Curtis win paired with untimely Olympia loss vaults Vikings to fifth consecutive 4A SPSL title

A few weeks ago, it looked unlikely. But, a late-season surge up the standings has Curtis High School looking down upon the Class 4A SPSL once again.

The Vikings (16-4) clinched their fifth consecutive league crown with a 68-53 victory over Rogers (11-9) on Thursday night in Puyallup.

The possibility of a looming tiebreaker game Saturday to decide the league champion faded after former 4A SPSL co-leader Olympia lost in overtime to last-place Graham-Kapowsin, leaving Curtis with the No. 1 seed heading into next week’s 4A West Central/Southwest bidistrict tournament.

“At the beginning of January we were in fourth place,” Curtis coach Tim Kelly said. “A lot of people probably thought our run was going to be over. But, we showed a lot of grit and determination and perseverance. I’m proud of them.”

Senior guard Zack Paulsen, a Seattle Pacific signee, paced the Vikings with a game-high 23 points, including a pair of crowd-silencing 3-pointers in the second half that snuffed out two Rams rallies before they could really begin.

“In the first half, he’s the guy that kept us close,” Kelly said. “He’s assertive, he can score from different places on the floor — we were struggling a bit on the defensive end, but he had some big baskets for us and he did a nice job of getting others involved. He’s an awesome player.”

The Vikings used Paulsen frequently in the high post, distributing passes to the wings and corners for open looks behind the arc. Curtis finished with eight 3-pointers, many of which came on wide-open looks.

“Their zone had a lot of gaps open, so once we got it to the middle we could kick it out, get some shots,” Paulsen said. “We were hitting shots tonight. Our defense was struggling in the beginning, but we picked it up toward the second half.”

Curtis did have some struggles early against a scrappy Rogers team that tried to make up for the absence of injured guard Jace Barrett with guts and hustle.

The Rams nursed a four-point advantage midway through the first quarter thanks to the efforts of Joseph Dwyer and Josiah Drain, but slowly started to give up ground as the Vikings clamped down on defense.

Curtis’ transition game ticked to life in the second half as a 6-0 run pushed the Vikings’ lead to 12 points, and Rogers never got closer than eights for the rest of the night.

“At halftime we got chewed out because we weren’t playing hard,” Paulsen said. “And then we came back out and decided we wanted to play defense.”

Dwyer scored 18 points for Rogers and Aidan Fernando chipped in eight more, but after that initial first-quarter flurry, the Rams went long stretches without scoring consistently.

“To their credit, they played very hard, they played well,” Kelly said. “We didn’t do a good job of those things, we let them get going, momentum got on their side. But, we did a much better job after halftime.”

With the league championship sealed, Curtis also earns the top seed entering the bidistrict tournament, meaning it will be on the opposite side of the bracket from 4A GSHL champion Union — which is undefeated — and 4A state favorite Federal Way.

“I’m feeling confident,” Paulsen said. “I think we have some good matchups in front of us that are going to be tough teams, but I think we got ‘em.”

INDIVIDUAL SCORING

C – Bryce Parker 2, Zack Paulsen 23, Jared Franklin 6, Jordan Parker 12, Solomon McGinnis 3, Maceo Lewis 10, Isaac Morrow 12.

R – Joseph Dwyer 18, Matti Turco 7, Imari Hurte 2, Aidan Fernando 8, Nate Hansen 3, Joey Ancheta 7, Dylan Nasinec 4, Josiah Drain 4.