YAKIMA — Tumwater head coach Josh Wilson said before the Thunderbirds’ 2A state quarterfinal game that if his team was to beat Anacortes and advance to the semis, it would be because of their defense.
Their defense was far from their only issue Thursday night, but the T-Birds struggled to get stops against the Seahawks in a 71-61 loss, just one night after their best defensive effort of the season against West Valley (Spokane) in the quarterfinals.
Tumwater has only given up 70 points to an opponent on two occasions this season, and both have come in the state tournament.
“Their physicality wore us down. They’ve got a lot of movement on offense. We lost guys off of cutters,” Wilson said of the defense. “They made their shots. We just got tired.”
Tumwater looked poised to have a much better first quarter offensively than it did Wednesday night, as Julian Balsley and Ethan Bello drilled 3-pointers in the first 95 seconds to force an early Anacortes timeout.
A 6-0 T-Birds lead evaporated quickly, however. They never scored again in the first quarter, while the Seahawks responded with 11 straight to end the opening period up by five. Senior Micah Dickison canned a triple just before the buzzer.
Tumwater stopped a 13-0 Anacortes run with a Balsley layup early in the second quarter, but the T-Birds consistently gave up possessions on offense. Before Anacortes recorded its first turnover, the T-Birds already had seven of their own.
Bello helped cut a seven-point Seahawks lead down to one midway through the second quarter with two acrobatic layups. Three Anacortes 3-pointers bumped the lead up to nine, the largest of the night.
One of the most significant factors of the first half was the offensive goose egg from Landon Anchors, who was the star of the Round of 12 game for Tumwater with 24 points. Anacortes had the junior forward in a straitjacket, cutting off paths for his teammates to pass him the ball. He was held scoreless in the first half on 0 for 3 shooting and three turnovers as Anacortes headed to the locker room ahead 29-20.
The offensive spurt didn’t last for Tumwater after the opening minutes, as Anacortes shot the ball 15 more times thanks to 11 first-half turnovers by the T-Birds. The Seahawks did not turn the ball over in the first half.
“Their physicality really got us off our spots. Their physicality wore us down. It made it hard to get anywhere or do anything,” Wilson said. “It really got to us tonight.”
Tumwater immediately called an offensive play for Anchors to start the second half, and he earned his first point of the night at the free-throw line. The Seahawks opened up a 12-point advantage early in the third off of more sloppy play from the T-Birds. A couple of electrifying dunks by Lucas Roberts, including a one-handed putback slam, hyped up the Anacortes faithful in attendance. Brennan Morgenthaler provided a boost with a pair of buckets late in the third as the Seahawks took control with a 15-point lead after three.
Tumwater could never vault back within striking distance in the fourth quarter despite the best efforts from Anchors and Owen Reamer. The T-Birds put up 28 points in the fourth quarter, twice as many as their next-best quarter of the night, but they couldn’t string together stops to spark a comeback. Dickison was unstoppable, scoring a game-high 29 points on 10 of 16 shooting.
Reamer finished with 14 points for Tumwater, while Balsley added 13. Anchors and Bello each scored 11, and Luke Overbay and Jake Reid each collected five.
“It was great to see them keep fighting and giving their best effort. We kept fighting the whole time,” Wilson said. “But [Anacortes’] shots were very timely, and they shot pretty well from the field.”
Tumwater, one night after turning the ball over 24 times, turned it over 24 more times on Thursday. With a short turnaround before the T-Birds elimination game at 2 p.m. Friday, Wilson wants to see his team take better care of the ball above all else.
“We’ve been turning the ball over at times all year. It’s really hard to win a basketball game when you have that many turnovers,” Wilson said. “The fact that we even had it within 10 is interesting. We’ve gotta recover as best as we possibly can, both mentally and physically, and give our best effort tomorrow.”
Tumwater (22-4) will face Renton in an elimination game Friday night. If the T-Birds win, they’ll head to the fourth-place game Saturday morning against either Grandview or Pullman.
