‘Chip on our shoulder.’ Olympia handles North Creek, clinches spot in Tacoma Dome
Olympia’s players felt frustrated when the state tournament regional round brackets came out. The top eight seeds in the bracket are protected and guaranteed a spot in the Class 4A state tournament at the Tacoma Dome.
The Bears didn’t make the cut, handed the No. 11 seed after a recent blowout loss to Camas in the District 3/4 semifinals.
But John Kiley’s group didn’t spend long wallowing, opting instead to take out its seeding gripe on the court against No. 15 North Creek at the University of Puget Sound on Saturday. Olympia’s effort was better than its opponent from the tip and the Bears cruised to a 54-34 win over the Jaguars to punch their ticket to the Tacoma Dome on Wednesday.
“Feels great,” said senior guard Julian Zapata. “Fifth year in a row. It’s just a tradition we keep going.”
About the seeding? It provided plenty of motivation heading into Saturday night’s game.
“We had a chip on our shoulder,” Zapata said. “I feel like we should’ve been ranked way higher than we were, but I think this will benefit us.”
Olympia senior guard Matt Lindblom had a quiet scoring night with six points, leaving the door open for others to step up. Zapata was electric down the stretch, scoring 15 of his team-high 17 points in the second half, including some key transition buckets in the fourth quarter. With Olympia holding on to a lead, Zapata kept the Bears in attack mode.
“I was just trying to keep the fire stoking,” he said. “I didn’t want to give up the momentum. My teammates kept setting me up.”
And 6-foot-6 sophomore forward Brian Stevenson added 14. He made his presence felt equally on the defensive end, making everything difficult for the focal point of North Creek’s gameplan: 6-foot-10 junior center Carter Cohen. Cohen fnished the game with 17 points, but nothing came easy, and eight of the points came at the foul line.
“I knew if he was gonna be able to get easy shots, it was gonna be a lot different of a game,” Stevenson said.
Kiley, Olympia’s long time coach, said Zapata’s effort in the fourth quarter was clutch.
“Monster offensive rebounds, monster takes to the hoop,” he said. “He was fighting knee soreness all year. He and Brian, monster job on the glass, in the last third of the offensive zone and couldn’t be more proud of them.”
North Creek guard Cristiano Bonicillo scored a game-high 19 points. Cameron Downing, Brody Cronk and Matt Lindblom added six points apiece for the Bears. If Olympia can replicate that type of performance at the Tacoma Dome — selfless, balanced, dominant defensively — the Bears could prove to be a tough out once again.
“Sky’s the limit,” Zapata said. “We just keep growing and gowing. We’ll be playing our best basketball a week from now.”
Added Stevenson: “I feel like we’re just scratching the surface. We have a lot more to prove.”
This story was originally published March 1, 2025 at 6:51 PM.
