LONGVIEW — For the four seniors, this will make for one memorable final season.
For the other players, well, the Woodland Beavers hope this is just the start of something special.
Woodland is going to the Class 2A state boys basketball regional, the round of 16, after finishing third in the 2A District 4 tournament Saturday night.
Hayden Huddleston scored 17 points and Tanner Sixberry did a little bit of everything for the Beavers in a 56-43 victory over Centralia at Mark Morris High School.
“Awesome feeling, doing it for the seniors, getting them there,” Sixberry said. “And for the whole team, too, because we’re young.”
Sixberry scored 13 points, grabbed 11 rebounds, and also had five assists for the Beavers.
Woodland (16-8) survived back-to-back elimination games to make it to next week.
“Had our backs up against the wall,” Sixberry said. “We went out and took care of business.”
Woodland led by five going into the final quarter, then held the Tigers scoreless for more than four minutes. The Beavers weren’t scoring a lot during that stretch, but the defense never let up during crunch time. Centralia (11-13) went 3 for 12 from the floor in the final eight minutes.
Bryce Mulder had eight of his 11 points in the third quarter for the Beavers.
Huddleston scored 13 in the first half, leading the Beavers from an early deficit to a four-point lead at the break. Huddleston was 6 of 11 from the floor for the game, including 3 for 5 from 3-point range.
Centralia’s Nolan Wasson led all scorers with 21 points. He was held to six after halftime.
WOODLAND 56, CENTRALIA 43
WOODLAND — Bryce Mulder 11, McKay Flanagan 8, Hayden Huddleston 17, Wyatt Harsh 0, Tanner Sixberry 13, Tyler Flanagan 7, Christian Mendez 0. Totals 20 (6) 10-15 56.
CENTRALIA — Deter Voetberg 4, Layne Perzborn 4, Nolan Wasson 21, Christian Peters 6, Cale Shute 4, Jordan Thomas 1, Isaiah Trevino 3. Totals 18 (3) 4-5 43.
Woodland 11 17 13 15–56
Centralia 14 10 12 7–43
