One week ago, the Woodland boys basketball team needed to win a fifth-place tiebreaker in the 2A Greater St. Helens League to keep its season alive.
Now, thanks to a remarkable four-game run, the Beavers’ season won’t end for a while.
Woodland beat W.F. West 48-45 Tuesday in the 2A district semifinals at Ridgefield High School.
The win cliches a spot in the district title game and a berth in the regional round of the state tournament.
After beating Mark Morris in the fifth-place tiebreaker, Woodland (13-11) survived a district play-in game the following day by beating Aberdeen.
The Beavers kept rolling, knocking off 2A GSHL champ Columbia River in a first-round game Saturday.
Now Woodland will face Tumwater in the district title game at 8 p.m. Friday at Battle Ground. The Thunderbirds, which placed third in the Evergreen Conference, knocked off EvCo champ Black Hills 59-48 Tuesday.
Woodland took a 27-17 lead on a Blaine Hix 3-pointer with 2:40 left in the second quarter. The Beavers maintained the lead near double-digits until the fourth quarter, when W.F. West pulled within 43-38.
Trey Hanson put the game away with a 3-pointer that put Woodland up 48-40 with one minute to play.
WOODLAND 48, W.F. WEST 45
W.F. West 13 10 10 12–45
Woodland 19 10 12 7–48