Recaps, highlights from quarterfinals at 4A and 3A state boys basketball tournaments
Between the Class 4A and 3A boys state tournaments, 30 high school basketball games will be played in the Tacoma Dome this weekend. The News Tribune will be at all of them, providing game recaps, highlights, interviews, stats and more.
Follow along for live updates from Thursday’s quarterfinals:
CLASS 4A
Quarterfinals
No. 3 GLACIER PEAK 44, No. 5 CAMAS 42 (OT)
When Glacier Peak’s Josiah “Jo” Lee split his pair of free throws in a one-point game with 15.3 seconds remaining, Camas had their chance to tie or win with a three — but Papermakers standout Ethan Harris missed his last-second putback and the Grizzlies held on in an early-morning, overtime thriller at the Tacoma Dome.
Grizzlies point guard Reed Nagel dropped a game-high 16 points, Lee had 11, and No. 3 Glacier Peak outlasted Camas, 44-42, in Thursday’s 4A state quarterfinals.
Punch Glacier Peak’s ticket back to the “Final Four” for consecutive seasons.
“Hopefully we make it a little farther this year,” Lee smiled, part of last year’s third-place finish at the Tacoma Dome. “Back and forth the whole game, sent it to overtime. Made a couple free throws, missed a couple free throws, but it’s the ones you make that count.”
Camas guard Jace VanVoorhis knocked down the Papermakers’ first field goal with 2:16 remaining in the first quarter, a sluggish start for both offenses in Thursday’s 9 a.m. opener.
Glacier Peak’s Zachary Albright, a 6-5 post, grabbed 15 rebounds to go with seven points and two assists.
“I think Zach played extremely well,” Lee said. “(He) completely controlled the glass.”
Nagel finished with 16 points (7-15 FG), three rebounds, and an assist. Camas’ Harris was a two-way force with 14 points, eight rebounds, and three assists.
“Reed’s been in a little funk recently, but after that game? He played awesome,” Lee said. “I think he’s back now.”
The No. 3 Grizzlies advance to Friday’s 4A semifinals with No. 1 Gonzaga Prep, a 3:45 p.m. tipoff at the Tacoma Dome.
No. 1 GONZAGA PREP 53, No. 2 AUBURN 50 (OT)
Carter Nilson’s go-ahead three pointer with 1:31 remaining in overtime lifted No. 1 Gonzaga Prep over No. 2 Auburn in Thursday’s 4A quarterfinals, a rare weekday meeting between the tournament’s top seeds that lived up to the billing.
The top-ranked Bullpups roared back from a five-point halftime deficit to overcome Auburn guard Daniel Johnson’s game-high 26 points, punching their tickets for tomorrow’s 4A semifinals inside the Tacoma Dome.
“We hadn’t been making many all game, but we just kept telling ourselves to keep shooting,” Nilson told The News Tribune. “We trust the work that we put in, so it’s just another shot. We’ll take that every time.”
Nilson paced Gonzaga Prep with 15 points, forward Jackson Mott posted a 13-point, 10-rebound double-double, and Brogan Howell finished with 14 points and four boards.
Auburn’s Johnson put on another scoring clinic, pushing the Trojan lead to nine points in the first quarter. The game’s leading scorer finished with 26 points, eight rebounds, and an assist.
“First of all, we’re grateful to be here,” Auburn head coach Ryan Hansen said. “We understand how difficult it is to make it here. When you’re here, every possession matters. You grind out games. All the winning scores are in the 50s. Nothing comes easy in the Dome.
“It’s really about being the tougher team, taking away the things your opponent wants to do. We just had too many breakdowns defensively that ended up costing us. We let their bigs get to their left hands too many times. We got beat twice on the backdoors. Those easy baskets they got, I think, were kind of the difference.”
With overtime’s final seconds winding down, Auburn point guard Carter Hansen missed a tough look at a potential game-winning three, sealing a Bullpups win.
“They got out to a little jump on us to start the game, but the identity of our team is to keep grinding throughout the whole game,” Nilson said. “We let the defense do the work, and the rest will come.
“I’m excited to go get the next one.”
Gonzaga Prep meets No. 3 Glacier Peak in Friday’s semifinals at 3:45 p.m.
No. 6 West Valley (Yakima) 73, No. 4 Richland 70
It went back and forth, an up-tempo, high-energy, high-scoring affair between Richland and West Valley in their 4A state tournament quarterfinal matchup.
But West Valley’s firepower ultimately won out down the stretch as the Rams pulled off a thrilling 73-70 win.
“It was so fun,” West Valley freshman guard Austin Birley said. “It was an awesome game. Two great teams, it was a great game.”
West Valley shot a blistering 66 percent from the field, including shooting 46 percent from beyond the arc.
Austin Birley scored 18 points and made key transition shots in the fourth quarter, attacking the rim.
“I was just trying to advance,” he said. “When I’m out there, I’m not thinking, I’m just going. I just play.”
His brother, senior guard Landen Birley, scored a team-high 22 points, while forward Parker Mills had 16 points and seven rebounds. The Birley brothers combined for 40 points and find themselves in the state tournament semifinals in their only high school season playing together.
“It’s been amazing,” Austin Birley said. “It’s great just going out there with him, growing up with him, playing with him, seeing him out on the court is amazing.”
Richland was paced by Landen Northrop’s game-high 32 points. Guard Lance Horntvedt posted a double-double with 19 points and 13 rebounds.
West Valley has now won 16 games in a row, on fire heading into the state semifinals.
“We all want to win,” Birley said. “We all want to make it to that game Saturday night at nine o’clock.”
No. 8 PUYALLUP 55, No. 7 MOUNT SI 47
Midway through Drew Jones’ postgame media session, Puyallup’s Will Nasinec and teammates surrounded their star point guard to voice their own opinions:
“He’s him! He’s him!” Nasinec said.
“33 points! 33 points!” another yelled.
Jones had delivered a game to remember on the biggest stage: The early spark and constant flame for Puyallup’s offense dropped a game-high 33 points with five triples and, in the closing minutes, delivered a crucial and-one for the lead.
By halftime, Jones had 20 points with four treys. He was unstoppable.
The mindset? Simple: “If we’re not making it, (he’s) going to go out guns blazing,” Vikings head coach Kevin Olson said of Jones’ game. “He was going to go out shooting, play his best and give everything he’s got, and if it wasn’t good enough, so be it.”
It was plenty.
They’re partying in Puyallup tonight: Jones’ heroics lifted the Vikings over defending 4A champion Mount Si, 55-47, to reach the tournament’s ‘Final Four’ for the first time since 1989.
“When big games, big moments happen, I never seem to back down,” Jones said. “I’m always ready for the moment. … After I see a few go in, it usually feels great after that.
“I knew I was going to have to step up a little bit. … This team is just amazing. Great brotherhood. Everyone’s contributing, and that’s what makes us so good.”
Tied with 2:30 remaining in regulation, Jones drove to the rim and delivered the go-ahead bucket through contact, completing a three-point play at the line. He scored again at the 1:01 mark to extend the lead, drifting right and draining a midrange jumper from the wing.
The senior’s final line: 33 points, three assists, and three rebounds. All with five treys and zero turnovers.
Puyallup’s Nasinec (10 PTS, 8 REB) and Mason Sonntag (8 PTS, 5 REB) established themselves inside and limited Mount Si to 10 points in the paint.
Wildcats guard Hudson Moscrip paced Mount Si with 12 points without standout forward Latt Ford (ACL). Chase Mentink and Drenden Knaevelsrud (8 REB) added eight points apiece.
“It’s been a process,” Olson said. “We’ve just been getting better and better and better. We just knew we were going to be one of the teams to contend with. We know this tournament’s wide open. It’s about making plays any given day.”
Puyallup meets No. 6 West Valley in Friday’s 4A semifinals at 5:30 p.m. with a trip to Saturday’s championship on the line.
CLASS 3A
Quarterfinals
No. 2 MOUNT SPOKANE 52, No. 8 BELLARMINE PREP 48 (OT)
It wasn’t easy — and it certainly wasn’t pretty — but the No. 2 Wildcats are moving on.
Rock Franklin sank the game-tying corner three with 14 seconds left in regulation, and Mount Spokane escaped overtime to beat Bellarmine Prep, 52-48, in Thursday’s 3A quarterfinals at the Tacoma Dome.
“If I got (the ball), I knew I would make it,” Franklin said. “I just had that confidence.”
Mount Spokane clawed back from a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter, powered by Jaden Ghoreishi’s game-high 19 points and Franklin’s clutch jumper. Ghoreishi was a perfect 11-for-11 from the free-throw line.
Bellarmine Prep stunned No. 1 Rainier Beach in last weekend’s regional round and had their sights set on taking down No. 2 Mount Spokane, too — but mustered just nine points in the fourth quarter and allowed the Wildcats to force extra time.
Lions guard J.J. Bordeaux put on an early three-point shooting clinic with three treys in the first quarter, finishing with a team-high 18 points, five rebounds, and three assists.
Franklin had nine points and four boards.
“Stay calm” was the mindset as Mount Spokane battled back, Franklin said. “We have this motto called ‘TAP.’ Trust, acceptance, and presence. We were present the whole game.”
The Wildcats advance to Friday’s 3A semifinals with No. 5 Edmonds-Woodway for a 7:15 p.m. tipoff at the Tacoma Dome.
No. 5 Edmonds-Woodway 73, No. 6 Lincoln 36
It felt clear minutes into Thursday’s Class 3A state tournament quarterfinal game against Edmonds-Woodway that it wasn’t going to be Lincoln’s night.
The Abes were flustered, frustrated and out of sorts from the tip. Edmonds-Woodway — cool, confident and composed — was anything but.
Edmonds-Woodway led by six after a quarter. The lead ballooned to 32 points by the end of the third quarter. Edmonds-Woodway held Lincoln to just 13 total points in the second and third quarters en route to a 73-36 rout.
“We’re coming out confident,” Edmonds-Woodway senior guard Cam Hiatt said. “We’ve been playing some really good basketball, we scouted them really well. We had a really good gameplan and we executed it really, really well. I’m really proud of our guys, not just me, that’s all of us top to bottom. We executed.”
Hiatt, a 6-foot-4 Dartmouth-bound senior guard, was as good as advertised. He poured in a game-high 33 points with 14 rebounds and shot a perfect 10-of-10 from the free throw line.
Edmonds-Woodway shot 48 percent from the field and held Lincoln to 23 percent shooting from the floor. Lincoln, which likes to get out in transition, never could get on the fast break.
“They come from a brand of basketball that likes to get up and down and that’s tough,” Hiatt said. “But when you get them in the halfcourt, you make them play possession basketball and you make them execute, that changes things and it changed it for us today.”
Lincoln sophomore guard Trey Collier led the team with 11 points. No other Abes scored in double digits.
“Credit to them, they played really tough and did not give us anything easy,” Lincoln coach Ryan Rogers said. “They executed well on the offensive end and it really hurt us not being able to get in transition. So credit to them, they had a good gameplan and they stuck to it.”
Lincoln unraveled emotionally as the game wore on, drawing several technical fouls, two to Lincoln players and one assessed to Rogers.
“It’s always splitting hairs but I think the refs let a couple of things slide, which frustrated our young kids, which we have to be better at,” Rogers said. “Being more composed.
“There’s perks and disadvantages to having a young team and I think one of those things is just to continue to be mentally tough and get through those things and let the refs make the tough calls and make the decisions.”
That’s the silver lining: the Abes are young. Barring any unforeseen transfer activity, Lincoln will return its entire roster next season. For a team that won the 3A Puget Sound League and the 3A District 3/4 title, that’s welcome news. Lincoln should be a 3A state title contender next season. While the youth hasn’t bitten Rogers’ squad many times this year, it reared its head against a veteran Edmonds-Woodway team on Thursday.
“The kids played hard, it wasn’t lack of effort or anything like that,” Rogers said. “Just things we have to continue to work on and get better at.”
Edmonds-Woodway, meanwhile, advances to a semifinal matchup against No. 2 Mount Spokane, which rallied late to beat Bellarmine Prep in overtime on Thursday night.
Lincoln will face Bellarmine Prep in a consolation game at 12:15 p.m. on Friday. The winner of the game will play for fourth/sixth place on Saturday.
No. 3 GARFIELD 70, No. 4 BELLEVUE 54
BJ Roy Jr. wasn’t expecting to play in the Tacoma Dome this week. A foot injury in last weekend’s regional win over Lincoln sent the senior guard to the emergency room, feared to have suffered a fracture.
It could’ve cut his high school career short, but Roy Jr. realized: “I’m a senior now,” he told The News Tribune. “These are my last couple of games. I just thought about how this is all I’ve got. I just had to push through and play.”
So Roy Jr. suited up. And the result? A game-high 18 points with seven rebounds and an assist in Garfield’s 70-54 win over Bellevue. He drilled his first three attempts from beyond the arc and finished 4-of-5 from downtown.
“I felt good today,” he said. “It felt like a second home today. I felt like I belonged here.”
The No. 3 Bulldogs cruised over No. 4 Bellevue and will play in Friday’s 3A semifinals, now two wins away from the program’s second state title in three years.
“I didn’t know he was going to play that well or that much,” Garfield head coach Brandon Roy said, a three-time NBA All-Star with the Portland Trail Blazers from 2008-10. “He was like, ‘Dad, I want to play.’ … We wanted to do this together.”
Garfield rattled seven unanswered points in the game’s first minute and looked more than comfortable, ahead by 14 at the half before ballooning the lead to as many as 24.
Bulldogs guard D-Jack Jackson posted 14 points and six rebounds, part of an efficient Garfield backcourt (52.9% FG). Forward JuJu Ervin added 11 boards and four points.
Bellevue shooting guard Nicolas Norrah paced the Bulldogs with 16 points and six rebounds.
No. 3 Garfield will play in Friday’s 3A semifinals at 9 p.m. inside the Tacoma Dome.
No. 1 RAINIER BEACH 99, No. 7 SEATTLE PREP 75
Too much star power: Vikings wing Dre Morris dropped a game-high 25 points, Jaylen Petty had 21, and the bracket’s No. 1 seed looked the part in Thursday night’s 3A quarterfinals at the Tacoma Dome.
Rainier Beach tormented Seattle Prep in transition and drained 11 threes, a shooting clinic that powered the Vikings to Friday’s 3A semifinals in the Tacoma Dome. They’re just two wins away from their first 3A title since 2016.
“(Speed’s) our strong suit,” Petty said. “Being able to push the ball, play together, and just work hard.
“It’s more about staying on course. We’re not done.”
Seattle Prep led by two points after the first quarter but Rainier Beach erupted for 29 points in the second and constantly pushed the pace with four double-digit scorers: Morris, Petty, Micah Ili-Meneese (19 points), and Kaden Powers (12). That quartet was a combined 29-of-48 from the field (60 percent).
Junior guard Niko Christofilis led Seattle Prep with 24 points.
No. 1 Rainier Beach meets No. 3 Garfield in Friday’s 3A semifinals at 9 p.m.
This story was originally published March 6, 2025 at 10:57 AM with the headline "Recaps, highlights from quarterfinals at 4A and 3A state boys basketball tournaments."
