‘They shot the lights out today.’ Curtis can’t slow down sharp-shooting Mount Si, falls in 4A semifinals

If basketball fans around the state weren’t already aware, fourth-seeded Mount Si’s performance in the Class 4A state semifinals made it abundantly clear — the Wildcats are for real.

And really good shooters.

Seventh-seeded Curtis never had an answer defensively, as the Wildcats punched their ticket to Saturday night’s championship game with a 53-46 win Friday night in the Tacoma Dome.

“Our fans know it, but maybe not a lot of people in the state know,” said 6-foot-7 forward Tyler Patterson, who scored 12 points in the win. “Maybe now they will.”

That seems like a safe bet, as Mount Si put together a remarkable shooting performance. Mount Si made 21 of its 39 attempts from the field (53.8 percent), including 9 of 18 from 3-point range.

“I think we were just ready to go,” Patterson said. “The thing that’s cool about our offense is anybody at any certain time can get hot. Being able to play off that and each other, you know the next person is going to be ready. So that helps a lot.”

Jonny Barrett added 12 points, shooting 4 of 5 from 3-point range, while Brett Williams added 10 points for the Wildcats.

“They shot the lights out today,” said Curtis senior guard Zack Paulsen, a Seattle Pacific signee. “They can all shoot so it’s hard to guard five shooters.”

Curtis coach Tim Kelly said he would have liked to see the Vikings do a better job defensively on Mount Si’s shooters.

“They did a good job executing, shot the ball well,” Kelly said. “It’s nothing that we didn’t expect, so I was disappointed that we didn’t get the feet moving a little bit more, try to get them uncomfortable and pick up the tempo a bit in the second half.

“We missed free throws, missed little shots. They played better than we did.”

The free throw shooting, in particular, proved costly for the Vikings, who went 8 of 17 from the line.

“It hurt a lot,” Kelly said. “You can’t shoot 50 percent in the semifinal game and expect to win. We’ve got to make them.”

But, Curtis still made things interesting late in the fourth quarter.

Paulsen hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead to five points, then Solomon McGinnis made a pair of free throws to cut the lead to three with one minute remaining.

But, Mount Si responded, with Jabe Mullins sinking both of Mount Si’s only free throw attempts in the contest.

“We just wanted to stick to defense,” Patterson said. “Control the things we can control. We were big on those key things.”

Paulsen was held well below his season scoring average, finishing with a team-high 11 points in the loss. Jordan Parker and McGinnis added 10 points apiece.

Paulsen has been nursing sore ankles in the state tournament, but refused to use that as an excuse after the loss.

“It’s not an excuse,” he said. “I just need to play better.”

Curtis will play at 11:15 a.m. Saturday in the third-fifth place game against Federal Way.

“This is one of my hardest years,” Kelly said. “We had a good team, we’ve gone through a lot and to get to this point is pretty cool.

“It doesn’t feel like right now, but we have one more game tomorrow, so just come out and play hard and finish strong. We lost in the quarters last year so we have a chance to finish better than that.”

TEAM STATISTICS

MS – Shooting: 21 of 39 (53.8 percent). Free throws: 2 of 2 (100). Turnovers: 13.

C – Shooting: 17 of 45 (37.8 percent). Free throws: 8 of 17 (47.1). Turnovers: 3.

INDIVIDUAL SCORING

MS – Tyler Patterson 12, Jonny Barrett 12, Brett Williams 10, Bennett O’Connor 8, Quin Patterson 6, Jabe Mullins 5.

C – Zack Paulsen 11, Jordan Parker 10, Solomon McGinnis 10, Jared Franklin 8, Maceo Lewis 7.

This story was originally published March 1, 2019 at 6:38 PM.