Centralia came out flat, couldn’t knock down timely shots and fell to visiting Black Hills in a 71-67 defeat in 2A Evergreen Conference action on Thursday.
“We didn’t play very well early on,” Centralia coach Kyle Donahue said. “It took us a while to find our rhythm, and we felt a little out of sync offensively.”
The Tigers are still finding their footing this early in the season and are already three league games in. The 2A EvCo normally doesn’t play league games before Christmas break, but the addition of Shelton added an extra week of games and created one bye game for each team.
“We’re still figuring ourselves out,” Donahue said.
The Tigers were led by senior Landon Kaut’s game-high 25 points and nine rebounds. Cohen Ballard added 16 points and Brady Sprague had nine. Cole Wasson tallied four rebounds and three assists, while Brandon Yeung dished out three assists.
“At times, we played well tonight,” Donahue said. “Ballard got us going and shot the ball well. Sprague came in, played quite a few minutes and played well.”
Black Hills was led by Keagan Rongen’s 18 points, while Andre Byoune had 15 and Jaxsen Beck finished with 13.
Black Hills (6-2) travels to Bremerton for a 5 p.m. non-league game on Saturday. Centralia (3-3, 1-2 EvCo) heads to Montesano for a non-league matchup on Saturday.
