A White River boys basketball contingent that took its lumps in the nonleague portion of the 2010-11 campaign appears to be hitting its stride when it counts, in South Puget Sound League 2A action.

The Hornets claimed a pair of league triumphs last week, elevating their SPSL 2A showing to 3-1 after defeating Washington 53-44 and Eatonville 62-56.

“We are playing the way we hoped we would be at this stage of our season,” said Hornet coach Rick Tripp, whose team is tied for second place with Franklin Pierce; those two met Tuesday night, with results coming too late to report here.

Tripp explained that while his troops are still relying heavily on their back court trio of Jason Tyler, Billy Kiel and Alex Sayler, the team as a whole is beginning to show signs of promise.

For example, senior post Nicco Wolfskill earned his first double-digit scoring night against Eatonville and Tyler recorded a triple double with 10 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists against the Cruisers, Tripp said.

The majority of Tyler’s helping hands were to his partner in crime, Kiel, who came on strong with 24 second-half points for a season-high of 32 points.

“For some reason Eatonville was letting Kiel take that outside shot and, unselfishly, Tyler kept feeding him the ball,” Tripp said.