Wilson builds early lead, falls short against Tuimoloau, No. 1 Eastside Catholic, 76-54
Different Metro team, same story for the Wilson Rams. In the Class 3A state tournament regional round against O’Dea, Wilson got out to a fast start and built an early lead before eventually falling to the Irish.
And on Thursday morning, it played out similarly in the state tournament quarterfinals at the Tacoma Dome against No. 1 seed Eastside Catholic. Wilson led 25-20 after the first quarter, but the Crusaders outscored the Rams 56-29 the rest of the way to come away with a 76-54 win, sending Wilson to the consolation ladder, with a matchup Friday against Marysville-Pilchuck.
“Depth was a big deal,” said Wilson coach Mike Cocke “As they got to their bench, our guys just kind of wore down a bit. They’re a good team. When you get deeper into the game and have to get guys blows, there’s a stepback either offensively or defensively. They kind of wore us down.”
Eastside Catholic forward J.T. Tuimoloau, a five-star defensive line football prospect, scored a game-high 25 points, including 2-of-2 from 3-point range.
“After the first quarter, we talked about what we needed to fix,” Tuimoloau said. “We needed to stop gambling, play disciplined on defense and offense. We had to make sure we blocked out and do the little things.”
And Eastside Catholic wanted to force Wilson — which likes to play on the break — into a half-court offense.
“They’re scrappy, strong going to the basket so we had to take all of that away,” Tuimoloau said. “First quarter, we gave some leeway. Second quarter, going back to the drawing board.”
Nolan Hickman added 16 points for the Crusaders and Syon Blackmon scored 13. Cocke said it was probably the most athletic team Wilson has faced this season.
“They’ve got everything,” Cocke said. “Size, shooters. … They’re built very well. They have a lot of pieces. … (Tuimoloau is) an NFL player. We knew that coming in. He got loose a couple times in the first and kind of kept them in the game. He’s just a good player. They have a lot of good players. Hats off to them. We did everything we could.”
For Wilson, Malik Howard and Dominique Ellison scored 12 apiece.
Cocke felt like Wilson could’ve played better against O’Dea. But in the loss to Eastside Catholic, he said he felt like his players left it all on the floor.
“I’m really proud of our guys, just effort wise,” Cocke said. “Guys dove, hit their heads, got fouled. All kinds of things happened but they didn’t stop playing. That’s what we talk about every day in practice, just to compete, play as hard as you can play all the time.”
Eastside Catholic advances to face 3A Metro peer Garfield in tomorrow’s semifinals, while Wilson while face Marysville-Pilchuck at 9 a.m. on Friday in a consolation game. The winner of that game will advance to a fourth/sixth placing game on Saturday morning.
“Let’s try to win a trophy,” Cocke told his team. “We’ve had a hell of a year. Like I told them, show up tomorrow and let’s get to Saturday. That’s the last day any team can be playing a basketball game, so let’s get to Saturday.”
This story was originally published March 5, 2020 at 1:17 PM.
