Gerrits, Olympia blow past Tahoma in district opener, punch ticket to state regional
Parker Gerrits pulled up behind the midcourt “O” logo and launched a 3-point attempt, nearly three quarters the length of the court in Olympia’s Class 4A District 3/4 opening round basketball game on Saturday night against visiting Tahoma.
The shot banked in as the halftime buzzer sounded, giving Olympia a 38-21 lead going into the break. It was that kind night for the home Bears; everything was working as Olympia cruised to a convincing 70-50 win, punching a ticket to the state tournament regional round.
“We always focus on jumping on them from the get go, really coming out and punching them in the mouth and using our really quick pace,” said Gerrits, who scored a game-high 29 points. “We did a good job doing that today and continuing that throughout the game.”
About that half-court shot: Olympia coach John Kiley has seen it a few times before.
“He’s made three of those this year,” Kiley said. “That’s probably the second biggest. He made a longer one than that at one point. He’s all heart. When one of your best players — arguably your best player — is your hardest worker and cares the most, it’s a big deal. He’s one of the best players in the state.”
Olympia had a long week of practice after its last game, a 63-48 loss to reigning 4A state champion Curtis in the 4A South Puget Sound League tournament championship game.
“We had a long week, almost too long,” Kiley said. “It didn’t hurt us. I felt like we really took advantage of that week. I feel like each day, we did get better. Tonight, especially in that first half, we came out with good pace, came out with good energy.”
Gerrits, indeed, is one of the state’s top players. Senior center Andreas Engholm has been a dominant force on the low block. Junior Drew Carslon is a crafty scorer and senior Mason Juergens is a difference maker on both ends. It’s maybe Olympia’s most complete team since the Jackson Grant-led team, which didn’t have the chance to play in the Tacoma Dome when Grant was a senior, because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“Having pretty much our whole roster come back, with the experience we got last year playing in the state tournament, it’s very rare,” Gerrits said. “It’s really big for us and we’re able to go at people. We’ve been in a lot of spots that we’ve seen already this year.”
Kiley said he felt the Grant-led team was robbed of a chance to play for a state championship. This year’s team will have a shot.
“I felt like two years ago, covid robbed us of something special,” Kiley said. “This is a very good team. We’ve had a few. … Since Parker’s been in high school, this group has really set the tone of excellence. They come to work every single day and literally get better.”
Mason Juergens added 11 points for Olympia, Andreas Engholm scored nine and Matt Lindblom added eight.
With Saturday’s win, Olympia has secured a spot in the state tournament regional round. Olympia will face 4A NPSL champion Federal Way in the district tournament semifinals at 4:30 p.m. next Thursday at Curtis High School in University Place.
This story was originally published February 11, 2023 at 9:01 PM.
