4A state basketball: Battle Ground eliminated in first round by Kentridge, 66-54

TACOMA — This time, Battle Ground didn’t have the late-game theatrics. No game-winning shots or defensive stops in the final possession.

But players were confident postgame after a 66-54 loss to Kentridge to open the Class 4A boys basketball state tournament Wednesday that their program is headed in the right direction, despite an early state departure.

And reaching the Tacoma Dome for the first time in 17 years helped that.

“I’m hoping with this taste,” sophomore forward Kaden Perry said, “we keep going up.

That’s certainly been Battle Ground’s trend in coach Manny Melo’ first two seasons.

After a six-win season two years ago, the Tigers went on a postseason run filled with close contests and late-game dramatics to earn their first state berth since the 2001-’02 season.

The loss ends Battle Ground’s season at 18-10 overall. Kentridge  (21-7) advances to the 4A state quarterfinals against No. 2 Gonzaga Prep on Thursday.

Perry, the Tigers’ 6-foot-9 forward, finished with 20 points on 10-of-19 shooting, 17 rebounds and five blocks Wednesday before fouling out with 3 minutes, 10 seconds left in the game as Kentridge built a 17-point lead.

The Chargers built their first 19-point lead inside 2 minutes to play in the first half, and led by as many as 20 in the fourth, and never letting Battle Ground make a big run to cut into its deficit.

Kentridge’s hot outside shooting — 6 of 8 from 3 in the first half, 9 of 15 from behind the arc for the game — proved to be a difference-maker not seen in the teams’ first two meetings this season, and first since Battle Ground’s 56-44 bi-district win over the Chargers on Feb. 16.

“That was a big X-factor for them,” Melo said. “Hats off to them. They shot it and shot it well, and we didn’t.”

Battle Ground did shoot 41 percent for the game, but only hit 2 of 13 3-point attempts.

Kentridge took its first double-digit lead at 25-15 minutes into the second quarter, and Battle Ground never got closer than the final score the rest of the way.

Perry picked up his second foul with 6:53 left in the second, but didn’t stay on the bench long. He returned inside 5 minutes left in the half and scored the Tigers’ final six points.

Kentridge led 40-23 at halftime.

For a team that had multiple game-winning plays this season on offense and defense, the early deficit was too big to overcome, senior KeAndre Hunter-Holiday said.

“A lot of their shots were falling,” he said, “and we weren’t getting a lot of our own shots to fall.”

To qualify for the postseason, Battle Ground topped Camas in overtime to finish third in the 4A Greater St. Helens League, won a bi-district play-in game followed by three straight elimination-game victories to keep its season alive.

Hunter-Holiday and fellow senior Vincent McCormic were part of the team sophomore year that finished tied for last in the 4A Greater St. Helens League and made a 12-win improvement in two years.

“We left them in a good spot,” McCormic said.

Perry agrees, as one of three underclassmen who start for the Tigers.

“I knew at the beginning (of the season) we had something special and to make it here,” Perry said. “I was hoping we’d get further, but still proud of everything we’ve done and everything we’ve accomplished.”