Game recaps, highlights from 4A SPSL basketball championships at TCC
The 4A South Puget Sound League (SPSL) crowns boys and girls basketball champions following Saturday night’s championship games at Tacoma Community College.
Find schedules, recaps, and box scores from the action:
GAME RECAPS
4A SPSL -- Boys Championship
PUYALLUP 53, EMERALD RIDGE 48
It’s tough to slow down Will Nasinec and Mason Sonntag when Puyallup’s interior duo bullies their way inside and finishes at the rim.
Physical drives, contested layups, floaters from the paint — Nasinec and Sonntag diagnosed zone defenses, navigated opponents and consistently found easy looks inside, the foundation for a Vikings offense in rhythm.
“Everything’s working when our big guys are finishing around the basket,” Vikings head coach Kevin Olson said. “It just opens everything up.”
Puyallup’s taking home hardware from Tacoma Community College: The junior bigs co-led the Vikings with 17 points apiece and Puyallup outlasted Emerald Ridge, 53-48, in Saturday night’s 4A SPSL championship game.
“There’s more basketball to go, but this was No. 1 on the list,” Olson said. “We were in this game last year and didn’t get the job done. But we’re bigger, we’re faster, we’re stronger, and they put a lot of time into last year getting ready for this moment.
“Any time you get to make history and put something up that’s going to be there forever, that’s really big. … That was the focus this week: Let’s put a banner up there in the gym, because you don’t get that every year. It’s special.”
Tied with three minutes remaining in regulation, Nasinec slipped outside and drilled a go-ahead, catch-and-shoot triple from the right wing. The 6-foot-7 post had nine points in the fourth quarter, including each of Puyallup’s final three field goals.
It’s the result when defenses swarm Puyallup guard Drew Jones, the team’s scoring engine. The senior guard who celebrated 1,000 career high school points and 300 career assists in last week’s playoff win over Bonney Lake had 15 points on Saturday night, including a game-high three triples.
Puyallup fell to Sumner in last year’s 4A SPSL championship game on this same court. Not again, Sonntag said.
“We worked for this,” Sonntag said. “We came here last year and lost… we just wanted it so bad. Man, so many emotions right now. It’s just a great feeling.”
“We know what it feels like to have lost,” Nasinec added. “Now, we get to win and experience that. It’s awesome.”
Emerald Ridge forward Jamaize McGriff dropped a game-high 21 points. He’s a three-level scorer who forced himself inside with ease.
When Puyallup raced to an early 13-4 lead, McGriff spearheaded Emerald Ridge’s ensuing 9-0 run that knotted the score. The Jaguars briefly led in the second quarter, 21-20, before Puyallup’s Jones beat the first-half buzzer with a trey and lifted Puyallup to a 23-21 lead at intermission.
“(Jamaize is) the guy, he’s their leader,” Olson said. “He was making some amazing plays around the basket. Physical, strong. We needed to be a little tougher but he’s a hell of a player. It doesn’t surprise me he was able to have a big game.”
Puyallup’s Lawson Looker added four points, the only Viking to score outside of the Jones-Nasinec-Sonntag trio.
Emerald Ridge’s Jordan Bennett had 10 points (2 3PM); Blake Muehlenbruch and Mychal Turner added five points each.
Both programs advance to the West Central District 3 tournament beginning Feb. 12.
BOX SCORE
ER: 7-14-18-9—48
PUY: 13-10-16-14—53
Scoring: (P) Nasinec 17, Sonntag 17, Jones 15, Looker 4; (ER) McGriff 21, Bennett 10, Muehlenbruch 5, Turner 5, Pace 4, Aoki 3
4A SPSL -- Girls Championship
SUMNER 49, OLYMPIA 35
When shots wouldn’t fall and Sumner couldn’t pull away from rival-Olympia, Spartans head coach Katie Hyppa approached star guard Olivia Collins with a message of resounding confidence: “At some point, you’ve got to take over the game. There’s not someone who can stop you on this floor. At some point, you have to go and (take over).
“And she did.”
Collins took the third quarter by storm, dropping threes on consecutive possessions and beating the buzzer with an offensive rebound and putback from underneath. She didn’t score in the first period, yet Collins wound up with a game-high 18 points and paced all shooters with three treys.
And for a fifth straight season, the Spartans are 4A SPSL champions: Collins had 18, sophomore guard Kawehi Borden dropped 13, and Sumner toppled Olympia, 49-35, in the league championship game at Tacoma Community College on Saturday night.
“The key was attacking the hoop,” Collins said. “(We) knew they were going to foul a lot. Overall, just having a positive mindset the whole game.”
It took Sumner more than five minutes to convert their first field goal, a slump that ended when sophomore guard Finley Nadeau dropped a floater from the wing. Uncontested baskets and easy lay-ins were at a premium; both programs mustered only eight points in the opening period.
“None of my shots were going in,” Collins said. “But you’ve got to keep your mindset positive and just keep attacking.”
Sumner’s standout backcourt was a clear priority for Olympia’s defense. It didn’t matter. Borden iced the game with a game-high six points in the fourth quarter and looked the part of a premier recruit, the highlight when the sophomore drove, spun and drilled a fadeaway off the glass late in the first half.
“We talk about there being four championships,” Hyppa told The News Tribune. “There’s the division, there’s the SPSL tournament, there’s districts, and the state title.”
Two down, two to go.
Collins (18 points) and Borden (13 points) led all scorers. Sumner’s Parker Gould added six points.
Olympia senior Lauren Juergens paced the Bears with 10 points, and sophomore Brooke Juergens added nine.
Both teams advance to the West Central District 3 tournament, which begins Feb. 13.
BOX SCORE
OLY: 8-8-7-12—35
SUM: 8-13-15-13—49
Scoring: (S) Collins 18, Borden 13, Gould 6; (O) L. Juergens 10, B. Juergens 9, Hankins 6, Schaff 6
SCHEDULE
4A SPSL Girls Championship
Olympia (17-4) vs. Sumner (18-3), 6 p.m.
4A SPSL Boys Championship
Emerald Ridge (16-5) vs. Puyallup (17-5), 8 p.m.
This story was originally published February 8, 2025 at 2:59 PM.
