Wolves sweep Tumwater, clinch No. 3 seed into playoffs

Black Hills High School completed its season sweep of Tumwater on the road Friday night.

The Wolves (12-8, 5-5) clinched the No. 3 seed out of the 2A Evergreen conference with the 53-36 win, and will travel to meet the No. 2 seed from the GSHL next week in the first round of the district playoffs.

“We’ve been through a lot with injuries and illness,” Black Hills coach Jeff Gallagher said. “After we won on (Wednesday) to clinch a playoff spot, we were really happy.”

Combining Wednesday’s win over Rochester with Friday’s rivalry win, the Wolves jumped Tumwater in the league standings, evading hosting a play-in game into next week’s district playoffs.

Instead, the T-Birds (9-11, 5-5) will host the GSHL’s No. 5 seed in the extra contest next week after dropping to the 2A EvCo’s fourth and final qualifying spot.

“We treated this as just another rivalry game, but obviously it is nice to win and not have to play in that play-in game,” Gallagher said of Friday’s win.

Garrett Glenn led the Wolves with 14 points in the win, while Jackson Bauer and Kae Walker each added 10.

Black Hills never trailed after Glenn’s first basket with five minutes, 35 seconds remaining in the first, which was part of an early 10-2 run.

Walker intercepted a pass less than two minutes into the second quarter, and slammed the ball into the hoop at the other end, which ignited Black Hills fans.

The Wolves appeared off and running, building their lead to double digits midway through the period, but Tumwater rallied with a 10-0 run to trail by just four points at the break.

“We told our kids at halftime to be ready to win a close game,” Gallagher said.

But that was as close as the T-Birds got.

Glenn and Casey Olson combined for 16 points in the third quarter, and limited Tumwater to eight points apiece in the final two periods, to pull away.

Olson drilled three 3-pointers in the final 3:15 of the third — accounting for all nine of his points — to push the Wolves’ advantage to 12 points.

Tumwater never trimmed the lead below double digits from that point, and Black Hills was able to hold Tumwater guard CJ Geathers, who averages 22.7 points per game, below his average.

Geathers still led all scorers with 15 points for the T-Birds, but the Wolves kept Tumwater from establishing a consistent offensive ryhtym.

“We usually have five guys on the floor who can guard him somehow,” Gallagher said. “Sometimes it’s with length, sometimes it’s with quickness.”

Jack Koelsch chipped in nine points for the T-Birds.

This story was originally published February 2, 2018 at 9:46 PM with the headline "Wolves sweep Tumwater, clinch No. 3 seed into playoffs."