Tigers get a big win over league rival Tumwater on Ron Brown night

Before Saturday night’s game, Centralia High School boys basketball coach Kyle Donahue said the best thing the Tigers could do to contribute to such an important night was get a victory over Tumwater.

The Tigers delivered, roaring to a 73-55 win over the T-Birds, on a night when Centralia held several ceremonies to honor retired coaching legend Ron Brown.

Brown, 83, retired last spring after spending 58 years — including 56 as the head coach — with Centralia’s program, leading the Tigers to 722 wins and two state titles in 1979 and 1981.

The win that Donahue, a former player and assistant for Brown, and the Tigers were able to produce over their Class 2A Evergreen Conference rival made the night that much more special.

“To the community, he’s obviously a very important figure,” Donahue said of Brown. “I had the chance to play for him. I understand basketball because of Coach Brown.

“Obviously I’ve looked outside and tried to adapt and bring things in my own way, but I still try to play the Ron Brown basketball way — fundamentals, hard work, team defense and just unselfishness as a whole.”

And those keys helped Centralia (6-6, 2-0 2A EvCo) catch the T-Birds (4-7, 1-1) early, and hold them off late.

Tumwater got out in front early, hitting five 3-pointers in the first quarter, before the Tigers went on a 13-3 run to take their first lead midway through the second quarter.

“We really focused on defense tonight, and that’s what was going to get us going,” senior Ben Janssan said. “When they hit a few early 3’s, we just had to stick with it. We tried to make those adjustments to make sure we closed out hard.”

Tumwater would tie the score twice, but Centralia never trailed after the second quarter, and took the lead for good on a Tyler Ashmore basket with four minutes, 25 seconds remaining in the third.

Jelani Jones (16 points), CJ Geathers (15) and Damon Gaither (10) all scored in double figures for Tumwater, but the T-Birds managed just 10 points in the final quarter, and couldn’t close the gap.

Ashmore, a senior who is averaging 19.8 points per game, scored a game-high 28 points for the Tigers and pulled down seven rebounds.

“Good, complete team game tonight,” Donahue said. “A lot of guys scored for us. Tyler had a huge game inside. It felt like they couldn’t stop him inside, so we continued to go to him and find him.”

Janssan, an exchange student from Australia, had a double-double with 17 points and 10 assists, and added five boards.

“I just love getting my teammates involved,” Janssan said. “I just love seeing my teammates be successful, and I’m always trying to put them in the right place to score the basketball.”

“Ben is one of the best passers I’ve ever been around,” Donahue said. “He sees the court and understands the movement of the game better than any kid I’ve coached.”

Perhaps Janssan’s most brilliant assist of the night came in the game’s final moments, after Centralia pulled away.

Donahue tapped William Brown, a junior and Ron Brown’s grandson, to come in off of the bench and Janssan was able to find him for an open look.

“The kids knew the importance of it, and that was all Ben right there,” Donahue said. “That was all Ben understanding William was in the game, and he just found him to get that shot off.”

William Brown pulled up for the short jumper, and banked it off the glass, resulting in the crowd’s biggest roar of the game.

“That just tops off the night,” Janssan said. “Ron Brown night, it’s his grandson. Him hitting that was probably one of my favorite moments this year. I was really just so glad he hit that shot.”

This story was originally published January 6, 2018 at 9:46 PM with the headline "Tigers get a big win over league rival Tumwater on Ron Brown night."