Curtis upends Union, 60-57, to advance to bi-district title game
Nearly a decade has passed since Curtis High School boys basketball last brought home a district crown.
The Vikings have advanced to the championship game twice since they topped the Class 4A West Central District/Southwest bidistrict bracket in 2013, but were twice upended by Federal Way in the title game.
This weekend, inside their home gym, the top-seeded Vikings will have another chance at a championship after grinding out a thrilling, 60-57 win over visiting Union in this season’s bidistrict semifinals Thursday night in University Place.
It didn’t take long for Curtis, which has already won an undefeated 4A South Puget Sound League title this season, hasn’t lost a game in the 4A ranks this season and cruised by Kentwood in its quarterfinals matchup last week, to build an early lead in front of an electric crowd.
Cinque Maxwell gave Curtis (21-3) its first lead seconds into the game, and after Union (17-5) responded with a quick basket, the Vikings went on a run over the next four minutes that gave them a lead that reached as many as 18 points.
Devin Whitten scored the Vikings’ next seven points — including sinking two of his four 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions — to key the stretch that eventually gave Curtis a 25-7 lead by the 2:16 mark in the opening quarter.
“He’s been playing really well,” Vikings coach Tim Kelly said of his sophomore guard. “He’s been playing like that lately. He’s been doing a good job on the other end of the floor, too.
“Very confident shooter. He’s got the green light. It’s nice when he gets going like he did in the first quarter.”
Curtis scored on nearly every possession in the first quarter, also getting more contributions from Maxwell, Zoom Diallo, Tyce Paulsen and Trent Williams on the offensive side while the Vikings limited Union at the other end.
But, the Titans cut into the lead in the second quarter behind junior forward Yanni Fassillis, who poured in 10 of his game-high 22 points as part of a 16-6 run in the six minutes before the break.
Curtis still carried a 39-32 lead into halftime, but Union was quick to erase it, evening the game for the first time since the opening two minutes on a Bryson Metz pull-up jumper at the 5:18 mark in the third quarter.
The Titans took their first lead the following possession when Jamison Limbrick knocked down a 3-pointer from the left corner to make it 44-43.
The lead changed four times during the opening five minutes of the second half before the two programs entered the fourth quarter tied at 47-47.
“We needed a team effort,” Whitten said. “ … They started to come back, and we just came together as a team. Our coach told us to just be patient and execute our stuff, and we did and we fought it out.”
Paulen opened the final quarter with a 3-pointer to put the Vikings back in front, but Union responded with a pair of baskets from Fassillis and Limbrick to regain the lead. The next possession, when Maxwell hit a short jumper to make it 52-51 with 5:48 to go, is when the Vikings took the lead for good.
Diallo hit a 3-pointer on Curtis’ next possession to give the Vikings a four-point cushion, and Whitten sunk another less than a minute later to help keep Union out of reach.
The Titans cut the lead to one possession again on a final basket from Limbrick — who finished with 18 points — with 2:04 left, but Paulsen answered with a putback layup with 1:36 left for the game’s final basket.
Following a pair of turnovers and misses by each team, Union was awarded possession on a jump ball with 14.2 seconds left, trailing by three, but the Vikings’ steady defense forced the Titans to take a timeout with 1.6 to go.
The eventual last-second 3-point attempt on the in-bounds pass missed the mark, and the Vikings celebrated at midcourt.
“We talked to them about — especially when we got to the fourth quarter — it was going to come down to defense, getting stops and rebounds and I thought we did a pretty good job of that,” Kelly said.
Whitten scored a team-high 16 points for the Vikings, who had five players reach double digits, including Maxwell, who added 13, and Paulsen, Diallo and Williams, who added 10 apiece.
Curtis moves on to play Tahoma (14-7) at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in University Place for the bidistrict title. The Bears upset Federal Way, 48-43, earlier Thursday to advance.
This story was originally published February 17, 2022 at 10:48 PM.
