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Three things were paramount in the first 25 minutes and 26 seconds of Friday night’s second Swamp Cup boys basketball bout.
W.F. West led comfortably, but never pulled away. Centralia made a single digit deficit stick for the most part. And over the last half-decade, no matchup between the two Lewis County rivals had more at stake.
For the Bearcats, it was a win plus an Aberdeen loss to lock up the Evergreen Conference’s three seed. For the Tigers, they needed a victory and an Aberdeen loss to create a chaotic three-way tie for the last two district tournament spots.
“We always have a lot of energy when we play Centralia, but especially with these implications, it brings an extra fire to the game,” W.F. West senior Alex Stafford said. “We didn’t want the season to be over.”
In the final 6:34, it was Stafford that engineered the Bearcats’ train at full speed and they never looked back.
His steal and coast-to-coast layup put W.F. West up 13 – tied for its largest lead – then his involvement on the next two possessions and a dagger triple to increase the margin to 21 and it finished off a 64-40 triumph over Centralia in Chehalis.
Stafford finished with nine points on the night, one of three seniors to end their regular season on a high note. The other two, Fox Rogerson and Gage Grisham, registered 12 and four points, respectively.
“When we execute, we do pretty well,” Bearcats head coach Chris White said.
Coupled with Black Hills thumping Aberdeen, W.F. West (6-13, 4-6 EvCo) locked up the No. 3 seed and will take on the GSHL’s six seed Mark Morris in a pigtail game on Thursday at home.
White has characterized this season as “up and down” and one look at the schedule falls in line with the logic. The Bearcats never had a winning streak and went through a lull for a month where they lost by eight, six, seven, seven, seven and 11 points.
Even as recently as two days ago when 3A Prairie waltzed into town and dismantled the Bearcats by 42, there weren't a lot of happy, go-lucky thoughts around the program.
“Tough turnaround,” Stafford admitted. “Being able to flush it, we did a good job of that.”
It made the victory on Friday even sweeter. And Stafford had his fingerprints on the vital moments of a 24-point fourth quarter.
The steal came off Joseph Aguilar’s dribble that caromed off his foot and Stafford picked it up and blitzed down the court for the layup.
“I remember wanting to go dive for it, but I took a quick step and felt if I could pick it up I’d get an easy layup,” Stafford said. “The biggest part of our game has always been defense.”
He missed a 3-pointer on the next time down, but Race Rockey grabbed the offensive rebound and banked in the putback. He assisted Hayden Rooney’s triple to cap the Bearcats 9-0 spree.
Stafford’s trifecta to make it 56-35 W.F. West was sealed with a kiss to the student section.
“It was natural,” Stafford said. “Really fired up.”
“He was super savvy,” White added. “He was a huge spark for us.”
Tigers head coach Jordan Thomas left the visiting locker room feeling disappointed. They were down by nine early in the fourth, but only made three field goals over the final seven minutes of regulation.
“I expected this group to do what they did and that’s why it hurts,” Thomas said. “They did exactly what they were supposed to do to give us a chance.”
Centralia (4-13, 2-8) trailed from the opening tip, yet thanks to some half-court traps and stifling defense, only was down eight after the first quarter. A 7-0 spurt in the second cut the margin to three.
On its next three possessions, a five-second inbound violation, a missed jumper and another turnover left it empty-handed. The Tigers never got within a possession the rest of the night.
“That’s what really sucks,” Thomas said. “If we go on a little run, it shifts the energy.”
Johnny Ruiz led Centralia with 13 points and Aguilar added 11. It says goodbye to five seniors in Kadin Yeung, Abraham Martinez, Kycen Donahue, Tristin Henning and Julian Navarette. Ruiz, Aguilar, 6-foot-7 Braden Baine and guard Trevor Griffis are expected to anchor the 2026-27 core.
“The personalities of the seniors are exactly what this team needed,” Thomas stated. “In a year or two, they are going to come back and see the fruit of it.”
W.F. West gets a rematch with the Monarchs, a game that started the six-game losing streak back in December. It isn’t taking for granted the chance at another run in the district tournament. Two years ago, the Bearcats made it to the opening round and last winter, was a game away from getting back.
Can they put together another week of remarkable basketball? They wouldn’t want it any other way.
“We’re sure gonna try, it looks pretty daunting, but we’ll give it all we got,” White said. “Put all our chips in the middle.”
