3 takeaways: Grant, Olympia beat Curtis in 4A SPSL basketball championship
The Olympia High School boys basketball team defeated Curtis in the Class 4A South Puget Sound League tournament championship game on Friday night in Puyallup, 69-49. Here are three takeaways from the Bears’ win.
Jackson Grant breaks record in final high school game
Grant, Olympia’s 6-foot-11 McDonald’s All-American center, who is signed with the University of Washington, set the school’s career scoring record in Thursday night’s win, breaking Alex Weber-Brader’s mark of 1,345 points, which he set in 2011. Grant scored a game-high 32 points in the win, putting his career scoring mark at 1,352 points.
“I knew I was closing in, so I just wanted to come in and play my game and hope everything worked itself out,” Grant said. “I think it’s a super cool achievement. I walked by (Olympia High’s) Hall of Fame today and looked up at the leading scorer. I was like, ‘That’s going to be my name now, until somebody else comes along and breaks it. To have my name on the wall in a couple spots is super cool.”
Coach John Kiley said it’s a big deal for Grant.
“When we look back, he’ll be right up there, arguably, as the best player to ever play at Olympia,” Kiley said. “Had we had a full season, he would’ve smashed the record. To be able to get that, win the SPSL for the first time in 10 years. It meant something to us knowing that we couldn’t do other things this year that we had our hearts set on. So it’s a big deal to us.”
For a while, it looked like that record might never be broken. As the coronavirus pandemic pushed into 2021 and counties bounced back and forth between phases, people in high school basketball circles wondered if there would even be a season at all. Eventually, one did come to fruition: A shortened, league-only season, culminating with this league tournament. It’s not the dream scenario, but for players starving for competition, it was good enough.
“We’re super grateful,” Grant said. “It started out, basketball was supposed to be in season one. Then it just kept getting pushed back. We were like, ‘We’re not even going to have a season.’ So then once we heard this was our season, this was our goal, to come out and win the highest achievement we could get, which was the league championship. We came out and did that.”
Grant leaves Olympia as possibly — OK, probably — the best player to ever come through the school. But aside from the wins and low-post dominance, Kiley said he’ll remember Grant’s high school career for his presence off the court, too. When little kids come to chat up Grant or ask for an autograph, he’ll always make time for them.
“He leaves a legacy as one of the best players to ever play, and one of the nicest humans,” Kiley said. He’s such a servant leader in our community. Little kids, big kids, he just cares so much about the people around him. His humility is something that is as special as his talent is.”
CURTIS STRUGGLES WITH OLYMPIA’S SIZE
Speaking of Grant, the size difference was the clear separator between the two teams on Thursday night. Curtis’ tallest player on the roster is listed at 6-foot-4. There was so simply no answer for Grant in the post, despite Curtis’ efforts to double (and sometimes even triple) the Olympia big man.
“I think it was huge,” Grant said. “We use our length well. Curtis is quick and has good shooters. We were able to use our length where we wanted and we were able to still close out the shots and just finish above them. We just did a good job, everyone was finishing.”
Kiley echoed his senior’s thoughts.
“It’s a big deal,” he said. “(Curtis is) so young, they’re so talented. Coach (Tim Kelly) does such a great job. Jackson had 32 and was a man among boys in there. We tried to use that advantage. It worked for us early. We tried to maintain that.”
CURTIS IS ALREADY GOOD. THEY’RE GOING TO BE EVEN BETTER
The Vikings were probably a year ahead of schedule. Reaching the league tournament championship game with a roster full of freshmen and sophomores — there are just two seniors on this year’s team — should put the league on notice: Curtis isn’t going anywhere.
Freshman Zoom Diallo finished with a team-high 17 points. Sophomore guard Tyce Paulsen, who has shown the ability to put up huge numbers this year, was held in check with 10 points against the Bears. Freshman Devin Whitten scored 14 points, including four 3-pointers in the second half.
Curtis finished the season with a 12-4 record. They’re young, but the talent on the team is obvious and the next two years should be fun for Kelly’s squad.
This story was originally published June 10, 2021 at 11:16 PM.
