Boys Hoops: District 4 2A Opening Round; Rapids, T-Birds, Beavers & Lumberjacks roll into Semifinals

2/14/2026

The 1st game of the opening round of the District 4 2A boys basketball tournament was played on Friday. Columbia River had to travel to Black Hills for both the girls and boys games so the AD’s got together and decided to play a doubleheader instead of stretching it out over two days.

The other three games were played on Saturday, none were loser out contests with the winners moving on to the semifinals. The losers will drop into the consolation bracket. The semifinals and loser out consolation games will be played on Tuesday at Woodland and Ridgefield high schools.

Below are the results from the opening round, our coverage and links to additional coverage.

Saturday Games

Woodland 52, WF West 50 Game coverage from The Chronicle

RA Long 67, Ridgefield 38 Game coverage from The Columbian

Tumwater 74, Washougal 59

(Tumwater, WA) When this game tipped off and the T-Birds built a 17-2 lead in the 1st quarter it looked like this game was going to over in a hurry. On the strength of Julian Balsley’s 17 1st quarter points the T-Birds built that massive early lead.

But in the final 2 minutes of the quarter the Panthers started putting things together and closed the gap to 13 trailing 27-14. In the 2nd quarter both offenses went cold but Washougal gained a little ground thanks to Multanen draining a 3-ball at the buzzer and the Panthers picked up 2 points to trail 36-25 at the half.

Multanen and the Panthers refused to give in and at times in the 2nd half cut the lead down to 6 or a two possession game. Multanen would dump another 18 in the 2nd half for a game high 28 points. He got help from Dylan Gibson who came up with 10 2nd half points, 6 in the 4th to finish with 14.

The T-Birds however, answered with each Panther run and did it with a multi-offensive attack. 4 T-Birds finished in double figures led by Balsley with 21 who only got 4 points after his huge 17 point 1st quarter. The Panthers took him away but they couldn’t stop Ethan Bello or Luke Overbay each had 16 and Landon Anchors knocked down 14.

The T-Birds controlled the game from the inside out and although had 6 3-pointers it was their 30-16 advantage on the boards that prevented the Panthers from getting closer than 6 points. Overbay had half of those rebounds and finished with a double-double of 16 and 15. Bello handled the ball and came up with heaqvy pressure on the defensive side. Bello’s hops were showcased with a pair of dunks including the capper with less than 90-seconds to play with a pwerful one-handed jam.

Tumwater improved to 20-1 on the season and will head to the District semifinals on Tuesday at Woodland against the Beavers with a 6p tip.

Washougal drops to 12-8 on the year and also plays on Tuesday at Ridgefield against WF West with a 6pm start. This is a consolation game with the winner moving on and the loser having their season coming to an end.

Thorbeckes Game MVP Award

Ethan Bello earned the Thorbeckes MVP of the game against some stiff competition. Julian Balsley’s huge 1st quarter and the double-double from Luke Overbay made this a tough choice but Bello’s consistent play, ball handling and defense gave him the nod.

Had the Panthers pulled off the comeback it would have been an easy call for Coleman Multanen with his 28 points 4 rebounds and 4 steal night.

Scoring Stats
Tumwater: Julian Balsley 21, Ethan Bello 16, Luke Overbay 16, Landon Anchors 14, Owen Reamer 4, Jake Reid 3
Washougal: Coleman Multanen 28, Dylan Gibson 14, Zeek Woode 6, Indiana Lockard 6, Luca DiGiacomo 2, Royce Jones 2, Travis Lundberg 1

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

ESN Postgame Show

Video Highlights

Julian Balsley on his way to 17 1st quarter points

Coleman Multanen drains a big 3 just before the halftime buzzer

Ethan Bello slams home the victory

Friday Game

Columbia River 60, Black Hills 44

(Tumwater, WA) The Wolves jumped out to an early lead and were up 9-7 in the 1st quarter and that would be the last time the Wolves had the lead. The Rapids led by Alex Pont’s 15 1st half points went sprinting on by to build a big 32-16 lead by halftime as the Rapids limited the Wolves to just 9 1st quarter points ands 7 in the 2nd quarter.

The Rapids kept the pressure on after halftime building a 21 point lead before maintaining that 16 point lead after three quarters 45-29. The Wolves played even with C-R in the 2nd half matching the Rapids’ 13 points in the 3rd and 15 in the 4th but could never come close to digging out of that rough 1st half.

For Black Hills James Morgan led the Wolves with 19 and Quinton Morrill was the other in double figures with 12. Black Hills drops their season record to 15-6 and drops into the district consolation bracket. Black Hills will play the loser of Saturday’s Ridgefield at RA Long game next Tuesday at Ridgefield in a loser out game tipping off at 6pm.

Alex Pont went on to lead the Rapids and all scorers with a huge night dropping 27. Luca Phillips also hit double figures with 14 as did Kellen Clary with 10. Columbia River is now 15-6 on the year and moves to the district semifinals. The Rapids will play the winner of the Ridgefield/RA Long match-up next Tuesday at Woodland beginning at 7:45pm.

Thorbeckes MVP of the Game

Alex Pont stood out by far for the Rapids with 15 1st half and then a dozen 2nd half points to lead Columbia River. Luca Phillips would have been the other contender for the Rapids. Had the Wolves found a way to win clearly James Morgan was the standout.

Scoring Stats
Columbia River: Alex Pont 27, Luca Phillips 14, Kellen Clary 10, Noah Tully 4, Josh Paxton 3, Luke Potter 2
Black Hills: James Morgan 19, Quinton Morrill 13, Talon Morrill 7, Peyton Faught 4, Cash Buhre 1

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

ESN Postgame Show