Battle Ground boys beat Puyallup to clinch state berth

Led by a balanced scoring attack, the Battle Ground boys basketball team clinched its first trip to the Class 4A state tournament since 2014 with a 47-45 win over Puyallup in the 4A bi-district tournament on Friday.

Battle Ground will face Kentridge at noon Saturday at Stadium High School for fifth-place.

Trailing 39-37 heading into the fourth quarter, basketball by Kaden Perry and Vincent McCormic put the Tigers up 42-39.

Battle Ground held onto a narrow lead the rest of the way. Perry’s basket and free throw put the Tigers up 47-43 in the final two minutes.

Puyallup cut the margin to two points with less than a minute to play before the Tigers ran out the clock.

Perry and McCormic led Battle Ground with 11 points each. Keandre Hunter-Holliday added 10 points and Nate Millspaugh had nine on three 3-pointers.

Friday’s win was the Tigers’ third in three days.

BATTLE GROUND 47, PUYALLUP 45

PUYALLUP — Cobi Campbell 2, Jacob Holcomb 5, Luke Holcomb 4, Zane Foster 1, Kendall Munson 19, Jaeden Ingram 8, Dylan Rhoades 4. Totals 17 (2) 9-15 45.

BATTLE GROUND — KeAndre Hunter-Holliday 10, Vincent McCormic 11, Colin Barton 2, Nathan Millspaugh 9, Brendan Beall 4, Kaden Perry 11. Totals 19 (4) 5-9 47.

Puyallup 12 15 12 6–45

Bat.Ground 14 12 10 10–47