Hot-shooting Lake Washington sinks Puyallup in 4A state regional
Puyallup knew Lake Washington could shoot the three. The defensive gameplan coming into Saturday night’s Class 4A state tournament regional game at Bellevue College, in fact, was to limit open looks for the Kangs from deep.
Sometimes plans go awry.
Lake Washington knocked down eight 3-pointers in the second half and 11 total, running away from Puyallup, 72-56.
“We were trying to limit threes,” Puyallup senior forward Will Nasinec said. “We had a hard time with that.”
Credit to Lake Washington’s offense, a methodical system of top-of-key screens and backdoors designed to create mismatches and too often on Saturday — wide-open shots.
“You’ve gotta give them credit, they’re really good at what they do,” Puyallup coach Kevin Olson said.
Lake Washington, the No. 3 seed in the state tournament, has several players capable of putting the ball in the hoop from anywhere on the floor.
Scrappy junior guard Jayden Hunt scored a game-high 24 points, forward Mateo Cummings scored 20 and hit four 3-pointers and guard Hunter Phipps scored 19, knocking down four 3-pointers in the second, three of which came in quick succession to bury Puyallup.
“We started gambling, not making good decisions, too many open shots and they’re a great shooting team,” Nasinec said.
Nasinec was the bright spot for sixth-seeded Puyallup, pouring in a team-high 23 points.
“Will’s a tremendous player and doing a great job but we can’t stand around and watch,” Olson said. “There were some opportunities for us to cut to the basket, move around, create some options for him to pass to. We didn’t get that done.”
Mason Sonntag added 10 for the Vikings but it was otherwise tough sledding for the Puyallup offense.
It’s not all bad news. Since both teams were in the top eight of the regional round seeding, both will advance to the 4A state tournament next week at the Tacoma Dome. With the win, Lake Washington earns a bye into Thursday’s quarterfinal round, while Puyallup will have to play in Wednesday’s opening round.
It’s familiar territory for Olson.
“I’ve never won a game in regionals,” said Olson, who is winless in the round at Puyallup and Decatur, his previous coaching stop.
But Olson is 5-1 on Wednesdays at the Tacoma Dome.
“So there’s a positive,” he said, smiling. “We’re gonna look forward to that.”
Last year, Puyallup lost in the regional round and ended up advancing all the way to the 4A state championship game, where it lost to Gonzaga Prep.
“Sometimes, when we played last year, we felt like we built momentum for the next few games, so we feel confident,” Nasinec said. “We still feel like we’re fine. We’re gonna make something happen in the Dome.”
