FORKS — Down 10 points in the second half, the Forks boys basketball team rallied to preserve its season in a 69-63 overtime win against Montesano.
Friday’s senior night victory, coupled with Tenino’s 66-38 loss to Aberdeen, moved the Spartans ahead of the Beavers for the Evergreen League’s fourth seed to the Class 1A Southwest District Tournament.
Forks will visit TriCo League champions King’s Way Christian (15-2), the third-ranked team in the latest Associated Press poll, at 7 p.m. Friday in Vancouver.
“When you don’t give up, good things happen,” Spartans coach Rick Gooding said.
“We didn’t run a lot of offense. It was kind of a struggle all night and it seemed like it might be one of those coulda, woulda shoulda type games.
“But I tell you what, our boys did not give up. They came through, played hard, made some 3s down the stretch and won it in overtime.”
Gooding said Parker Browning, who led all scorers with 22 points, hit two big 3-point shots in the fourth quarter to give the Forks’ comeback bid a boost.
Trailing 57-55 late in the game, the Spartans’ Jeffrey Schumack hit a turnaround floater with three seconds to play to send the game to overtime.
Gooding said Cole Baysinger hit two clutch free throws in overtime as part of his 12 points.
Marky Adams had 15 points and “a ton of rebounds and blocked shots, as usual,” according to Gooding.
Austin Pegram, Forks’ lone senior, was honored in pregame ceremonies.
Gooding called the win, which puts Forks in the district playoffs for the first time since 2014, “huge for the program.”
“We know King’s Way Christian is ranked third and is a great team.
“We don’t really care how we get in, just get us in and lets play basketball.”
Forks 69, Montesano 63, OT
Montesano 18 14 14 11 6— 63
Forks 11 13 17 16 12— 69
Individual scoring
Montesano (63)
Truax 14, Ridgeway 10, Chastain 6, Chapman 4, Valley 9, Hopsecger 10, Dierkop 6, Napier 4, Herzog.
Forks (69)
Schumack 8, Ramsey 2, Baysinger 12, Pegram, Tejano, Browning 22, Prose 10, Barr, Adams 15.
Neah Bay 82, Clallam Bay 49
NEAH BAY — The Red Devils tuned up for the Tri-District playoffs with a thumping of the rival Bruins.
Kenrick Doherty Jr. led Neah Bay with 22 points on 8 of 11 shooting, including hitting 6 of 8 on 3-point attempts in Friday’s game.
Doherty’s well-rounded stat line also included 11 rebounds, five assists and four steals for the North Olympic League champion Red Devils (6-0, 15-2).
Reggie Buttram added 16 points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals for Neah Bay.
Rwehabura Munyagi Jr. scored 14 points, grabbed four rebounds and had three assists, a steal and a block for the Red Devils, while Ryan Moss hit three 3-pointers on his way to 11 points, four assists and four steals.
Jericho McGimpsey, Roland Gagnon, Bishop Tejano, Moss and Buttram were honored in senior night festivities.
Alan Greene led Clallam Bay with 13 points. Clayton Willis scored 10 and Ramon Tinoco hit for eight points for the Bruins (3-3, 11-7).
Clallam Bay will play the District 1 No. 5 in a loser-out, Tri-District play-in game at Port Angeles High School at 5 p.m. Tuesday.
Neah Bay will open Tri-District play against a to-be-determined opponent at Port Angeles High School at 5 p.m. Saturday.
Neah Bay 82, Clallam Bay 49
Clallam Bay 19 5 10 15— 49
Neah Bay 27 21 14 20— 82
Individual scoring
Clallam Bay (49)
Greene 13, Willis 10, Tinoco 8, Cowdrey 6, McCoy 6, Keys 5, Signor 1, Smith, Haney.
Neah Bay (82)
Doherty 22, Buttram 16, Munyagi 14, Moss 11, Tejano 6, Buzzell 4, McGimpsey 4, Bitegeko 3, Johnson 2.
Chimacum 68, Coupeville 38
CHIMACUM — The Cowboys blew out the Wolves at home to setup a de facto Olympic League 1A championship game with rival Port Townsend.
That game was played late Saturday at Port Townsend.
Senior James Porter led Chimacum with 18 points in Thursday’s win against Coupeville.
Matthew Bainbridge added 16 points, Quinn Dowling scored 11 and Matt Koenig added seven points.
The Cowboys (6-2, 8-11) will either open West Central District Tournament play in a loser-out game at home against the Nisqually League No. 3 team at 7 p.m. Saturday or at Sumner High School at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 16.
Chimacum 68, Coupeville 38
Coupeville 6 8 9 15—38
Chimacum 19 9 26 14— 68
Individual scoring
Coupeville (38)
Hesselgrave 5, Johnson 6, Smith 0, Ford 14, Mitchell 4, Helmstader 4, Mitchell 1, Johnson 2, Bell 0, Wynn 2.
Chimacum (68)
Bainbridge 16, Dowling 11, Porter 18, Golden 5, Shaw 2, Koenig 7, Winkley 5, Torres 0, Glessing 2, Dotson 2.
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Compiled using team reports.
