TUMWATER — Going 0-2 in the Class 2A District 4 tournament last winter didn’t sit well with Jeff Gallagher and his assistants. It was a quick exit after losing only one Evergreen Conference game and being the No. 1 seed in districts.
The film, after the dust settled, unveiled a primary reason why the Black Hills High School boys basketball team had an abrupt end.
“We looked at some of the games we lost and we lost them in the fourth quarter,” Gallagher stated. “It has been a discussion where we need you to be fresh during the fourth.”
Rotations last season went seven deep at most. The starting five would play 30-plus minutes and get very little breathers. The Wolves needed to develop some depth to mix in rotations and give the starters a chance to relax.
Through four games, they’ve done just that.
Nine different players scored on Monday night to help Black Hills upend Elma 73-58 on Monday night at home to move to 3-1. A season ago, when these two teams met in Elma, it was a four-point loss by the Wolves.
It remains a perimeter-oriented offensive attack, but Gallagher is fine with it.
“You kind of live and die by it,” he said. “It is a stinking fun group. Everyday we go into the gym, it’s something new.”
Black Hills didn’t lose much from last season.
Returning EvCo Player of the Year James Morgan bulked up his frame to be the post presence for a roster with little size. Yet he also worked on his outside shot to hone in another element of his game.
Morgan feels he is a true “three-level scorer.”
“After we lost to W.F. West,. I texted my coach Franklin Johnson and I told him ‘Hey, here are the things I want to work on,’” the junior said after pouring in a game-high 20 points. “He called me that night and said ‘Let’s make it work.’”
Add in the Morrill brothers Quinton and Talon plus Peyton Faught and the Wolves feel they can better what they accomplished a year ago. Now, there’s quality bench players that can step in and not miss a beat.
Kenny Bell provided nine points on three 3s while Kendell Roberson and Logan Stallings provided good defensive possessions.
Black Hills even brought out a press to confuse Elma. It's a new wrinkle for this season that Gallagher hopes can turn into a staple.
“That goes back to our depth because we’re able to throw kids in there that can provide us energy,” Gallagher said. “We’ve never pressed as much as we have. It was more of a coach’s meeting discussion when we evaluated our summer.”
A seven-point lead after the opening quarter was in double digits most of the second stanza. The Wolves forced a handful of turnovers to start the third and transition buckets aided a 20-plus point cushion.
Then the Eagles cut the margin to 15 early in the fourth that forced a Wolves timeout. Elma only scored only seven more points for the final four-plus minutes of the night.
“Our ability to handle adversity in the second half, that is something we struggled with last year,” Morgan said. “Kind of had some slip ups, but we need to handle our business.”
Talon Morrill added 19 points for the Wolves while Quinton Morrill and Faught combined for 16. It faces Evergreen (Vancouver) on Tuesday before having a six-day break then ramping up to take on Montesano, Bainbridge and defending 2A champ Bremerton before Christmas.
Morgan and Gallagher aren’t shying away from talking about this group playing in Yakima in March, despite District 4 only having three state bids.
“We came in this year and you can’t even hear the coaches talk,” Morgan said. “We were getting that work in. This group has gone through a lot; we committed ourselves all summer because we wanted to make a difference.”
