Napavine Slips by Mules at Home

Wahkiakum and Napavine combined 36 personal fouls during their game Saturday night. Here, the Mules Blake Anderson (#10) wrestles several Napavine players for a lose ball.

Sometimes a good start is not enough, when a better finish is just the ticket. The Tigers of Napavine started with a six point run, but finished with two key free throws to clinch a 48-44 2CBL victory over Wahkiakum Saturday night.

Napavine scored the first six points of the game and then went ice cold during the 1st quarter as the Mules went on a 12-0 run with half of those points produced by Chase Fritzie during his 15 point total.

Napavine's Tyson Hunt (#22) hit all of his points at key moments in the 4th quarter.

The Tigers heated up in the 2nd quarter outscoring Wahkiakum 17-10. Napavine actually raised their field goal percentage to a reckless 29% with a relatively warm second stanza. It was also during the 2nd quarter when Napavine standout Blake Anthony started his vivid contribution to the game. In the first 1:57, he scored 8 points. By the time halftime rolled around, he had contributed 13 of the Tiger’s 17 points in the quarter.

Despite the low scoring game, the Mules pushed the ball and looked for transition opportunities. Napvine was able to foil the Mules transition game in the second half allowing Wahkiakum to shoot just 36% after allowing 42% in the first half.


Wahkiakum's Ryan Helms (#5) denied the Tiger's proflic scorer Blake Anthony (#33) during the 4th quarter.

The biggest shot of the night occurred with 1:35 to go. The Tigers led 43-42 but the Mules denied Anthony the ball most of the second half. It was Colton Brown who hit a three giving Napavine a larger, almost insurmountable advantage. From that point on, the free throw contest began with Anthony hitting two of three down the stretch to ice the game.

The more athletic Tigers out rebounded the Mules 41 to 30 but the Mules spent a lot of time at the free throw line to keep the game close. Ultimately, they hit an impressive 16 of 22 from the free throw line.

Blake Anthony led all scorers with 19 points while Fritzie led the Mules with 15 points. Wade Hamre had 3 assists for Napavine and Blake Anderson had three for Wahkiakum.

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WAHKIAKUM-Brad Pugh 2, Blake Anderson 7, Justin McClain 0, Chase Fritzie 15, Johna Chambers 0, Cody Olson 11, Troy Howard 4, Danny Helms 0, Ryan Helms 0, Bryce Hilzer 2, Tyson Bain 3

NAPAVINE-Wade Hamre 0, Mason Keller 0, Devin Carroll 11, Colton Brown 8, Tyson Hunt 4, Justin Smith 4, Jordan Brown 0, Reece Stanley 2, Micah Brown 0, Blake Anthony 19, Matthew Waltenburg 0

WAHKIAKUM 12 10 9 13-44
NAPAVINE 6 17 11 14-48