RENTON — The road to state promises to be a lot more treacherous this winter.
The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) executive board voted to change the basketball state tournaments for all classifications last spring.
The vote eschewed the traditional 16-team, double-elimination tournament for a new format that trimmed the main event down to eight teams starting this season.
Schools must now make its way out of one of four four-team regionals. That includes a double-elimination winner-to-state game and a loser-out pigtail. The winner of the latter goes up against the loser of the former for the final state bid.
The WIAA recently released the sites for each of the regional games.
Here’s a quick roundup pertaining to each classification involving North Olympic Peninsula schools:
• Class 2A — A total of six West Central District seeds will feed into three regionals.
Boys first round games will be at Stanwood, Mount Tahoma (Tacoma) and Tumwater high schools.
First round girls games will be at Stanwood, Foss (Tacoma) and Black Hills (Olympia) high schools before transferring to the boys locations.
The top three seeds from the West Central will all be placed in winner-to-state games, while the bottom three must first win a loser-out pigtail games.
Port Angeles and Sequim are both in Class 2A.
• Class 1A — West Central District teams will once again feed into the 1A Tri-District — including Chimacum and Port Townsend — before moving on to regionals.
The Tri-District will send five teams on to three separate regional brackets.
Boys first round games will be at Glacier Peak (Snohomish), W.F. West (Chehalis) and Eisenhower (Yakima) high schools.
Girls first round games will be at Glacier Peak, Centralia and West Valley (Yakima) high schools before transferring to the boys locations.
The Tri-District’s top two seeds will be placed in winner-to-state games.
The Southwest District, which includes Forks, will feed four of its teams into two regionals: Glacier Peak and W.F. West for the boys and Glacier Peak and Centralia for the girls.
The top two Southwest District seeds will automatically play in winner-to-state contests.
• Class 1B — West Central District teams will once again feed into the 1B Tri-District before moving on to regionals.
The 1B Tri-District will send four teams on to two separate regional brackets at Mountlake Terrace and Timberline (Lacey) high schools.
The Tri-District’s top two seeds will automatically be placed in winner-to-state games.
For complete bracket information on the Hardwood Classic, visit wiaa.com.
BOYS BASKETBALL
CLALLAM BAY 48, PORT ANGELES C 40
CLALLAM BAY — In their final tuneup before the league schedule begins, the Bruins scored a solid win over the Port Angeles C team Monday.
Senior Kyle Hess scored 10 points to lead a total of nine Bruins scorers in a game that Cal Ritter used to empty his bench and work out a few kinks.
“There was a few things we wanted to work on: Moving the ball as a team and getting other people shots,” the second-year head coach said.
As the boxscore indicated, the Bruins (8-3 overall) were able to do just that against the freshmen Roughriders.
“The boys played pretty good defense,” Ritter said. “We crashed the boards well. The last two games we’ve played pretty good team basketball. We’re working the ball.
“The shot selection is a lot better than what it was.”
Kevin Hess led the Bruins with 11 rebounds, while Emmett James added eight points and Jacob Portnoy seven points.
The Bruins begin their North Olympic League season Wednesday night with a game at Crescent at 8 p.m.
“We’re hopefully coming together at the right time now,” Ritter said. “We’ll see what happens Wednesday.”
CLALLAM BAY 48, PORT ANGELES C 40
Port Angeles 5 14 9 12 — 40
Clallam Bay 17 10 12 9 — 48
Individual Scoring
Port Angeles (40)
Not reported.
Clallam Bay (48)
Ky. Hess 10, James 8, Portnoy 7, Willis 6, Foulkes 6, Teachout 4, A. Ritter 3, C. Ritter 2, Ke. Hess 2.
