Ach Swats Down Manson Warriors Survive Loser-Out Game, Play North Beach For Fourth Place

Kevin Evers blocked out Thursday’s loss to Darrington.

In fact, he blocked, and blocked and blocked.

Evers swatted away nine field-goal attempts Friday as Almira/Coulee-Hartline (22-5) rallied to eliminate Manson 70-56 during the afternoon session of the boys State B basketball tournament at the Arena.

Garrett Zwar of 1996 state champion Pateros holds the tourney one-game record with 10 blocked shots in a semifinal against Garfield-Palouse. Zwar also owns the complete tourney record of 23, seven more than Evers has after three games this year.

Evers will take a shot at the record at 2:30 p.m. today against North Beach (23-4). The winner places fourth; the loser, as ACH did last year, takes seventh.

Evers, a 6-foot-5 senior post, added a team-high nine rebounds and 19 points, on 8-of-10 shooting from the floor. It was a far cry from Thursday’s three-point game against Darrington.

“That was probably my worst game all year on offense,” Evers said. “I felt pretty responsible (for the loss) because I have to be a leader out there.”

ACH entered the quarterfinal with high hopes, having handed Reardan its first loss of the year in the District 7 Tournament championship game, then opening state with a 73-52 thrashing of Clallam Bay.

Yet Darrington, this year’s Cinderella team, stung the Warriors 47-41 to qualify for the semifinals.

“I was just crushed,” Evers said. “Everyone in the locker room was down. Coach (Jim Wacker) just said, ‘Okay, who wants the fourth-place trophy?’ We’re going to do everything we can to get it.”

Evers had just one block against Clallam, then chalked up six vs. Darrington.

He scored six points Friday when the Warriors fashioned an 18-0 spree that turned a 35-30 deficit into a 48-35 lead.

“In the first half, we didn’t box out a lot,” Evers said. “That’s what hurt us. In the second half, Topher (Goodwin) and I worked hard and the wings got it inside to us.”

The Trojans (16-9), scoreless for nearly 8 minutes, rallied when Evers picked up his fourth foul with 5:45 left, but never came closer than five points.

Evers’ temporary replacement, Ben Durrant, had back-to-back baskets to forge a double-digit lead midway through the fourth quarter. Durrant broke his wrist during a Bi-County League game against Sprague-Harrington and hadn’t played again until state.

ACH had beaten Manson 63-48 in a regular-season, non-league game.

Warriors seniors moved up the list of career tourney scoring. Jason Pierce has 85 points, Evers 76 and Goodwin 56.

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