While state championship events are going on at the King County Aquatic Center and the Tacoma Dome today, a boys basketball regular-season finale will have its own postseason atmosphere.
Tonight’s game between Black Hills and Tumwater will have more on the line than just the bragging rights that go to the winner of the traditionally hard-fought rivalry game.
All the teams are thinking about is winning this game. And depending on the outcome, a handful of tiebreaker scenarios will sort out which teams end up in which playoff spots.
The game is the second of a doubleheader, with tipoff set for 8 p.m. at Tumwater High School.
For the past two weeks, the third-place through sixth-place teams in the Class 2A Evergreen Conference – Aberdeen, Black Hills, Elma and Tumwater – have been tied or separated by only one game.
The EvCo’s top two playoff spots have already been determined: River Ridge at No. 1 and Chehalis at No. 2. The remaining spots will be a wait-and-see affair for the other teams.
Aberdeen and Elma both lost Thursday, putting both teams at 7-7 in EvCo play and creating a possible four-way tie depending on the Black Hills-Tumwater outcome.
Black Hills is sitting at 6-7 in the league, and should the Wolves lose, their season is done. They have lost five of their past six league games after winning five straight from Jan. 12 to Jan. 26. However, four of those losses have come by single digits.
They know the message loud and clear: win, and they’re in.
“It’s going to be a battle to decide if we keep playing.” Black Hills coach Thomas Rowswell said.
Tumwater is one game up on Black Hills at 7-6, but the Thunderbirds lost to Black Hills, 67-43, on Jan. 26. The T-Birds are coming off a 59-58 road win over Aberdeen on Tuesday. Daniel Hinkle hit two crucial 3-pointers and Jake Dowers made four free throws down the stretch to seal the come-from-behind win.
“No matter how (Tuesday) went, it still makes for a crazy Friday night,” Tumwater coach Curtis Medved said.
The Black Hills-Tumwater girls game will be just as important. Although Black Hills (7-6) and Tumwater (7-6) already have clinched spots in next week’s district tournament, tonight’s game will determine their seeds. The winner gets the third seed, and the loser is the fourth.
A tiebreaker game could loom on the girls’ side. Should Chehalis and Aberdeen remain tied after tonight, the two will play Monday for the right to be the league’s fifth seed, which will play in a pigtail game Tuesday.
After the Chehalis girls’ surprising upset of No. 1-ranked River Ridge on Tuesday, the winner of tonight’s River Ridge-Elma game will win the league title outright and earn the league’s No. 1 seed into the district tournament. River Ridge won the teams’ first meeting, 68-63, on Jan. 26.
Olympia and Gig Harbor tangle again tonight:For the second time in a week, the Olympia and Gig Harbor boys basketball teams will take to the hardwood, this time with their seasons on the line.
The teams play at 6 p.m. today at Stadium High School in a loser-out game in the 4A West Central District. When the teams met last Friday, Olympia prevailed in triple overtime, 58-55, in an opening-round game of the Narrows League tournament.
WIAA names winter academic state champs: Four South Sound teams and one activity earned the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association's winter academic state champion award given to the team with the highest grade point average in its sport and classification.
The winners include: Olympia girls basketball (Class 4A, 3.790 GPA), Capital boys swimming (3A, 3.636) and gymnastics (3A, 3.620), Tumwater girls bowling (3A, 3.50) and Tumwater forensics (2A, 3.830).
The Capital boys swim team has won three of the past four academic state champion awards.
Meg Wochnick: 360-754-5473
mwochnick@theolympian.com
