TUMWATER — They celebrate together. They pick each other up on a moment’s notice. They even wear the same horned hat when they exit the locker room.
For the Tumwater High School boys basketball team, it’s a chemistry-driven group that even as each individual player is developing, they don’t lose sight of the ultimate prize in SW Washington.
Securing another Evergreen Conference title and putting them in arms reach of a district championship.
“Evertybody kept getting better,” Anchors said. “Owen (Reamer) and Julian (Balsley) came a long way and kept showing up for nights like this.”
After two hiatus years, Tumwater is back on top in the EvCo.
Anchors finished with a game-high 21 points and plenty of defensive stops in the second half pushed the T-Birds to their third league title in five years with a 59-46 triumph over Black Hills on Friday night in a packed Black Hills gymnasium.
“We’ve had teams in the past that might quit a little bit, but they are a steady group,” Thunderbirds head coach Josh Wilson said. “We barely ran anything offensively. That was all just playing.”
Now at 16 consecutive victories, Tumwater (17-1, 8-0 EvCo) will be the No. 1 seed in the Class 2A District 4 tournament and will take on the GSHL’s No. 4 seed at home on Feb. 14. It will likely be either Washougal or Ridgefield.
If it is the Spudders, it will mark the second straight postseason they’ll waltz into South Thurston County and take on the EvCo champs in the quarterfinals.
“Having these big wins is fun with all of them and the chemistry is (through the roof),” Anchors said. “I never really felt we would lose the game.”
Tumwater’s theme has been depth and using substitutions smartly. All varsity players saw court time and their up-in-your-face man-to-man defense stifled Black Hills for the final two quarters. Coupled with their zones and full-court press, the T-Birds never let their opposition get closer than five.
“We just didn't let it phase us,” Wilson said. “If we can just keep them in front, make it as hard as possible, that’s the goal. It is really simple.”
In the same breath, the Wolves (13-5, 6-2) never got key shots to fall in a three-plus minute stretch in the third where they were down 10.
“We played really hard, we just didn’t play well,” Black Hills head coach Jeff Gallagher said. “Too many untimely turnovers, some missed block outs and some missed defensive assignments.”
Come the fourth, the game-altering sequence was an Ethan Bello layup, turnover on the ensuing inbounds and a Julian Balsley bucket to up Tumwater’s lead to 50-37. Balsley had eight of his 10 points in the final frame.
And Bello added six points plus impacted the game on the defensive side of the court with three steals. Luke Overbay finished with nine points, 13 rebounds and six assists.
“Ethan is an incredible athlete,” Wilson said of Bello’s night. “His defense is key and having a guy like that is a really good thing for us.”
Black Hills jumped out to a 12-5 lead early, but the T-Birds went on a 13-0 run to take the lead for good. It trailed by three points three different times in the second and was down one late in the second.
Anchors hit a three-point play to start a 7-1 Tumwater spree to lead by seven at the half.
“Last year, we were overhelping and giving up open 3s,” Anchors said. “We kind of honed in on our skills this year.”
Gallagher made sure to give all the credit to his county rival. Peyton Faught and James Morgan paced the Wolves scoring with 16 and 15 points, respectively. That duo provided all of their second half scoring.
“Tumwater stays even-keeled,” he said. “Their kids do a really good job not panicking.”
Tumwater closes the regular season with home games versus Aberdeen and Shelton next week while Black Hills gets Centralia and Aberdeen. Both are locked into their seeds for districts, but don’t think they’ll pack in the final two league games.
“Even though one of our big goals can’t happen, now we have to move on,” Gallagher said. “We still have a lot of goals in place.”
“They like each other; they fight for each other,” Wilson added about his group’s mindset. “Everybody is just together.”
