Olympia shoots light out, sets 4A state tournament record in 75-55 win over Skyview
Whatever the Olympia High School boys basketball team did to prepare for its Class 4A consolation round state tournament game at the Tacoma Dome on Friday afternoon, the Bears might want to continue in the future.
Olympia controlled the action from the tip, shooting 70.2 percent (33-47) from the field in a convincing 75-55 win over the Storm to advance to Saturday’s fourth/sixth place game against the winner of Federal Way and Sumner.
The win came on the heels of a disappointing loss to top-seeded Union the day prior.
“We all had a very strong urgency,” said Olympia’s Ethan Gahm, who scored 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting and 4-of-6 shooting from 3-point range. “Losing last night was very disappointing. We realized we can still get fourth in the state, which was our motivation coming out and we just wanted to give it all we had because we didn’t want to go home.”
As far as the shooting effort is concerned, Gahm said the Bears moved the ball well and found open looks.
“We were trying to get everyone confident and just move off the ball,” Gahm said. “They really helped a lot so the weakside corner was there. Just playing a lot of zone, so moving, finding gaps.”
Jackson Grant added 15 points for the Bears, while Kai Johnson added 14. Skyview was led by Kyle Gruhler, who scored 23 and Jace Chatman, who scored 17 in the losing effort. Olympia will have a shot at a fourth-place finish on Saturday.
“We’re very excited,” Gahm said. “We want to bring that home. It’s been too long for Olympia. We’re overdue.”
This story was originally published March 6, 2020 at 2:20 PM.
