HS Boys Basketball: WF West Holds Off Shelton for First League Win

1/15/26

WF West 58, Shelton 50

(Chehalis, WA) Two teams in the Evergreen 2A conference were still in search for their first league win and someone would earn that on Thursday night when the two teams met in Chehalis. The Shelton Highclimbers are ineligible for the District 4 2A boys basketball tournament due to being a 3A school but they would still look to build a program to make a run into the 3A District tournament. For the WF West Bearcats, a run of six close losses had them on quite the skid but they would need to defend homecourt to try to position themselves to be one of the 4 teams out of the EvCo to make at least a pigtail game into the District tournament.

Without their sophomore post in 6’5 Cody Schwarz, the Bearcats were going to be the smaller team but they came out of the gates red hot as Blake Hampton scored the first five for the Bearcats to get them off to a strong start. After a steal and easy two for Fox Rogerson, Shelton coach Sam Kreiger had to call a timeout. Out of that timeout, Shelton settled down and cut way down on the turnovers as they started to use their size advantage with Masyn Gard in the paint. Fletcher Henry also got going down low as Shelton ended the quarter on a nice run but WF West led after one, 18-12.

Turnovers began to plague the Shelton offense once again in the 2nd quarter as WF West played solid defense the entire length of the floor. Gage Grisham came off the bench and hit a couple of threes for the Bearcats while Wyatt Hoffman did a great job running the offense and attacking inside. Alex Stafford added some bench points while Race Rockey did a great job on the boards for the Bearcats. WF West was a little turnover prone in the quarter which prevented them from really opening it up but Shelton’s offense struggled mightily, just scoring nine points in the 2nd. WF West had eight different players score in the first half and owned a 35-21 lead at halftime.

Shelton looked like a completely different team out of halftime. Brayden Phipps took over offensively while Masyn Gard continued to be consistent in the paint. The Bearcats cooled down with their midrange game and really struggled to get the offense going at all in the 3rd. WF West managed just eight points in the quarter but Shelton did have a cold spell which stopped them from getting their deficit down to single digits and we would go to the 4th with WF West still leading 43-33.

Things got intense in the final quarter as WF West got in a little bit of foul trouble with five players all having at least three fouls. Wyatt Hoffman was the leader offensively again for the Bearcats while Sam Parsons got going for Shelton. The Highclimbers senior hit a massive three to cut the Shelton deficit down to just six. WF West answered right back with a three from Hayden Rooney. Carter Garcia managed to respond with a three but a fast break lay-up by Rooney answered back again. Rooney would then force a steal on the following possession to put the Bearcats in a great spot. It would be a free throw shootout for the Bearcats down the stretch and Gage Grisham took care of business at the line. WF West also dominated the offensive boards in the final minutes as WF West earned their first EvCo 2A win of the season with a 58-50 victory over Shelton.

Our Thorbeckes MVP of the game went to Hayden Rooney for his clutch stretch in the 4th quarter. Rooney finished with 10 points, eight of which came in the second half. He answered a couple of huge Shelton threes with a three of his own and a transition lay-up. Rooney would also come away with a game-altering steal to really put the Shelton comeback bid to rest.

WF West snaps their six-game losing streak to move to 4-9 and 1-3 in EvCo 2A play. They will play on MLK Day on Monday at Lower Columbia College against Kelso at 2pm before returning to league play on Tuesday at Centralia at 7pm. Shelton falls to 5-10 on the year and 0-4 in league play. The Highclimbers will look to earn their first league win on Tuesday when they host Tumwater at 7pm.

Scoring

Shelton: Masyn Gard 13, Fletcher Henry 12, Sam Parsons 8, Brayden Phipps 7, Carter Garcia 7, Bennett Henry 3

WF West: Gage Grisham 13, Wyatt Hoffman 12, Hayden Rooney 10, Blake Hampton 10, Alex Stafford 4, Race Rockey 4, Luke McMillan 3, Fox Rogerson 2

Link to watch full game replay on the NFHS Network (subscription required)