Ilwaco junior forward Sam Needham (50) rises for a contested shot against Napavine’s Karsen Denault (5).

CASTLE ROCK — The Ilwaco Fishermen boys basketball season came to a close last week following a 77-54 loss to Napavine in the 2B District 4 playoffs at Castle Rock.

It was a solid debut season for first-year head coach Eric McMillian, who guided the Fishermen to a 15-8 overall record, falling one game short of qualifying for the state playoffs and finishing second in the 2B Pacific League standings, behind Chief Leschi.

A youthful team, Ilwaco will lose one senior to graduation, 5’10” guard Alex West, who was the team’s third-leading scorer averaging 11 points per game.

Ilwaco will return the core of its lineup next season, including starters Kyle Morris (19.8 points per game), Beckett Turner (19.2 points per game) and Sam Needham (10 points per game).

Fishermen fade against Tigers

It was a tale of two halves when Ilwaco and Napavine clashed Wednesday at Castle Rock High School with a state playoff berth on the line. The Fishermen traded baskets in the opening quarter behind Turner, Needham and Morris, ending with a Turner steal and layup and a 16-16 tie after the first eight minutes.

Morris drilled his third three-pointer of the game in the second quarter, keeping the Fishermen close as Napavine junior guard James Grose carried the Tigers offensively. Morris finished the first half with 16 points as Ilwaco attempted to slow Grose, who led Napavine all season with a 30-point average.

“It’s extremely difficult to stop a scorer like James Grose, but we were trying our darndest to slow him down,” McMillian said.

“[Grose] had 18 points in the first half, all but maybe a couple baskets were with hands in his face. Kyle Morris knocked down three of his five threes in the game in the first half to help us get a one point lead at halftime. We knew if we let Napavine get into their tempo of game that we wouldn’t be able to sustain that pace and [we] did a good job being patient in the first half while keeping [6’5 guard Karsen Denault] off the boards and court by getting him into foul trouble.”

Taking a 27-26 lead into the third quarter, the Fishermen defense struggled to contain the Tigers as Napavine opened up a 12-point lead midway through the period, largely behind the sharpshooting Grose, who would finish with a game-high 39 points.

“The second half was a different story. We talked at halftime that we would probably see Napavine’s 1-3-1 half-court trapping defense and what we needed to do against it,” McMillan said. “We had seen similar defenses throughout the season, but Napavine, having all 6’5” of Denault at the top of their defense, got our attention after a couple quick turnovers. I thought we did a decent job against it as we were able to score 21 points in that quarter, but Napavine scored 31.”

Despite the loss, McMillian was proud of the team and strides they made over the season.

“Really, really proud of the effort we gave tonight, just lost our composure too much in the second half and couldn’t answer enough as we ran out of gas in the fourth quarter. I feel like we grew quite a bit throughout the season and had a lot of fun along the way, we are only graduating one senior, so we will be back and ready to take on whatever is thrown our way!”