Thursday night in Brooklyn, Victor Webanyama led the latest draft class into the NBA, joining the league for next season. Just under 2,900 miles west at Black Hills High school, a similar — but much more active — sort of mood came to Tumwater, where a host of high schools got their prep work in for the coming winter at the Thurston County Sports Association’s summer league.
And while this might be dirty work compared to the NBA draft and quiet in comparison to the big games of December, January, and February, with the bleachers pushed up to the wall to allow two games at once with few fans in attendance, it’s not that much calmer a time at all.
“I joke sometimes that I’m more tired at the end of June basketball than I am at the end of the regular season,” Black Hills coach Jeff Gallagher said.
The TCSA league alternates between girls games on Mondays and Wednesday and boys games on Tuesdays and Thursdays, with every school set to get around 10 games over the course of the month. Thursday, the Wolves got a pair of 2A EvCo matchups, taking on W.F. West in one game before coming right back to play Shelton. After their first matchup, the Bearcats got an hour off before returning to the court to face 1A Elma.
For whatever record there is, the Wolves, who beat the Bearcats twice last season, won against Thursday, 61-41. Then again, the teams that took to the court quite different than the lineups that played last year — thanks to graduation — or even the ones that will play this coming season — with plenty of regular faces out for other commitments.
“It doesn’t mean everything,” Gallagher said. “Everybody in our conference knows each other’s personnel, we know who they’re missing and who they’ve got. Either way as long as we played hard and improved, that’s what it’s all about.”
Between injuries and a host of players going across the mountains for baseball tournaments, W.F. West had just one player who saw significant varsity minutes, in rising senior Parker Eiswald.
Around him, the Bearcats had a few players set to make the jump up from JV next year — along with a couple who made said jump to fill out the day’s roster, coming straight from the JV team’s scrimmage beforehand. Among the first group stood out 6-foot, 7-inch Grady Westlund, who coach Chris White said could factor in well to WFW’s schemes this winter.
“I think he’s going to look really good when he’s got more guards around him,” White said.
For Black Hills, the leading duo came in the form of one old face and one new one. Simon Nysted led the Wolves at the point, gearing up for his senior year. Alongside him stood freshman James Morgan, who drew the top defensive assignments all evening long and didn’t look much like a kid still waiting to attend his first high school class.
“He’s a good one,” Gallagher said. “He’s going to be a load for the next four years.”
With the week’s work done, both Black Hills and W.F. West will get to the other part of summer basketball: traveling. After staying close to home during the week, both sides are hitting the road for tournaments down the coast. Black Hills, which took a trip to Scappoose, Oregon last week, will cross the border once again to play in Seaside. The Bearcats will take the same trip but stay on this side of the Columbia River to go to Ilwaco — White’s alma mater — for basketball plus a school-room camping trip.
“I put that one on the calendar awhile ago,” White said. “It’ll be fun to head down that way, stay in a classroom. I just went to Costco before this and bought a bunch of food. I like to delegate about four kids per meal and have them cook the meals.”
