Recaps, highlights from the opening round of 4A and 3A state boys basketball tournaments
Between the Class 4A and 3A boys state tournaments, 30 high school basketball games will be played in the Tacoma Dome this weekend. The News Tribune will be at all of them, providing game recaps, highlights, interviews, stats and more.
Follow along for live updates from Wednesday’s opening round winner-to-quarterfinals, loser-out games.
CLASS 3A
Round of 12 -- Winner-to-quarterfinals
No. 11 Edmonds-Woodway vs. No. 6 Prairie, 9 a.m.
No. 10 Shorewood vs. No. 2 O’Dea, 10:30 a.m.
No. 12 Liberty vs. No. 4 Eastside Catholic, 12:15 p.m.
No. 9 Auburn Mountainview vs. No. 8 Bellevue, 2 p.m.
CLASS 4A
Round of 12 -- Winner-to-quarterfinals
No. 11 Chiawana vs. No. 6 Puyallup, 3:45 p.m.
No. 10 Redmond vs. No. 7 Emerald Ridge, 5:30 p.m.
No. 13 Woodinville vs. No. 4 Glacier Peak, 7:15 p.m.
No. 9 Auburn vs. No. 8 West Valley, 9 p.m.
CLASS 4A
No. 8 West Valley 71, No. 9 Auburn 67
Whether it’s the 6-foot-5 frame, refined post moves or three-point shot to match, Austin Birley bears little resemblance to his fellow sophomores.
When Wednesday’s 4A Round of 12 tightened in the final minutes, the ball inevitably found West Valley’s standout guard — just like it had all night inside the Tacoma Dome. The slick scorer was everywhere for the No. 8 Rams, the driving force of a 71-67 win over No. 9 Auburn on the state’s biggest stage.
“I prepared for this all year, the bright lights,” Birley told The News Tribune. “This is what you dream of as a little kid, playing in the Dome. I was just out there having fun.”
Birley dropped a game-high 22 points with 10 rebounds and five assists, knocking down both of his three-point attempts. Senior forward Parker Mills, a Washington State football commit at offensive line, proved too powerful inside with a 16-point, 10-rebound double-double of his own.
“We knew they didn’t have anyone guarding the big fella [Parker Mills] inside,” Birley said. “If we got him the ball, good things would happen and shooters would get open. I got lanes to drive, and we just stuck to that.”
West Valley never relinquished an instant, 12-2 lead behind nine made three-pointers (9-13 3PM). Auburn guard Miles Henry directed a late Trojans rally that ultimately fell short, posting 19 points and six rebounds.
Trojans guard Matthew Fredrickson had 15 points and junior wing Isaiah Englund added a dozen. Auburn standout Daniel Johnson posted 12 points and six rebounds before fouling out with 95 seconds remaining in regulation.
“There’s so much to be proud of,” Auburn head coach Ryan Hansen said, who guided the Trojans to the 3A title in 2022. “There’s only one team that gets to raise that gold ball at the end. Everyone else has that feeling after you lose a game. It’s hard. When the sting wears off, there’s just so much to be proud of. We accomplished a lot.”
West Valley’s win sets up a 4A quarterfinals rematch with No. 2 Richland on Thursday night in Tacoma. Birley has revenge on his mind.
“We obviously want to win it all,” he said. “We aren’t satisfied with just one win.”
No. 4 Glacier Peak 57, No. 13 Woodinville 38
Live by the three, die by the three — and Glacier Peak is living large.
The No. 4 Grizzlies put their perimeter shooting on display at the Tacoma Dome, using five first-half triples (eight total) to roar past No. 13 Woodinville, 57-38, in the 4A Round of 12 on Wednesday night.
Glacier Peak wing Paulos Mulugeta isn’t surprised. The buckets from downtown were bound to fall, he said.
“Our coach tells us: If you’re at the Dome, the No. 1 thing is layups,” Mulugeta told The News Tribune. “Layups, free throws, rebounds… all that stuff is what’s going to help you win the game.
“Threes are like the cherry on top.”
Mulugeta, a 6-foot-5 senior, dropped a game-high 20 points (4 3PM) with five rebounds. Junior wing Zachary Albright added 17 points and nine rebounds, Glacier Peak’s interior force on both ends.
“Zach makes one of the biggest impacts on our team,” Mulugeta said. “He’s our best rebounder, he’s our best inside presence. Having him on our team changes the whole dynamic of our offense.”
Woodinville guard Luke Unruh led the Falcons with 20 points, adding five rebounds and three assists.
Glacier Peak advances to Thursday’s 4A quarterfinals with No. 3 Lake Washington at the Tacoma Dome. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:15 p.m.
No. 7 Emerald Ridge 63, No. 10 Redmond 47
Emerald Ridge was cruising comfortably most of the game, but Redmond closed the gap in the fourth quarter and was threatening to spoil the party.
Mychal Turner had an answer: a tough, contested shot on the low block off the glass and on the next possession, a 3-pointer. Nothing but net.
The plays gave Emerald Ridge a 48-39 lead with under four minutes to play and ended any hopes of a comeback from the opposition.
“I knew they went on a run so we just had to stay locked in,” Turner said. “I ended up hitting a big shot. Any of our guys could’ve hit that same shot, so we’ve just gotta trust in one another. One of us is gonna hit it.”
Emerald Ridge coach Pat Mullen is thrilled to have Turner back on the court after he missed the past few games (academics).
“It’s nice to have him back,” Mullen said, smiling. “We’ve missed him for five games and he’s done a lot of work, he hasn’t pouted, hasn’t complained. He’s done a great job on our scout team. … Those are the type of plays he can make.”
Emerald Ridge forward Jamaize McGriff scored a game-high 16 points, Jordan Bennett added 14 and Turner had 13. Matthew Grabarski scored a team-high 14 points for Redmond.
“Some teams have one or two scorers, so when you have three or four, it’s always great to share the ball,” Turner said.
Mullen said his team’s unselfish play makes them difficult for teams to match up against. While McGriff is usually the best player on the floor, it’s not a one-man show.
“I think that’s sometimes overlooked with our team,” Mullen said. “Jamaize is averaging only 14 a game. You think he should be averaging more. But we have four guys who are almost in double figures. So that’s pretty big for a high school team to have that opportunity to have guys that can step up and score for you like that.”
Up next: No. 1 Mount Si in Thursday’s quarterfinal round.
“We fear nobody,” Turner said. “We’re gonna go out there and play like we play everybody.”
Prior to Wednesday’s win, Emerald Ridge had never reached the quarterfinal round in its program history.
“We’re gonna come out, play hard and see what happens,” Mullen said.
No. 6 Puyallup 60, No. 11 Chiawana 51
Kevin Olson knows a thing or two about ‘Winning Wednesdays’ at the Tacoma Dome.
Dating back to his Decatur High days, Puyallup’s head coach is 5-1 in the Hardwood Classic’s Round of 12. Just last year, his Vikings lost in the regional round, bounced back Wednesday in Tacoma, and stormed to the 4A championship game for the first time since 1971.
Is more magic in store? Vikings wing Will Nasinec delivered a game-high 23 points and No. 11 Puyallup smothered No. 6 Chiawana, 60-51, in Olson’s latest Round-of-12 statement.
When Nasinec wasn’t weaving through traffic for a handful of hard-earned and-ones, he was plugging the paint for a suffocating Puyallup defense that’ll play in the 4A quarterfinals for a second-straight year. The 6-foot-7 wing wasn’t ready for his high-school career to end just yet.
“I just kept on taking it to the basket,” Nasinec said. “I made a few threes. Those always feel good.
“It’s just a rhythm game. Staying hot, not falling into a drought… I feel like I did good with that today.”
Chiawana went without a field goal until the second quarter, held to three points in the opening eight minutes much to Nasinec’s credit. The Tacoma Dome nerves never bothered him.
Olson knew that much before tipoff. “When we took our (team) picture, Will said, ‘Coach, you nervous?’
“I said, ‘A little bit.’
“And he goes, ‘We got you.’ He knew. He was ready to go today.”
When Chiawana cut their deficit from as many as 21 points to eight late in the fourth quarter, Puyallup’s Mason Sonntag slammed the door with a two-handed flush and the Vikings cruised to the buzzer.
“Just being solid,” Nasinec said. “I think the only points they had in the first quarter were free throws. Just being solid, playing straight-up. We feel like we’re, defensively, a great team. We can play together and switch things and talk.”
Nasinec delivered a double-double, piling 23 points and 12 rebounds. Puyallup’s Bennett Hedman had 13 points with seven rebounds and point guard Quamari Costello had eight points.
Chiawana guard Messiah Guy paced the Riverhawks with 10 points.
Cue the rematch: No. 6 Puyallup battles No. 5 Gonzaga Prep in Thursday’s 4A quarterfinals, their first meeting since last year’s championship game. The Bullpups won, 57-55, on Brogan Howell’s fadeaway jumper in the final seconds.
“We know them, they know us,” Nasinec said. “It’s going to be a fight.”
CLASS 3A
No. 8 Bellevue 85, No. 9 Auburn Mountainview 71
In his first game underneath the bright lights of the Tacoma Dome, Kolven Posey put the Lions on his back — but sometimes, a Herculean effort isn’t enough.
If taking your team to the Hardwood Classic for the first time in program history brought pressure, Posey didn’t show it. Auburn Mountainview’s star guard was sensational from all levels in a back-and-forth 3A Round of 12 with No. 8 Bellevue, delivering deep threes and smooth cuts to the rim with his season at stake. Whenever the Wolverines pounced for a lead, Posey brought the Lions back.
Eventually, Bellevue’s rebounding and second chances won out. Knotted late in the third quarter, the Wolverines built a 16-3 run and emerged, 85-71, to reach Thursday’s 3A quarterfinals in Tacoma.
“It’s fun,” Bellevue guard Jackson Skaggs said, who paced the Wolverines with 22 points and nine rebounds. “We had a bit of a dry spell in the middle of the season, kind of feeling down. Now that we’re back up, it feels great.”
Bellevue out-rebounded Auburn Mountainview 48-28. They piled 60 points in the paint to the Lions’ 14.
“I made a couple threes, which helped,” Skaggs said, “but I was able to get to the hoop and not force anything. It was easy with my teammates doing what they do best.”
Posey dropped a game-high 31 points in the loss (5 3PM) and dished five assists. Auburn Mountainview guard Jarrick Matthews added 12 points.
Bellevue’s Tayten Jones had 17 points with eight rebounds and two assists. Guard Eduardo Molina finished with 16 points and Nicolas Norrah had a dozen.
Bellevue meets No. 7 Lincoln in Thursday’s 3A quarterfinals, facing an Abes team that upset No. 2 O’Dea in the regional round. Tipoff is scheduled for 2 p.m.
No. 4 Eastside Catholic 79, No. 12 Liberty 70
When Liberty’s early three-point barrage put the Tacoma Dome on upset watch, Eastside Catholic’s Yabi Aklog put all doubt to bed.
The 6-foot-11 forward proved too dominant inside and the No. 4 Crusaders handled the Patriots, 79-70, to reach Thursday’s 3A quarterfinals.
“I know what I have to do,” Aklog said. “I know I have to score, rebound, do all that, get blocks. I just try to buy into that and play my role.
“Everybody has a role. That’s my role.”
Double-teams weren’t enough to stop Aklog, who piled a game-high 32 points and threw down an emphatic dunk for style points just before the first-half buzzer. It’s a similar recipe to Eastside Catholic’s 3A championship run in 2024, powered by former state player of the year Jacob Cofie.
“Just defensively, knowing our assignments,” Aklog said. “It’s what we talk about in the locker room before the game. Sometimes we kind of go out there and forget what we talked about, so I think the main thing for us is knowing the scout and making sure we come out and execute.”
Aklog posted a 32-point, 13-rebound double-double with two assists, pushing the Crusaders lead to as many as 19. Eastside Catholic’s Anthony Williams had 15 points with six rebounds, and Steven Sun added 13 points (3 3PM).
Liberty’s Jackson Whitaker dropped 31 points with seven rebounds.
Next up for Eastside Catholic: No. 3 Gonzaga Prep in Thursday’s 3A quarterfinals at the Dome.
No. 2 O’Dea 62, No. 10 Shorewood 52
There’s enough star power to go around for the O’Dea Fighting Irish, but Wednesday’s 3A Round of 12 became The Brian Webster Show soon enough.
The polished, all-level scorer delivered O’Dea’s first dozen points and the Irish cruised past No. 10 Shorewood behind a game-high 29 points from their senior guard on Wednesday morning.
“It’s the last couple of games for me as a high school senior, so I was in attack mode,” Webster said. “I was shooting with confidence.”
Webster finished with 29 points, seven rebounds and an assist, knocking down 7-of-8 free throws in a game that wasn’t as close as the scoreboard suggests. O’Dea guard Peyton Brooks had 11 points and four rebounds; Josiah Bowman added 10 points.
Grab your popcorn: O’Dea meets undefeated Metro rival Rainier Beach (21-0) and the nation’s top-ranked player, Tyran Stokes, in Thursday’s 3A quarterfinals at the Tacoma Dome.
No team has tested the undefeated Vikings more than the Fighting Irish, which fell by two points on Jan. 19 and played Rainier Beach within single digits in two of four losses this season. Webster’s expecting another close one in Round 5.
“We’ve gotta bring energy from the start like we usually do,” Webster said. “I feel like we’ll get them if we just play defense and take care of the ball.”
No. 11 Edmonds Woodway 49, No. 6 Prairie 46
How about an early-morning upset at the Tacoma Dome?
Edmonds-Woodway guard Dennis ‘DJ’ Karl dropped a game-high 17 points, and the No. 11 Warriors survived Prairie, 49-46, to reach Thursday’s 3A quarterfinals in Tacoma.
When Prairie’s standout big Carson Morningstar found himself in second-half foul trouble, Karl went to work — exploiting the paint and orchestrating a late comeback. Prairie controlled a slim lead for most of Wednesday morning, but never pulled away.
“You’ve got to get an extra pep in your step,” Karl said of Wednesday’s 9 a.m. tip-off. “We walked on the floor, there’s only 15 minutes for us to warm up. We’ve got to go extra hard. I think we did that well.
“We started off on that 4-0 run. We were ready.”
Karl had 17 points with three rebounds and an assist. Warriors forward William Alseth posted a 12-point, 10-rebound double-double and sank all eight of his free-throw attempts.
Prairie guard Jamir Jones paced the Falcons with 14 points; Tavin Timperley had 11 points and Morningstar added 10.
Points came at a premium: The programs combined to shoot 34 percent from the field, still adjusting to the Tacoma Dome’s depth perception. Prairie’s last-gasp three-point attempt in the final seconds missed wide.
“Just attacking the rim from the start,” Karl said. “I just tried to get to the hoop as much as possible.”
Edmonds-Woodway meets No. 5 Bellarmine Prep in Thursday’s 3A quarterfinals at 9 a.m.
This story was originally published March 4, 2026 at 11:14 AM.
