Beavers bounced from state basketball tournament

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For the Woodland Beavers, the Class 2A boys state basketball tournament wasn’t as much of a success on the court as they had hoped it would be but coach Jason Buffum hopes his team maximized the experience.

“Since the WIAA (Washington Interscholastic Athletic Association) has gotten this thing so clustered with only eight teams making it to the finals, it’s tough to get to the Final 8,’’ said Buffum, whose team accomplished the feat in just his third season at the helm of the Beavers’ program. “It’s been talked about that it had been 31 years since Woodland had a Final 8 experience. They had been to the Final 16 a couple of times but it had been so long since a team has made it to the Final 8.’’

Woodland lost its only two games at this year’s tournament, to Clarkston and Wapato. The two losses gave Woodland an overall season record of 17-10.  The Beavers were making their first appearance in the final 8 of the state tournament in 31 years.

“It was so awesome to make it,’’ Buffum said. “Even after we were eliminated, we we stayed over there and enjoyed the journey as a team through the championship game. We spent that time soaking it in. We talked about how we want to get back there and get a trophy.’’

Buffum is hopeful the WIAA will go back to the old 16-team format for state basketball tournaments.

“Until the WIAA fixes that, and we hear it sounds like it might be close, the chances are so limited to get back with only eight teams getting to go,’’ Buffum said. “I think it was an eye-opening experience for our kids to get the chance to go and see what the elite level teams look like. We hope to get back there. We know it won’t be easy, but it’s something you have to cherish while you are there. Hopefully, we got a chance to do that as a program.’’

Woodland made 11 of its 24 shots (45.8 percent) in the first half and headed into the locker room tied after the first two quarters of their Friday consolation bracket matchup with Wapato. However, the Beavers made just six of their 27 shots in the second half and fell to the Wolves by a 50-45 score at the Yakima SunDome.

In Friday’s loss to Wapato, Woodland was led by junior Tanner Sixberry, who had 15 points and nine rebounds. The 6-foot-4 forward made six of his 14 shots from the field.



Senior guard Hayden Huddleston added 14 points, five rebounds and three assists for the Beavers. Junior Bryce Mulder added nine points, 10 rebounds and four blocked shots.

“We led the whole first half and then in the third quarter they went to a ‘Triangle and Two’ defense on Huddleston and Sixberry,’’ Buffum said. “We couldn’t get the ball inside because they were double-teaming Mulder with their two inside guys. We didn’t make the shots we needed to to make them get out of that defense. We missed a countless amount of open 3s. If we would have stuck one or two of those, they would have had to come out of that defense and guard us.’’

Huddleston made a pair of 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to help Woodland get within striking distance late in the game. Sixberry was steady throughout the two games at the state tournament.

“Tanner was his usual self,’’ Buffum said of Sixberry. “He had a good game against Wapato. He was doing some good things but they really keyed on him in the third quarter and took away his opportunities to score. When he got the touches, he did a good job and made some baskets for us to keep us going.’’

In Friday’s 57-25 loss to Clarkston, Woodland trailed 31-12 at halftime and 57-14 after three quarters before posting an 11-0 advantage in the final eight minutes. The Beavers made just 11 of their 43 shots (25.6 percent) from the field in the game and were successful on only two of their 15 attempts (13.3 percent) from 3-point range.

Sixberry again led the way for the Beavers, this time with 13 points on 6-for-15 shooting from the field. Freshman Tyler Flanagan chipped in five points and four rebounds and Mulder had four points, seven rebounds and two blocked shots.

“We knew Clarkston was going to be a tough matchup,’’ Buffum said. “They were the defending state champs and they had been in the title game a couple years in a row and they have a couple of dynamic players. We had seen them on film and knew what they would do. We just started out the game with such a deer-in-the-headlights approach that we couldn’t ever recover.’’

Clarkston went on to win their second consecutive state title, edging Shorecrest 60-59 in Saturday’s championship game.