TACOMA — Great defense, and plenty of Zoom.
Those were the keys to the defending state champion Curtis boys basketball team earning a trip back to the Class 4A state title game.
Curtis guard Zoom Diallo, one of the top juniors in the country, scored 25 points and the Vikings stifled Federal Way’s potent offense, paving the way to 56-43 victory.
The top-seeded Vikings (27-3) will play No. 3 Olympia (25-5) for the title at 9 p.m. Saturday. Olympia defeated No. 2 seed Mount Si (25-3) 51-45, denying the Wildcats of Snoqualmie becoming the first Class 4A boys team to play in four consecutive title games.
It was easily the lowest scoring game of the season for Federal Way, the No. 4 seed (24-3), but the top-ranked team in the state in the final AP rankings.
The Eagles had not scored less than 66 points against an in-state opponent (it had 53 in a loss to Perry High School of Arizona), but could not get nothing going against Curtis’ tight and hounding defense.
“(Defense) is what we do, but they’re a very high offensive scoring team,” Curtis coach Dave Miller said, when asked if he thought his team could hold Federal Way to that few points. “I’m very proud of our guys’ defensive effort. We took away the three-pointers and that was the plan.”
Indeed they did, with Federal Way making just 2 of 15 and 15 of 53 shots overall.
Federal Way fell behind 40-29 entering the final quarter after getting outscored 12-6 in the third quarter. The Eagles were 1 of 8 from the field in the quarter and had eight turnovers.
The Eagles were held without a point in the first 4:20 of the fourth quarter, allowing Curtis to take a 46-29 lead. Federal Way never quit fighting, but never got closer than nine points after that.
Diallo and fellow guard Tyce Paulsen had slow starts for defending champion Curtis, scoring two points between them in the first quarter on a pair of Diallo free throws.
But the 6-foot-5 Diallo was not concerned.
“I knew that in the first quarter that I was just missing easy stuff that I make all the time,” said Diallo, the No. 9 junior prospect in the country according to 247Sports.com.
The shots started falling for him and Paulsen in the second quarter. Diallo had nine in the period and Paulsen had eight — all but two of their team’s points — as Curtis turned a 10-9 deficit after one period into a 28-23 halftime lead.
“I’m always trying to find my shot, whether it’s a three or me going to the cup,” said Paulsen, who finished with 15 points.
It might have been worse for Federal Way, but senior guard Dace Pleasant scored the final two baskets of the half, including one just before the buzzer, after Curtis had built a nine-point lead.
Vaughn Weems was also a big reason Federal Way was as close as it was at halftime, with 11 first-half points.
Federal Way closed to 30-27 but six total points for the Eagles in the first 12-plus minutes of the second half doomed their comeback hopes.
“We’re known for our defense,” Diallo said.
And for having Zoom.
Federal Way was led by Weems’ 20 points and Pleasant had 11 on 3-of-21 shooting. The Eagles will play Mount Si in the third/fifth-place game at 11:15 a.m. Saturday.
Olympia takes down Mount Si
Andreas Engholm, a 6-foot-7 senior forward, helped Olympia dig out of an early hole, and had 10 fourth-quarter points to thwart a Mount Si rally, propelling the Bears to a 51-45 win.
Mount Si, which had leads of 20-0 and 19-2 in its past two games, jumped ahead 7-0 Friday. But Engholm hit back-to-back three-pointers to pull Olympia out of its early funk.
The Bears used a 15-0 run spanning the second and third quarters to take a 34-23 lead in the third quarter. Mount Si battled all the way back, tying the score at 41 midway through the fourth quarter.
Engholm, who finished with 23 points, scored the next six points and the Wildcats never got closer than four points again.
Mount Si was held to its lowest scoring output of the season — its previous low was 55 against Kentridge — as it struggled to get 6-10 forward Miles Heide going against a sagging defense.
Heide was held to 11 points on 4-of-11 shooting and the Bears also defended the three-pointer well, with Mount Si making just 4 of 19 attempts.
Junior Trevor Hennig had 21 points to lead the Wildcats.