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Suffering through an uncharacteristic three-game Evergreen Conference losing streak in January, the Hawks were seeing their goal of capturing a fifth consecutive conference crown dwindle away.
River Ridge earned a share of the EvCo title with a 72-48 win over visiting Aberdeen on Tuesday night.
Coach Jeremy Landram knew things would turn around after the January slump.
It’s hard not to have that mindset when you have scorers such as Micah Hardeman, Howie Harper and Brad Wallace on your roster.
Hardeman scored 20 points, Harper chipped in 18 and Wallace added 13 as the Hawks (11-8 overall, 9-3 EvCo) posted their fifth consecutive victory.
The win gave River Ridge a share of the conference crown with crosstown rival North Thurston.
After opening conference play with four victories, River Ridge lost three consecutive games – dropping a double-overtime decision to Tumwater, falling in overtime to Centralia and losing by 17 to North Thurston.
Chances of a conference title appeared unlikely.
“That losing streak was the turning point for this team,” Landram said. “They knew they had to win out, but also have a little luck go their way for them to even have a chance at winning a league title. The team responded. It’s a co-championship, but it’s still pretty special for the players on this team to be able to say they were a part of our fifth straight title.”
Hardeman scored 14 points in the second half and hit four 3-pointers as the Hawks put the game away by opening the second half with an 11-1 run against the Bobcats.
River Ridge led at halftime, 38-27, getting 14 points from Harper and nine from Wallace.
Senior Tre Petty added 11 points for the Hawks.
Zack Ball and Hunter Larson both scored 12 points for the Bobcats.
Despite sharing the conference crown by splitting its two meetings this season, River Ridge and North Thurston will be placed as the EvCo’s No. 1 and 2 seeds, respectively, in the district tournament, which begins Saturday.
The Hawks captured the top spot due to a tiebreaker scenario based on the two teams’ record against third-place finisher W.F. West.
River Ridge was 2-0 against the Bearcats this season, while North Thurston went 1-1.
River Ridge will host the EvCo’s No. 5 team (either Black Hills or Tumwater) in the opening round of the district tournament.
A Tumwater win tonight against Centralia will wrap up the conference’s fourth seed for the Thunderbirds, sending Tumwater into a first-round road matchup against Greater Saint Helens League champion Mark Morris.
Black Hills can earn the No. 4 spot with a victory tonight over W.F. West combined with a Tumwater loss.
The Hawks are 1-1 against Tumwater – winning 80-68 on Jan. 31 and dropping a 92-90 double-overtime contest to the T-Birds on Jan. 10 – and 2-0 against the Wolves.
“It’s always nice to have a home game in the first round,” Landram said, “but everyone is now 0-0. Being a high seed is great, but we made it to state as a fifth seed my first year here. There are no easy games from here on out.”
North Thurston’s scenario is significantly less complicated as the Rams open district tournament play at home Saturday against Washougal, the GSHL’s No. 3 seed.
1A DISTRICT IV
Tenino 59, at La Center 46: The Beavers used a big third-quarter spurt to pull away from the Wildcats in a district play-in game.
Tenino (10-11) will face league rival Onalaska (14-6) on Friday night at Centralia in the first round of the 1A District IV tournament. Leading 29-22 at the half, the Beavers converted 10 of 14 third-quarter field goals to take a 49-33 lead going into the fourth quarter.
Darrin Love led all scorers with 16 points for Tenino, and Ben Peterson added 14.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
River Ridge 66, at Aberdeen 45: The Hawks made 10 of their first 15 field goal attempts and raced out to a 28-9 first-quarter lead en route to the regular season-ending victory over the Bobcats.
River Ridge (12-6 overall) has a half-game lead over W.F. West for the top spot in the EvCo and the No. 1 seed to the District IV tournament, which begins Friday.
W.F. West plays Black Hills tonight at 7:30. Should the Bearcats beat the Wolves, W.F. West earns the No. 1 seed to district, and River Ridge will be the No. 2 seed.
2B DISTRICT IV
Northwest Christian boys and girls basketball teams open 2B District IV tournament play tonight. The NWC boys play Napavine in Montesano at 6:30 p.m., and the NWC girls play Morton/White Pass at 6:30 p.m. in Rochester.
Staff writer Meg Wochnick contributed to this report.
