Basketball playoffs resume: La Center boys earn redemption

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Revenge was sweet for the La Center boys basketball players Tuesday.

The Wildcats didn't get to the Yakima Sun Dome last season after they lost to Montesano in the state regional round. This time around, those two teams crossed paths in the semifinals of the 1A district tournament.

"We were definitely thinking about that the whole time. It's a revenge game. We were hyped for it," said La Center senior Matt Bryant. "We're playing our best basketball right now. Just playing together more and more." 

After enduring six 3-pointers by Montesano in the second quarter and trailing by five points at halftime, the Wildcats outscored the Bulldogs 27-12 in the third quarter on the way to a 80-69 victory in the semifinals of the 1A district tournament at King's Way Christian High School in Vancouver.

"It's just weathering the storm. That's what we've done a lot this year," Bryant said. "We just kept playing our style of basketball. It was awesome coming together like that and being aggressive."

Bryant racked up 20 points for La Center on four 3-pointers. Hunter Ecklund added 19 points and nearly a dozen assists. Avery Seter and Colby Shaw both had 17 points to go with several rebounds, steals and put backs.

"The first half was not very pretty for us. We started off really slow but we kept our composure," Shaw said. "We got a lot of steals (in the third quarter) and pretty much ramped up the energy. Trusted in our full court defense and made it happen."

Evan Norris muscled in two points for the Wildcats and made a foul shot to tie the score at 42-42 early in the third quarter. Montesano responded with a three, Shaw answered with a three and two more, but the Bulldogs kept pace and tied the score by up at 47-47.



Seter nailed a three to help La Center reclaim the lead. Ecklund then stole the ball, scored a basket and made a foul shot. Shaw added a three and Ecklund netted two more free throws to give the Wildcats some breathing room.

A crazy sequence helped La Center increase its lead to 12 points before the end of the third quarter. Bryant rebounded a miss and put it back up for two points. Before the Bulldogs could blink, Ecklund stole the ball and scored two points. And then, Norris picked off a pass and netted two more points.

"We just keep pressing and keep running," said La Center head coach Jeremy Ecklund. "Our whole plan is to try and wear the other team out and we did. I think they were really gassed. They were hitting those threes in the first half. They didn't hit them in the second half."

Montesano got within six points of La Center in the fourth quarter, before Bryant hit back-to-back threes to seal the deal.

La Center (20-2) and King's Way (15-7) will clash for the third time this season at 7:30 p.m. Friday in the 1A district championship game at W.F. West High School. The Knights beat the Wildcats by one point Jan. 16. La Center outlasted King's Way in overtime Feb. 1 to secure the league title.

La Center has a firm grip on the number-two seed in the 1A RPI rankings. Whether the Wildcats win or lose Friday, coach Ecklund believes they should remain in the top eight which guarantees them a ticket to the Sun Dome.

"We just booked our trip to Yakima," he said. "Two more weeks with these guys is going to be a lot of fun."