Garfield rolls past top-seeded Eastside Catholic, into 3A championship game
For the third time this season, the Garfield Bulldogs got the better of the Eastside Catholic Crusaders. This time around, it wasn’t even close in Friday night’s Class 3A state tournament semifinal matchup at the Tacoma Dome, with the fourth-seeded Bulldogs topping No. 1 seed Eastside Catholic, 74-46.
“Coach (Brandon Roy) just told us to trust our game, play hard, play smart and that’s what we did,” said Garfield senior Cincinatti commit Tari Eason, who scored 16 points for the Bulldogs and hauled in 12 rebounds.
Garfield frustrated Nolan Hickman and co. on defense, outscoring the Crusaders in each of the four quarters.
“Our defensive gameplan was just to load up,” Eason said. “They have a lot of guys who can get to the middle, a lot of guys who can dribble. So we just tried to block the paint and contest some of their guys. They have a lot of good guys. We can’t really stop them but we can contain them.”
Garfield sophomore guard Koren Johnson scored a game-high 22 points. Pepperdine commit Kendall Munson added 15 points on 5-of-6 shooting and freshman Jaylin Stewart added 11 points.
Hickman scored a team-high 13 points for Eastside Catholic and J.T. Tuimoloau added 10 points.
Garfield will face the winner of Friday’s second semifinal between O’Dea and Rainier Beach in tomorrow’s 3A championship game at 7 p.m. at the Tacoma Dome — both potential opponents from the Metro League.
“We just knew that we were the better team (tonight),” Eason said. “As long as we play hard, play smart and play together, we can get it done. So that’s what we’re going to bring tomorrow and hopefully we can finish out the season as champs.”
