Curtis Winter Classic: Championship Saturday! Curtis holds on to break 2 year streak

12/16/2023

(University Place, WA) The 6th Curtis Winter Classic came to a close on Saturday and it was another successful and exciting event. The Curtis Vikings had only won their own tournament once and had been in the Championship form the past 2 years but lost in the title game both years first to Mt Spokane and last year to Lake City, Idaho.

The Vikings lost a ton of players from their 2-time defending state Champion teams and many believed this would be a re-building year. Head Coach Tim Kelly appears to not buy into re-building and is off to a 7-0 start and snapping their 2-game losing streak in the C-W-C Championship game.

Full coverage of Day 3 is below beginning with the Championship game followed by the 3rd, 4th and 7th place games. For full coverage of day 1 and 2 just click on the home page and on those stories.

Game 12 C-W-C Championship Game

This game was going to be a tall order for the young Vikings facing an excellent team they did not know much about in the Eaglecrest Raptors from Colorado. Eaglecrest’s LaDavian King had scored 24 and 18 in the 1st 2 games, Sir Devin Roberts was the senior leader and one of those all-around players that contributes in so many ways and the big guy in the middle 6’8 Garrett Barger.

The Raptors came in with wins over a solid North Thurston team on day 1 60-53 and then held off O’Dea 63-61 in a tough semi-final battle. Curtis advanced to their 3rd straight C-W-C championship tussle with an opening win over South Eugene on Thursday and knocked off Timberline in the semi-final Friday night 65-59.

The Vikings came out swinging right out of the gate building up a big 20-11 lead with Whitten and Morris leading the scoring with 8 and 5 respectfully. The Vikings stretched that lead to 11 by halftime and Whitten had tanked in 14 points already with 34 long balls. 6 others had chipped in to help lead as well but there was foul trouble for the Vikings that they would have to contend with in the 2nd half.

The Raptors hung in there and were in position to make a run thanks to a big 1st half from Garrett Barger with 10 of his 14 points. King got off to a slow start as the Viks were shadowing him tight to keep him from taking over.

In the 3rd quarter Whitten would pick up his 4th foul and have to sit all the way to the 5-minute mark of the 4th quarter. This opened the door for the Raptors to make a run and they did just that closing that 11 points gap all the way to a 1-point lead after 3 quarters. Eaglecrest outscored the Vikings 20-8 with 5 each in the quarter for Sir Devin Roberts and Lucas Kalimba the hero of the semi-final win over O’Dea.

In the final 8 minutes it would come down to free throws as the foul calls shifted from Curtis to the Raptors. King and Barger would eventually foul out and Curtis got big quarter from Whitten with 7 points and freshman Noah Kaylor added 5 and Morris 4. Between Whitten and Morris they went 15-17 from the line and took advantage of the freebies and really was the difference in the game. Xavier Ahrens had another productive game with 6 points along with 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals.

For Eaglecrest they just didn’t get the offensive production they had in their 1st two games with King scoring 8. Barger had his best scoring game of 14, one of 3 in twin figures. Sir Devin Roberts had 12 and Lucas Kalimba scored well again off the bench with 10.

The ESN crew named Devin Whitten their MVP in game 1 and Keaundre Morris in game 2 and we like to spread around the honor so Noah Kaylor scoring 10 and helping hold down the fort so to speak until those in foul trouble could get back in the game.

Whitten was named the MVP of the tournament and Keaundre Morris was named all-tournament. LaDavian King also earned all-tournament honors. ESN will put out our own All-Tournament team in an additional post.

Eaglecrest 11 25 45 54
Curtis 20 36 44 60

Scoring
Curtis: Devin Whitten 24, Keaundre Morris 11, Noah Kaylor 10, Xavier Ahrens 6, Will Torrone 4, Robby Lavata’i 3, Mercer Estes 2
Eaglecrest: Garrett Barger 14, Sir Devin Roberts 12, Lucas Kalimba 10, LaDavian King 8, Jason Noone 3, Kris Coleman 3, Cam Chapa 2, LaQuince York 2

Video Highlights

Curtis’s Devin Whitten lights it up from deep

Eaglecrest fires back to begin the 3rd with back-to-back scores

Curtis takes the lead late in the 3rd, but not for long

Curtis puts the game away late on this sequence

Game 11 3rd/5th Place

O’Dea held off a determined Timberline squad in a foul marred game that saw 24 fouls called in the 1st half. Despite the start and stop style of game that was forced with the numerous whistles the Irish carved out a 6-point lead by halftime. Brian Webster was coming off a 21-point effort in the semi-finals and remained red hot sinking 12 in the 1st half to lead all scorers. Malcom Clark the big guy in the middle hit for 8. Timberline kept it close on the 11 1st half points of Josh Tichenor and 9 from Kenyon Simmons.

In the 3rd quarter the Blazers made a run and tied the game after 3 with Simmons continuing his solid tournament showing with 7 points and Kadyn Ward knocking down 5. Clark for O’Dea kept them in the game and with 7 of his own.

Heading into the 4th and final Webster would surge scoring 9 4th quarter points and the ball quit falling for the Blazers. Clark picked up in the paint and finished with a double-double of 16 points and 11 rebounds and 1 big blocked shot. Webster would finish with 23 points to lead the Irish. Timberline’s Simmons tallied 18, Ward finished with 14 and Tichenor had 11.

The game MVP was O’Dea’s Brian Webster. The Irish’s Malcolm Clark was named to the all-tournament team as was Kenyon Simmons of Timberline.

O’Dea 13 28 45 67
Timberline 14 34 45 56

Scoring
O’Dea: Brian Webster 23, Malcolm Clark 16, Doni Burkett 8, Patrick Galvin 7, Antone Aruja 5, Levi Orbino 4, BJ Shannon 3, Quincey Brown 1
Timberline: Kenyon Simmons 18, Kadyn Ward 14, Josh Tichenor 11, Carmelo Roper 6, DJ Falco 5, Cedric Ragland 2

ESN talks with Game MVP Brian Webster

Video Highlights

Malcolm Clark says no to this shot

Kadyn Ward with a huge bucket

Brian Webster finishes strong to clinch the win

Game 10 4th/6th Place

The 4th place team featured the 1st international team to play in the C-W-C in the St George’s Saints from Vancouver BC. The Saints got matched up with Pacifica Christian from Newport Beach, CA. The Tritons lost a tough battle in the opener to Timberline by 3 and then bounced back on day 2 to get to the 4th place game.

It was a slow start as both teams looked to be a bit worn down after traveling and already playing 2 games. The Saints led after 1 13-8 and then the Tritons got rolling with a 16-point 2nd period surge with a well distributed scoring attack between 6 players with EJ Spillman leading the way with 6. The Saints were led by their leading offensive threat Dorian Glogovac also with 6.

As the 2nd half began it looked like the halftime talk from Coach Jeff Berkoff did the trick as the Tritons picked up the pace and would score 33 in the 2nd half. The Pacifica defense was also on tilt holding the Saints to just 6 in the 3rd quarter. P-C saved their best quarter for the last knocking in 22 points to pull away for the win. Spillman would finish with 18 points, 6 boards, 5 assists and a steal to fill up his stat line. Hudson Reynolds had his best game of the 3 with 11 points and Michael Noel hit double figs with 10 with 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 steals.

The Saints were again led by Glogovac’s 14 would finish the tournament with 56 points. Dom Acquino added 7. Charlie Mcconville scored 6 and led the team with 6 rebounds.

Our MVP went to EJ Spillman who was also selected to the all-tournament team.

St George’s 13 20 26 38
Pacifica Christian 8 24 35 57

Scoring
Pacifica Christian: EJ Spillman 18, Hudson Reynolds 11, Michael Noel 10, AJ Johnson 6, Owen Connell 6, Sammy Gibbs 3, Miles Harnish 3
St George’s: Dorian Glogovac 14, Dom Acquino 7, Charlie Mcconville 6, Kevin Zhong 6, Kosuke Matsubara 2, Aryen Sablok 2, Joey Geros 1

ESN talks with Game MVP EJ Spillman

Video Highlights

The Saints Dorian Glogovac with a sweet bank shot

The Triton’s EJ Spillman with the rebound and slick finish for 2

Game 9 7th/8th Place

South Eugene in their 3rd day got to face a fresher team, the 3rd individual team to fill the 8th spot in the tournament after a late scratch. The Axe were also looking for their 1st win and came out with their best effort of the tournament racking up 78 points.

Unfortunately for the Axe it wasn’t enough as the up and down fast pressing Rogers Rams were able to light the board with 86 points. Leading South Eugene was their scoring engine Trey Saunders who dropped 24 in after a 25-point run in the Friday game. He finished the tournament with 61 points averaging a little more than 20 per game. Levi Hawes had a bi9g game with 18 along with 6 rebounds, 2 assists a steal and a block. Koen Thurman was just short of a double-double with 8 points and 10 assists.

Rogers had a well balanced attack with an amazing 5 in double figures. Amanna Anusiem scored 16, Kyree Grays with 15 and Dylan Gilderhus knocked down 14 while leading the team with 7 boards off the bench. Ryan Avery finished with 13 and Treyshawn Weatherspoon had 10, Ja’Keem Richardson almost made it 6 with 9 points in the game.

The ESN crew normally gives the MVP to the winning team but in this case with South Eugene playing in all 3 games and it was such a team effort for Rogers Trey Saunders got the nod.

Rogers 24 46 64 86
South Eugene 16 34 53 78

Scoring
Rogers: Amanna Anusiem 16, Kyree Grays 15, Dylan Gilderhus 14, Ryan Avery 13, Treyshawn Weatherspoon 10, Ja’Keem Richardson 9, Ian Draper 6, Raylen Rigby 3
South Eugene: Trey Saunders 24, Levi Hawes 18, Calvin Yoder 10, Koen Thurman 8, James Thomas 7, Cameron Perry 7, Austin Cacioppi 2

ESN talks with Game MVP Trey Saunders