A lot of teams in the South Puget Sound League will get their eyes opened playing long-armed, high-pressure No. 2 Federal Way.
That happened to the Curtis Vikings on Tuesday, suffering their first loss at the hands of the Eagles.
As Curtis heads into the exhibition portion of its schedule – four games in Hawaii starting Wednesday – the ninth-ranked Vikings shored up a few things.
The primary one was getting off to better starts – and they did that in defeating Rogers, 71-40, in University Place on Saturday night.
Andre Lewis led Curtis (5-1) with 19 points. Dominic Robinson added 14. The Vikings grabbed the early lead and pulled away in the second quarter.
“One of our biggest things … is that we had not gotten off to good starts,” coach Tim Kelly said. “We wanted to be focused, be ready and assertive from the tip.”
The Vikings got their big scoring push from their pressure, scoring on five consecutive possessions, mostly in transition. Their 11-1 run, capped by Isom Brown’s put-back, gave Curtis a 29-6 lead.
One of the surprising developments is senior Jaurence Chisolm’s role. In the offseason, he was penciled in as a starter. Now, he is coming off the bench.
“That is where we are,” Kelly said.
Rogers (0-6) is in a rebuilding phase. The Rams got 11 points from sophomore Demetri Jones but were done in by a tough first half – 4-for-11 shooting with 20 turnovers.
“Obviously we are struggling right now,” Rogers coach Rico Ancheta said. “We’ll focus on working hard in practice, and getting better.”
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