In an important 1A Evergreen League opening game for four teams on Tuesday evening at Montesano High School, it was the Bulldogs that emerged victorious over the Hoquiam Grizzlies in both the boys and girls games.

BOYS PREP BASKETBALL

Montesano 72, Hoquiam 38

Montesano’s Trace Ridgway (10) attempts a shot while Hoquiam’s Cameron Bumstead looks to make a block during Tuesday’s game in Montesano. (Ryan Sparks | Grays Harbor News Group)

Montesano made sure there would be no nail-biting Hoquiam comeback on this night.

An energetic Bulldogs team kept the pedal to the metal to pull away from the Grizzlies for a 72-38 league-opening victory on Tuesday in Montesano.

With Hoquiam (4-6 overall, 0-1 Evergreen 1A) holding on to a slim lead at 14-11, Monte (8-4, 1-0) went on a 6-0 run to end the quarter, capped by senior guard Braden Dohrmann hitting 3-of-4 free throws over the final two minutes to give Monte a lead it would never relinquish.

The Bulldogs kept up the pressure in the second quarter, extending the lead to 34-22 on a Wesley Bjornsgard 3-pointer at the 1:30 mark and taking a 40-22 lead into the half on Trace Ridgway’s drive and layup with two seconds left.

But Hoquiam had been down 18 in the second half of its previous game against Aberdeen and rallied in the second half to send the game into overtime.

Montesano was determined to squash any hopes Hoquiam had of pulling off another improbable comeback.

“We talked about it at halftime. We studied that (Hoquiam-Aberdeen) game as well and we talked about making sure we played until the end,” Bulldogs head coach Doug Galloway said. “I felt our kids really did a nice job, especially coming out in that third quarter.”

Did they ever.

In the opening minutes of the third quarter Monte doubled down on its energy output. The Bulldogs pressured and disrupted Hoquiam’s offense, limited the Grizzlies to one shot per trip and crashed the offensive glass to get multiple scoring opportunities.

Monte’s lead quickly ballooned to 55-26 on a Carter Olsen three midway through the third and held a 64-35 advantage at the end of the frame.

“At halftime I said, ‘We’ve done it before and we could do it again,’” Hoquiam head coach Curtis Eccles said. “Unfortunately, it didn’t work out for us. … We didn’t get close at all to what we wanted to do.”

Part of Hoquiam’s problems, according to Eccles, was Monte’s relentless hustle on the offensive glass and his shooters failing to knock down what open looks they did have.

“They were able to get second and third opportunities where we’d have position,” he said. “If you’re shooting around 24%, you are not going to win many ballgames. … They came out with a lot more energy and their work ethic showed compared to ours. We need to get back and understand how important it is to match our opponents’ energy and we didn’t match it tonight, whatsoever.”

Olsen led Monte with 17 points, 11 of those coming in a third quarter where the senior guard buried three 3-pointers.

Bjornsgard had 11 points on 5-of-10 shooting with Dohrmann chipping in with 10 points for the Bulldogs.

Hoquiam was led by Garrett Dick, who scored 11 points on 5-of-16 shooting and was the only Grizzlies player in double figures.

Hoquiam’s top shooter, senior Cameron Bumstead, was held to just seven points and hit just one shot from beyond the arc.

“At any point in time, (Bumstead) can go for big numbers,” Galloway said. “We wanted to make sure our kids knew they were capable of coming back in a big way and I was very proud of our kids at taking care of the ball and extending (the lead).”

Hoquiam 14 8 13 3 — 38

Montesano 17 23 24 18 — 72

Tumwater 52, Aberdeen 49

The Aberdeen Bobcats nearly pulled off the upset in a 52-49 loss to No. 6 Tumwater on Tuesday in Aberdeen.

The Bobcats (4-5, 0-1 Evergreen 2A) trailed by just a point at halftime, holding the high-scoring Thuderbirds (10-1, 1-0) close with strong defense and execution of their game plan, according to Aberdeen head coach Mark Buckman.

But late turnovers proved to be too much for Aberdeen to overcome as the Bobcats missed a chance to tie in the game’s waning moments.

Jayden Watson and Kayden Seibert led Aberdeen with 11 points apiece while guard Ethan Morrill added nine points and eight steals for the Bobcats.

Center Damon Gaither led Tumwater with 24 points.

Tumwater 14 10 18 15 — 52

Aberdeen 12 11 13 13 — 49

Raymond 57, South Bend 41

Raymond sophomore Tre’ Seydel scored 30 points and had 17 rebounds as the Seagulls earned a 57-41 win over longtime rival South Bend on Tuesday in South Bend.

McCartney Maden added 13 points and five steals for Raymond (3-7, 3-5 Pacific 2B), which led 26-16 at the half and outscored the Indians (1-10, 0-9) 18-8 in the third quarter.

“Our kids did a nice job of staying disciplined throughout and sticking to our game plan,” Raymond head coach Derek Rask said. “We really looked forward to this rivalry game and I thought our kids just did a nice job of competing for the entire game.”

South Bend was led by Joshua Johnson and Mayson Estle, who scored 12 and 11 points, respectively.

Raymond 18 8 18 13 — 57

South Bend 6 10 8 17 — 41

Willapa Valley 52, Pe Ell 33

Logan Walker had a double-double as Willapa Valley defeated Pe Ell 52-33 on Tuesday in Pe Ell.

Walker scored 16 points to go along with 12 rebounds, six steals and three blocks for the Vikings (7-4, 7-2 Pacific 2B).

Tyler Adkins added 13 points for a Willapa Valley team whose head coach said didn’t play up to its potential on Tuesday.

“I’ve got to give credit to Pe Ell, they played harder than us and wanted it more than us,” Willapa Valley head coach Jay Pearson said. “It’s one of those games where we didn’t play very well but found a way to win and, hopefully, it’s a game we’ll learn a lot from.”

Willapa Valley 17 8 15 12 — 52

Pe Ell 8 13 5 7 — 33

GIRLS PREP BASKETBALL

Montesano 67, Hoquiam 22

The Hoquiam Grizzlies had no answer for Montesano’s Zoe Hutchings, who scored 30 points to lead the Bulldogs to a 67-22 rout on Tuesday in Montesano.

Hutchings scored half her points in the third quarter, most coming on offensive rebounds and putbacks as the undersized Grizzlies had trouble keeping the 6-foot-3 center off the glass.

Monte (6-6, 1-0 Evergreen 1A) took a 13-1 lead on back-to-back drive and lay-ups by freshman McKynnlie Dalan and never looked back, leading 22-8 at the end of the first quarter and 38-13 at the half.

Dalan scored 13 points for the Bulldogs.

Montesano’s McKynnlie Dalan (34) dribbles against Hoquiam’s Sadie Carlyle during the Bulldogs’ 67-22 win on Tuesday in Montesano. (Ryan Sparks | Grays Harbor News Group)

Hoquiam (1-9, 0-1) was led by Sharaya Brydon, who scored 11 points. No other Grizzly had more than five points in the contest.

Hoquiam 8 5 4 5 — 22

Montesano 22 16 21 8 — 67

GIRLS PREP BOWLING

Aberdeen 1498, Rochester 1164

Aberdeen (1,498) — Sierra Hammond (118, 152, 270); Juli Villa (108, 142, 250); Victoria Judkins (148, 99, 247); Savannah Hendricks (114, 119, 233); Macy Cogburn (120, 106, 226)

Rochester (1,164) — Adelaide Elsner (83, 94, 177); Grace Ritter (104, 105, 209); Kayla Hubert (103, 139, 242); Bonnie Swaim-Tribble (80, 75, 155); Sarah Soderback (72, 108, 180)

Montesano’s Zoe Hutchings scores two of her game-high 30 points to lead the Bulldogs to a 67-22 victory over Hoquiam on Tuesday at Montesano High School. (Ryan Sparks | Grays Harbor News Group)