Olympia holds off late Gonzaga Prep rally to advance to 4A state semifinals
All season, the Olympia High School boys basketball team has shown onoen trait: poise. In its Class 4A state tournament quarterfinal game against Gonzaga Prep on Thursday afternoon at the Tacoma Dome, the Bears showed that quality time and time again.
When Gonzaga Prep threatened late in the fourth quarter, Olympia had an answer, keeping the Bullpups at bay in an 51-47 win, which sent the Bears through to Friday’s semifinal.
Leading by two points with 2.9 seconds left, Mason Juergens went to the line for a 1-and-1 opportunity. He missed the front end but had the presence of mind to get under the hoop and grab the rebound and was fouled again.
He sank the next two free throws to seal the win for Olympia.
“I missed the first one and was like ‘Oh crap, I could’ve lost this for our team’ and then I was like, ‘Alright, I got it, we’re fine now.’”
Olympia coach John Kiley said that the play was Juergens in a nutshell.
“That’s him,” Kiley said. “He’s a receiver. He’s a football guy. So his whole thing was, I made a mistake, I’m gonna go get something. And he just went and ripped it. It’s funny, because that really typifies the human he is. He’s just a fighter and instinct took over and made a play.”
Olympia led comfortably for most of the game before Gonzaga Prep’s late run. Parker Gerrits and Andreas Engholm each scored 14 points for the Bears. For the most part, Olympia did a solid job making life difficult for Gonzaga Prep’s top two scorers, guard Henry Sandberg and forward Jamil Miller, who scored 14 apiece.
“Definitely to just try to contain them, limit the things they’re best at,” Gerrits said of the Bears’ defensive strategy. “Obviously, Miller likes to get to the rim, so we tried to take a couple charges and really get him in foul trouble. Sandberg’s really good from all three levels, so just trying to not give him as much space as we can. I thought Mason did a good job, our bigs did a good job of containing Miller.”
And when Gonzaga Prep made its late run, Olympia’s players never wavered.
“We put so much work in the offseason, throughout the rest of the season and we’ve played together for so long that we’re so connected on the court because of how much we do off the court,” Gerrits said. “So it just allows us to stay mature in the moments that we’ve been before.”
Olympia will face No. 2 Mount Si in the 4A state tournament semifinals at 5:30 p.m. on Friday. The Bears will be looking for revenge — Mount Si beat Olympia in last year’s state tournament semifinal round to advance to the title game against Curtis.
“They’re a great team, great program,” Kiley said. “They beat us last year, so hopefully we’ll have a little incentive to try to change that a little bit this year.”
