Curtis hangs on for 62-55 win in 4A regionals against scrappy, physical Davis squad
Curtis knew it was going to be in for a scrappy, physical game against Davis High School (Yakima) on Saturday afternoon in the 4A state tournament regional round. And that’s exactly what played out: the Pirates flew around, contesting every layup at the rim, forcing turnovers and just flat out making things ugly for most of the contest.
Curtis’ basketball talent — led by perhaps the state’s best backcourt in sophomore guard Zoom Diallo and junior Tyce Paulsen — ultimately won out, with Curtis hanging on for a 62-55 win at Foss High School in Tacoma. But it sure wasn’t pretty, as the game dragged on for seemingly forever in the second half due to a litany of foul calls from the officiating crew. Curtis coach Tim Kelly knows a win is a win — especially at this point of the season — but still didn’t feel it was the team’s most focused effort.
“The challenge was to not get into foul trouble and that didn’t work,” Kelly said. “To play smarter and we didn’t play very smart. We knew how they play. All week, I’ve been telling them they’re going to jump into passing lanes, so you’ve gotta ball fake. You have to meet passes, you can’t just wait for a pass to come to you, because they’re going to be assertive and take chances.
“We throw the ball all over the place. They go to the glass and we didn’t box out. In the first half, we got crushed on the glass. We weren’t very smart and then we picked up a lot of fouls. We’ve gotta be smarter.”
The most costly foul trouble came to star guard Diallo, who had to head to the bench early in the second quarter after picking up his second foul on a questionable charge call and sit the remainder of the half. Diallo picked up his third foul in the third quarter and again headed to the bench. With Diallo out, Curtis’ offense struggled to find the rhythm it enjoys while he’s on the floor.
“Every game I come into a game, I’m not touching nobody,” Diallo said. “I even tell myself before the game, ‘Don’t touch no one.’ I guess something just happens. I don’t know, God’s testing me. But I just have to stay mentally prepared. So when I had those foul troubles in the first half, I just told myself in the second half, my team is going to need me. We just had to come together.”
Despite spend a sizable chunk of the game on the bench, Diallo still played a great game, scoring a team-high 21 points in the win.
“He’s an elite player,” Kelly said. “He can go make plays. You don’t have very many guys who can go make plays. When all else fails, he made two (big shots) in the fourth quarter. When guys are standing around, he can go get a bucket.”
Junior guard Tyce Paulsen added 17 for the Vikings, including a trio of 3-pointers. He said he thinks there’s a chance for growth from the win and seeing a style of play that Curtis hasn’t often seen in games around Tacoma this winter.
“On the film, we knew they were scrappy,” he said. “We knew we had to take care of the ball, which we didn’t do very well, but we’ll just learn from it. Next game. … It’s a learning curve going into the playoffs. Not all teams fly around like they do, play like they do. So it’ll be good.”
Senior 6-foot-6 forward Dhantaye Bennett-Joe scored a game-high 22 points for Davis. Freshman Cesar Hernandez scored 13, while sophomore guard Brandon Lee Jr. and senior guard Roberto Galindo each added nine.
With the win, Curtis receives a bye into the 4A state tournament quarterfinals on Thursday at the Tacoma Dome. The Vikings will face the winner of Wednesday’s game between Federal Way and Gonzaga Prep.
