WOODLAND — The Woodland Beavers defeated the Centralia Tigers, 46-33, to advance in the 2A District 4 basketball tournament.
Woodland’s Tanner Sixberry led the Beavers with 14 points. Sixberry also had eight rebounds.
Hayden Huddleston scored 11 points, including three 3-pointers and Bryce Mulder snagged a team-high nine rebounds.
The Beavers (13-7) pulled away thanks to huge advantages in the second and third quarters after Centralia held an early lead after the first quarter.
“We came out and they kind of caught us off guard by being physical with the posts and face guarding me,” Sixberry said. “We had to adjust to it, find other guys who were open.”
Sixberry got hot in the third quarter, scoring eight straight points to put the Beavers ahead by eight, after Centralia closed within four early in the third quarter.
Woodland’s defense was locked in from the start and didn’t let Centralia (9-12) get anything easy around the basket.
The Beavers’ offense started to come around and after that there wasn’t much the Tigers zone defense could do stop it.
“We just started passing the ball around, getting in transition and got going,” Sixberry said.
With good ball reversal and getting the zone moving after the first quarter, they started to get more open looks.
Freshman guard Tyler Flanagan had two big 3-pointers at the end of the third quarter to put the Beavers up by 14 going into the final period.
“We started clicking, finding our other guys, some of us weren’t hitting,” Sixberry said. “We kept grinding, rebounding was big for us.”
The Tigers were their own worst enemy at the foul line, going 3 for 7.
Meanwhile, the Beavers cashed in on nearly all of their free opportunities, going 10-of-11 at the free-throw line.
Up next, the Beavers will face Tumwater (14-6) at 7:45 p.m. Tuesday at R.A. Long High School.
“Keep focusing on one game at a time, be more aggressive,” Sixberry said. “(We’ll) battle with the best.”
WOODLAND 46, CENTRALIA 33
CENTRALIA — Deter Voetberg 4, Isaiah Trevino 0, Dennis Jordan Thomas 0, Layne Pertzborn 1, Nolan Wasson 15, Hodges Bailey 0, Christian Peters 13, Cale Shute 0, Singh 0. Totals 12(6) 3-7 33.
WOODLAND — Bryce Mulder 6, McKay Flanagan 5, Devin Rice 0, Hayden Huddleston 11, Palmer Dinehart 0, Hunter Raney 0, Wyatt Harsh 4, Tanner Sixberry 14, Tristan Thomas 0, Christian Mendez 0, Tyler Flanagan 6. Totals 14 (8) 10-11 43.
