one-through-11 love one another and are fully committed to give everything they’ve had. That’s something we’ll remember forever. The feeling in the locker room right now is cooler than any of that stuff.”
