Tiger fans at state got a bit worried

At the Spokane Arena March 5, the Odessa Tigers began their march toward the state championship by playing arch-rival ACH, which had won its first-round game against Rainier Christian the previous day. Throughout the regular season and district play, the Tigers defeated the Warriors by quite lopsided scores. During this state matchup, however, the Tigers looked flat from the get-go. The fire that had sustained them up to this point in the season appeared to have abandoned the normally very aggressive Odessa team.

The battle that ensued was mostly a defensive one. Ryan Moffet was way off his normal scoring pace with only 17 points. Marcus King scored 13, and Tim DeWulf and Jett Nelson scored six each. No other Tigers scored at all.

King and Camden Weber led the rebounding with seven each, while DeWulf added six.

Naselle defeated Muckleshoot Tribal in the quarter-final round and thus faced Odessa in the semi-final round. Again, the Tigers were rather lack-luster. Moffet was so closely guarded that he managed only six points. Nelson took up the slack, however, and led the team with 16 points. King and DeWulf each had 12, Weber scored 10 and Jaden Hunt added six.

King and DeWulf led the rebounding for the Tigers with seven and six, respectively.

Although, the Tigers won both games, fans began to wonder what might happen in the championship game. (See the full story on that game on page 1.)