WOODLAND — Ridgefield was under no illusions of what it would take to beat Tumwater, the top seed in Class 2A District 4 boys basketball.
For most of Tuesday’s district semifinal game, the Spudders got the effort they needed to hang with the Thunderbirds, but a scoreless six-minute stretch of the third quarter left them wondering what could have been.
Tumwater’s 51-46 win earned the Thunderbirds a trip to Friday’s district final against R.A. Long, in addition to securing a state regional berth. Ridgefield (17-5) will face W.F. West on Thursday in a winner-to-regionals game held at Tumwater High School.
“We fought back. It was just too much,” Ridgefield head coach Jason Buffum said. “Eight points felt like 15 tonight.”
Tumwater (19-3) led 23-20 at halftime following two back-and-forth quarters that included 11 lead changes. Buffum said Ridgefield’s locker room conversation centered around how important the first few minutes of the third would be.
The message turned out to be a premonition of sorts.
Baskets from Nathan Semlick and a Zachary Warren three-point play brought the Spudders to a 25-all tie to open the second half. Tumwater, however, responded with a 9-0 run on baskets from Ryan Otton, Andrew Collins, Connor Hopkins and Luke Brewer.
Ridgefield’s scoring drought, which lasted for more than six minutes, was snapped on two Sid Bryant free throws with under 30 seconds left and Ridgefield trailing 34-27.
“It was like we kind of lost our way for a whole stretch there,” Buffum said. “We couldn’t get organized, we weren’t set up correctly, we weren’t executing, we missed a few bunny hoops and a few 3-pointers that were open, in rhythm by guys we want shooting them. It wasn’t like we weren’t getting looks; we just weren’t getting any baskets. When you play a team of that caliber, you can’t go six minutes without scoring.”
Ridgefield cut the deficit to five on four separate occasions in the final quarter, before a Henry Hughes 3-pointer at the two-minute mark put the Spudders down just 44-40.
On the next possession, the 6-foot-6 Otton, who led all scorers with 15 points, grabbed his own miss and put in a layup. Luke Brewer made a 3, giving Tumwater a 49-40 lead with 40 seconds to play, proved to be the dagger.
Hughes and Ty Snider each scored 12 points to lead Ridgefield, while Bryant chipped in nine.
“I thought, 100 percent, our guys battled,” Buffum said.
Instead of drawing a rematch with 2A Greater St. Helens League foe R.A. Long on Friday, Ridgefield has less than 48 hours to regroup for Thursday’s game to determine if the Spudders get to regionals, something the program hasn’t done since 2012.
“We had our hearts (set) on hoping we were going to be able to play a district title game, a third shot at R.A. Long or Mark Morris … and punch our ticket to the (final) 16. It’s been 10 years for Ridgefield,” Buffum said.
“We were hoping that was going to be our opportunity. Now, the hard part is taking 17-year-old kids and reset their minds to be ready to go tomorrow to start preparing for somebody else. We have a lot of seniors and a lot of guys that are hungry.”
TUMWATER 51, RIDGEFIELD 46
RIDGEFIELD — Kalapana Estrella 0, Sidhartha Bryant 9, Zachary Warren 5, Ty Snider 12, Nathan Semlick 8, Henry Hughes 12, Joseph Borgmeyer 0, Simon Rommel 0. Totals 13 (4) 13-18 46.
TUMWATER — Luke Reid 2, Luke Brewer 9, Andrew Collins 12, Ryan Otton 15, Seth Weller 0, Adam Overbay 3, Connor Hopkins 10, Tanner Brewer 0. Totals 22 (3) 4-9 51.
