The Wildcats were primed to finish a perfect Trico League season, jumping out to a 32-7 first quarter lead and never looking back at Seton Catholic.
“We were fired up,” La Center coach Jeremy Ecklund said. “We talked about 10-0 and the boys came out on fire. We were rolling. It was a great team effort.”
Hunter Ecklund scored 10 of his game-high 21 points in the first quarter for La Center (13-6, 10-0 Trico). He also finished with eight rebounds and five assists.
Matt Bryant had 18 points, Colby Shaw 16 points and five assists, and Avery Seter had 11 for the Wildcats.
Seton Catholic (7-11, 5-5) was led in scoring by Isaiah Parker’s 17 points, and Matthew Kent had 10.
La Center will host Elma, at 7 p.m. Feb. 9 in first round of 1A district playoffs.
Seton Catholic, the No. 3 Trico seed, will travel to Forks for a 7 p.m. game also on Feb. 9.
LA CENTER 80, SETON CATHOLIC 51
LA CENTER — Shaydon Amstutz 3, Colby Shaw 16, Saige Keep 7, Colin Obot 0, Evan Norris 0, Avery Seter 11, Matt Bryant 18, Evan Honore 0, Hunter Ecklund 21, Mason Weaver 2, Wyatt Siebert 0, Jack Hiller 2. Totals 30 (11) 9-17 80.
SETON CATHOLIC — Isaiah Parker 17, Matthew Kent 10, Luke Pitzer 6, Hayden Miller 8, Topher Strong 0, Chris Dumas 0, Malik Williams 2, Sam Jackson 3, Andrew Olson 3, Zach Cowger 2, Zhaojun Wang 0. Totals 19 (5) 8-14 51.
La Center 32 18 12 18–80
Seton 7 13 14 17–51
JV — La Center won
