TACOMA — It was a dream start for the Mount Si boys basketball team.
Again.
The Wildcats beat Tahoma 80-45 in a regional game last Friday after opening the game on a 20-0 run. Their start Thursday in a 70-47 victory against Richland in the Class 4A state quarterfinals at the Tacoma Dome was nearly as good.
No. 2 Mount Si (25-2) started the game with a 19-2 run and led 37-6 midway through the second quarter. The only suspense after that was the final margin of victory.
No. 8 seed Richland (22-5) continued to play hard and outscored Mount Si 33-28 in the second half, including a late 14-0 run after both teams had put in their reserves.
But there was no doubt which was the better team. And now Mount Si is one win from becoming the first Class 4A boys team to play in four straight title games.
To achieve that feat, it will need to beat No. 3 seed Olympia in a Friday semifinal at 5:30 p.m.
The Wildcats of Snoqualmie will try to continue their trend of fast starts.
“Both (starts) were pretty good, but let’s go with today’s,” Mount Si point guard Blake Forrest said when asked to compare the opening runs of the past two games.
Forrest, who had 14 points and nine assists, said the team’s experience of playing in the Tacoma Dome is a big advantage.
“It helps a ton because other teams sometimes don’t really know the environment here,” Forrest said. “We’ve been here before.”
Mount Si coach Jason Griffith said he didn’t expect his team to dominate a good Richland team early, but he knows his team is capable of great things.
“We’re just doing it because we’re playing good basketball,” Griffith said of the fast starts.
It certainly helps that junior guard Trevor Hennig, the team’s leading scorer, is playing in the Tacoma Dome for the first time after being injured last season when Mount Si lost to Curtis in the title game.
“It was awesome; just a great feeling,” said Hennig, who had 13 points and five rebounds. “Just to make it back here was great.”
Senior forward Bennett Olujic had 19 points, nine rebounds and six assists to lead Mount Si. Senior forward Miles Heide had 16 points and 11 rebounds.
Eastlake girls win with incredible ending
Things looked bleak for the Eastlake of Sammamish girls. The No. 4 seed Wolves (21-6) were trailing No. 11 seed Bellarmine Prep 60-59 with 1.7 seconds left in overtime, and the Lions (22-8) were at the foul line for a one-and-one.
After the free throw missed, Eastlake’s Ava Schmidt gathered a pass just inside the midcourt line and let it fly. It sounded as if the buzzer went off just before the shot was taken but it was close.
The refs ruled it was in time.
“I wanted to get the ball in my hands and I wanted to shoot it,” said Schmidt, who was not sure which teammate made the pass to her. “We do half-court shots every practice. It paid off.”
Schmidt, who scored 22 points, was asked if she thought her shot was before the buzzer.
“I was really hoping it was,” said Schmidt, who said it was her first buzzer-beating winning shot. “That’s about it.”
Notes
- Curtis (26-3) junior guard Zoom Diallo, ranked by 247Sports.com as the No. 9 prospect in the nation in the class of 2024, had 18 points, six rebounds and five assists in the top-seeded Vikings’ 73-46 win over No. 10 Camas (19-8).
- The No. 3 seed Olympia boys (24-5) controlled most of its quarterfinal game against No. 5 seed Gonzaga Prep (22-5), but had to sweat it out at the end of its 51-47 win (the final two points for Olympia came with less than a second left).
Gonzaga Prep trailed 37-28 heading into the fourth quarter, but had a chance to take the lead with just under 40 seconds remaining on a three-point shot by Henry Sandberg. That shot was short, and Olympia ended up holding on.