The South Whidbey boys basketball team beat Cedarcrest 61-49 Tuesday, putting the Falcons in the second slot for 2A schools in the race for a playoff spot.

Archbishop Murphy is first at 9-0, (11-3 overall) while the Falcons are at 5-3, (10-4 overall). King’s (8-3) and Coupeville (7-4) are guaranteed a space because they are 1A rated schools.

On Tuesday, the Falcons led through all four quarters once again, exploding in the first to lead 16-11 at the first break.

The Red Wolves came alive in the second quarter, holding the Falcons to a single-point advantage at halftime but couldn’t maintain the pace. At the end of the third period, the score was 43-34. It was closer in the fourth, but Cedarcrest was unable to move ahead.

“Last night was a great team effort,” said Falcon coach Scott Collins. “We had four guys in double figures and had one of our best offensive performances of the year. Jordan Thornley has really played well the last three games.”

Collins noted that he would like to see more defensive rebounds.

“Sharper work under the basket means we wouldn’t be putting the other team to the free throw line as much; they went 7-for-7 in the first half,” he said.

“We are really doing a good job of playing together and moving the basketball. The kids did a good job of applying some of the things we have been working on in practice.”

If South Whidbey wins over Sultan on Friday, it will clinch a spot in the playoff picture.

“This is the time of year when you want to start playing well and our confidence is building with each game right now,” Collins added.

Chris Carey and Thornley shared scoring honors with 14 points each, Riley Newman had 12, Adrian Cortes 10 and Scott Stallman had eight.

At 5:15 p.m. Friday, Feb. 6, the boys welcome the Sultan Turks to Erikson Gym.