Curtis Winter Classic: Day 2 Semi-Finals Eaglecrest advances to face Curtis in Title Game on Saturday

12/15/2023

(University Place, WA)
It’s Day 2 of the Curtis Winter Classic, Semi-Final day. 4 teams are battling for a chance to get to Saturday’s Championship game and 2 consolation games where 4th place is still on the table. All 4 games should be great match-ups and our coverage is below with stories, interviews and video highlights. Our coverage of Day 1 can be found on this link.

Game 5 (Consolation Game)
St George’s fell behind early last night to O’Dea, today they did not repeat that path and trailed just 14-11 after 1 to the Gig Harbor Tides. The Tides got a big jump behind the early offense of Luke Allison who knocked down 8 points in the 1st of the 14 the Tides scored. Allison would go on to hit for 14 to lead all scorers at the half.

The Saints hung in there behind the shooting of Kevin Zhong who had 6 in the opening quarter and 12 for the half. St George’s kept it close when Dom Acquino hit his 1st 3-ball early in the 2nd when Gig Harbor surged a bit extending their lead back to 8 at the break. Acquino would hit for 8 by halftime and Zhong had a dozen. 5 Tides were in the books at the break 3 of them, Quentin Bockhorn, Michael Masini and Drake Mattheis all with 6.

One Gig Harborite was shut out in the 1st half but Cole Browne kicked it into high gear scoring 10 in the 3rd leading the Tides to a 56-39 lead heading into the 4th and final but St George’s again would not give in but fell short in the end. Gig Harbor had solid performances from Michael Masini and Drake Mattheis along with Browne and our MVP of the game Allison who finished with 20 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists.

The Saints had 3 in double figures led by Zhong with 17, last night’s top scorer Dorian Glogovac with 26 had another strong night with 16, 5 rebounds and 3 assists and Acquino had 14.

Gig Harbor was only here to play today, tomorrow their spot will be taken by Rogers (Puyallup) in the 7th place game. St George’s will advance to the 4th/6th place game on Saturday at 2:30pm

Gig Harbor 14 37 56 65
St George’s 11 29 39 57

Scoring
Gig Harbor: Luke Allison 20, Cole Browne 15, Michael Masini 10, Drake Mattheis 8, Quentin Bockhorn 6, Logan Parrish 5, Ty Buchanan 1
St George’s: Kevin Zhong 17, Darian Glogovac 16, Dom Acquino 14, Lucas Butler 6, Aryan Sablok 4

ESN talks with Gig Harbor’s Luke Allison

Video Highlights

The Tides Allison opens the game with a pair of buckets

The Saints Kevin Zhong gets rolling early

Game 6 (Consolation Game)
The Pacifica Christian Tritons were coming off a tight loss to Timberline last night while South Eugene was looking to bounce back after their opening loss to Curtis where they fell behind 19-0 to begin the game.

The Tritons were looking to control the paint and with 34 boards led by the 14 of Alex Stewart did the trick. The Axemen otherwise known as the Axe also were ready to compete and stayed within range trailing 19-15 after the 1st quarter. Trey Saunders led the Ae with 7 while Michael Noel and Stewart each had 5 in a well balanced offense.

Pacifica did get it rolling in the 2nd with a huge 26 point quarter led by EJ Spillman who dumped in 12 points by the break with 8 in the 2nd. Stewart had 9 and Hudson Reynolds added 8 and finished with 45 on the board. South Eugene got a boost from Koen Thurman with 11 including 3 long balls while Calv in Yoder had 6. But at the break found themselves in a 15-point hole.

The Tritons keptup the furious pace in the 3rd extending that lead to 20 by the end of the 3rd quarter. Both Spillman and Stewart added 8 to their totals to build that lead while holding the Axe to just 13 points.

But the Axe blew up in the 4th kinocking down 22 pointx with a huge quarter from Saunders and Calvin Yoder. Saunders hit 12 of the 22 while Yoder scored 7. Saunders finished the night with a team high 25 points while Yoder had 17 and 5 rebounds. Koen Thurman also was in double figures with 14 including 4 3-balls.

The Tritons EJ Spillman finished with 26 points to lead all scorers along with 5 boards and 3 assists. Filling up the stat line behind Spillman was Alex Stewart with 21 points and 14 rebounds for the double-double with 2 assists a block and a steal for just enough to edge his team mate for our MVP honors. Hudson Reynolds also had a solid game with 10 points, the 3rd in double digits.

Pacifica Christian will play Saturday at 4pm against St George’s for 4th place. The Axe will take on Rogers of Puyallup at 2:30pm for 7th place.

South Eugene 15 30 43 65
Pacifica Chr 19 45 63 79

Scoring
Pacifica Christian; EJ Spillman 26, Alex Stewart 21, Hudson Reynolds 10, AJ Johnson 8, Michael Noel 5, Owen Connell 4, Sammy Gibbs 3, Miles Harnish 2
South Eugene: Trey Saunders 25, Calvin Yoder 17, Koen Thurman 14, Levi Hawes 5, Jacob Knight 3, James Thomas 1

ESN talks with game MVP Alex Stewart

Video Highlights

Stewart hits a bucket during the key run for the Tritons

Trey Saunders knocked down 25 in this game

Game 7 (Semi-Final)
This was the best game of the tournament so far as neither team could shakwe the other from start to finish. O’Dea got the jump in the 1st quarter with a, 18-16 lead. The Raptors of Eaglecrest came right back to take a 1 point lead into the locker room. The Raptors had a true team effort in scoring with 7 different players logging points in the scorebook led by the 7 from both Jason Noone and LaDavian King.

For O’Dea Brian Wenster was outstanding kocking down 10 of his 21 game high points in the 1st half. But the Irish also shared the wealth as they too had 7 players put points on the board. But for those that like the one-on-one battle of big men there was none better than watching Eaglecrest’s Garrett Barger and O’Dea’s Malcolm Clark get after each oither in the trenches in some great old-school big dude battles. This would continue through the entire game between these great players.

In the 3rd quarter Eaglecrest doubled their lead from 1 to 2 points. Noone and King both had 3 and Cam Chapa off the bench hit a huge 3 ball for 4 points in the quarter. For O’Dea BJ Shannon got gooing with 4 and Webster and Clark each had 4 but Quincy Brown led all scoreres in the 3rd with 5 off the bench with a big long ball to his credit.

The 2 teams would take this to the end with both stalemating scoring 17 points. The game never got to a 2 possession game for the most point it was always 1 shot away. Then potential disaster struck for Eaglecrest when LaDavian King fouled out with about a minute to go. King had 24 in game 1 and 18 to this point against the Irish so taking him out takes away the Raptors most prolific offensive weapon.

But in times of crisis the creame rises as they say in sports and after Webster scored and hit the plus 1 giving the Irish a 59-57 lead on King’s foul. On the next possession Jason Noone fed Lucas Kalimba inside who turned and forced his way through contact to knock in the tying bucket and then calmly drained the free throw and Eaglecrest had a 1 point lead with less than a minute to go.

After a defensive stop the Raptors had a chance to add to their lead and that man Kalimba comes through again with a sweet drive and finish for a 62-59 lead. Patrick Galvin then grab an air-ball 3 pointer and put it back quickly for the Irish who trailed by 1 with just 18 seconds to play. O’Dea wouyld foul and that sent Sir Devin Roberts to the line where he hit 1 of 2 for a 2 point lead.

It came down to the final possession for the Irish where they could go for the win with a 3-ball or tie it to go to OT. On the final play Shannon got the ball inside to Clark who drove the lane and went to put up the tying shot when his adversary Barger comes from behind to reject the shot. The ball pinballed around and time ran out giving the win to the Raptors.

For his solid play all the way around the ESN crew gave the MVP award to Garrett Barger who fnished with 8 points, 5 rebounds, a steal and 2 blocks with the 2nd rejection the game winner.

Eaglecrest 16 28 46 63
O’Dea 18 27 44 61

Scoring
Eaglecrest: LaDavian King 18, Jason Noone 10, Lucas Kalimba 10, Garrett Barger 8, Sir Devin Roberts 8, LaQuince York 5, Cam Chapa 3
O’Dea: Brian Webster 21, Quincey Brown 11, Malcolm Clark 10, BJ Shannon 6, Antone Araujo 5, Patrick Galvin 4, Peyton Brooks 2, Doni Burkett 2

ESN talks with Garrett Barger from Eaglecrest our MVP

O’Dea and Eaglecrest trade buckets

The Raptors Lucas Kalimba with the biggest bucket of the game

O’Dea has one last chance

Game 8 (Semi-Final)
The Curtis Vikings advanced to their own Championship for a 3rd straight year knocking off the Timberline Blazers. The Blazers were without their leading scorer and will be without Darrell Gipson on Saturday as he is on a recruiting trip and unavailable. Timberline didn’t throw in the towel though as they came out with the early lead on the young 2-time defending state champion Vikings.

The Vikings leader Devin Whitten coming off a 30 point game in the opener was still hot as he and Freshman Keaundre Morris would supply most of the offense. Curtis closed the gap and edged in front by the end of the 1st half with a 4 point lead. Kenyon Thomas filled the offensive hole Gipson not being there left and ended up with 22 on the night. Owen Korn off the bench gave a little surge as well with 5 quick points including a long ball.

In the 2nd half the Vikings tried to sprint away several times but the Blazers would not go away and found ways to keep themselves in the game. Josh Tichenor hit some big outside shots on his way to 14 points and Cedric Ragland also found double figures with 10.

Down the stretch of this game though it would be the Vikings ability to hit their late free throws to secure the win. Morris finished with 21 points and 6 of 7 from the line. Whitten had 23 to lead all scorers. Xavier Ahrens nearly had a unique double-double, the 6’4 jr is known for his rebounding, defense and distributing the ball and he did just that with 4 points but 9 rebounds and 8 assists. Another freshman is also catching the eye of Vikings fans in Noah Kaylor who hit for 8 points.

The ESN crew named Deaundre Morris as the MVP. Curtis will play for their own Championship for a 3rd straight year Saturday night at 7pm against Eaglecrest of Colorado.

Curtis 12 32 43 59
Timberline 16 28 55 65

Scoring
Curtis: Devin Whitten 23, Keaundre Morris 21, Noah Kaylor 8, Xavier Ahrens 4, Will Torrone 4, Brandon Logan 3, Robby Lavata’i 1
Timberline: Kenyon Simmons 22, Josh Tichenor 14, Cedric Ragland 10, Kadyn Ward 7, Owen Korn 5, Carmelo Roper 1

ESN talks with Frosh Keaundre Morris the MVP