No. 4 Federal Way handles No. 5 Gonzaga Prep, earning first-round bye at Tacoma Dome
Vaughn Weems, the MVP of the Class 4A North Puget Sound League this winter, picked up two fouls in quick succession early in the third quarter of Federal Way’s state regional tournament game against visiting Gonzaga Prep in Auburn on Friday night.
It was fair to wonder whether the Bullpups would make a run in Weems’ absence. The Eagles, though, had no intentions of allowing it. Weems sat on the bench for seven-plus minutes while his team kept Gonzaga Prep at arm’s length — better, actually, extending the five-point halftime lead to nine by the end of the period — en route to a 69-56 win.
“Our team goes deep,” said senior Dace Pleasant, who scored 12 of his team-high 20 points in the second half. “Even though we may not play a lot of people, anyone on this team can go down and score and take over a game. We’ve gotta keep moving the ball, keep sharing and keep playing together.”
Senior Isaiah Afework said the third quarter illustrated the team’s connectedness.
“We do believe in each other,” he said. “When Vaughn went out, we had to come together even more, because Vaughn’s our guy. We really had to come together as a squad.”
Federal Way coach Yattah Reed said he and his coaching staff are always reminding players on the bench to be ready when their name is called.
“Next man up — that’s our mentality and everybody’s gotta be ready,” Reed said. “We don’t have a script, so you just have to stay ready. The guys on the bench, they know at any moment, they could be getting into the game. They’ve gotta step up. We trust them and have confidence in them.”
With the win, Federal Way earns a bye into Thursday’s 4A state tournament quarterfinals at the Tacoma Dome, while Gonzaga Prep will have to play in the opening round on Wednesday.
No question, the bye is massive — but Federal Way wanted to have a good showing on Friday night for themselves, just as much as they wanted a guaranteed spot in the quarterfinals. After a disappointing loss to Olympia in the District 3/4 tournament last week, the Eagles wanted to head into the Tacoma Dome on a high note.
“Losing to Olympia, it gave us a little bit of fire,” Afework said. “We wanted to have a great showing. … We really wanted to get it back.”
Reed said his veteran group responded appropriately after the Olympia loss.
“It kind of humbled us,” he said. “We learned from it though. I thought we bounced back the next game. You could easily go into that dark place where you lose one game and then all of the sudden, you’re losing more games because of the loss prior.
“I thought our guys handled it, owned up to what caused us to have this loss. I’m just proud of them bouncing back.”
Pleasant paced Federal Way with 20 points, while Weems added 15. Sharpshooting senior guard Colton West added 12 points on four 3-pointers. Gonzaga Prep was led by junior guard Jamil Miller, who scored 20 points. Junior guard Henry Sandberg added 17 points for the Eagles.
