TACOMA — Austin Birley has the nice luxury of having an indoor basketball training facility on his family’s property in Yakima.

It more resembles a high school gymnasium than the place Birley is firing off perimeter shots this week: the Tacoma Dome.

And yet, while he’s been up-and-down with his shooting stroke during the regular season for West Valley High School, for some reason when he visits a spacious arena such as this … everything clicks.

It did again Wednesday night in a loser-out WIAA Class 4A nightcap against Auburn.

Birley, a sophomore, paced all scorers with 22 points. Parker Mills added 19, and the Rams held off the Trojans, 71-67, to move on to the state quarterfinals Thursday.

West Valley sank nine of 13 3-pointers in the game, including a long one by Birley midway through the fourth quarter that gave the Rams a 55-43 lead.

“(Birley) has been struggling all year with his perimeter shot,” West Valley coach Tyson Whitfield said. “The guys did a great job of coming into here and pumping him up, and saying, ‘The Dome is your home.’”

Birley knocked down seven of his 13 field goal attempts, and tallied 12 of his 22 points in the second half when the Rams turned a close game into a double-digit lead.

“He is a great player,” West Valley guard Parker Hill said of his teammate. “Once he gets going, it’s tough to stop him.”

And yet, even with a 61-47 lead after Jett Bremerman’s 3-pointer with 4:12 remaining, the Rams had to sweat this one out.

Auburn responded on a 11-2 run, capped by Matthew Fredrickson’s three-point play after forcing a Birley turnover, and suddenly it was 63-58 with 2:40 to go.

But Hill made eight of 10 free throws in the final 2 1/2 minutes, and West Valley survived to play Richland - a team the Rams knocked out of the Class 4A winner’s bracket last season.

“People don’t know the full potential of our team,” Hill said. “But they will find out.”