Prep roundup: Bellarmine’s Malachi Flynn scores 41, but Curtis gets 65-62 win anyway

The Curtis High School boys basketball team lost its 18-point lead, trailed by three in the fourth quarter shortly after and had no answer for Malachi Flynn’s scoring onslaught.

But the Vikings won anyway, reminding Curtis coach Tim Kelly of a few of his best teams.

“As I told them, that’s a championship thing,” Kelly said. “We keep our poise, we continue to guard, continue to do our deal — which is guard people and get stops.”

Flynn scored 41 points, but his potentially game-tying 3-pointer from the left wing was just off the right iron with about five seconds remaining as third-ranked Curtis survived for a 65-62 victory over sixth-ranked Bellarmine Prep on Wednesday at Auburn High School, advancing to the district title game for the first time since winning three straight titles from 2011-13.

The last time the Vikings (23-2) played for a district title, they went on to win the state championship. They’ll play top-ranked and unbeaten Federal Way for the second time in two weeks at 4 p.m. Saturday at Puyallup.

“We are really excited. We’re ready to take this championship game,” said Curtis senior guard Aushanti Potts-Woods, who scored a team-high 19 points.

“That’s all we’ve been talking about,” said Curtis junior John Moore.

But Curtis first had to hope Flynn finally missed.

The reigning 4A Narrows League MVP scored 27 of his 41 points in the second half, after Bellarmine spent the opening two quarters confounded by the Curtis press defense.

Flynn’s final total is tied for the third-most points in a 4A WCD game, matching Federal Way’s Terrell Smith (2007) and Auburn’s Don Smith (1976). Former Lincoln standout Justin Holt had 45 points in 2001 and Juanita’s Rodnie Taylor had 42 in 1981.

Kelly shook Flynn’s hand on his way out of the gym.

“Can’t stop you,” Kelly said.

Flynn’s 3-pointer from the top of the key put Bellarmine (19-4) ahead 49-48 with 47 seconds remaining in the third quarter — that’s after the Lions had trailed 28-10 in the second quarter.

“I knew it was early,” Flynn said. “Early in the year we were down 20 to Lincoln (in an overtime loss). I know my team is never going to stop fighting. They are never going to give up and stop fighting, and I wanted to show them that I wasn’t going to give up. I’m going to go as hard as I can the whole time.”

Said Potts-Woods: “He’s really shifty and he can stop on a dime and pull up. We had to have a lot of help side. And it was there, but he was making tough shots.”

Just not every shot, including his last one. Though he did finish 15 of 29 from the field.

Curtis’ Nate Ward and John Moore stepped up. Ward, a junior point guard, finished with 18 points and Moore had 17. Moore’s charge to the basket with 31 seconds remaining put Curtis ahead, 63-59.

“I saw that the left was wide open, so I thought ‘I got to take it. He hasn’t been able to guard me the whole game,’ ” Moore said. “So I went to the rack and got the bucket. I knew I could finish in that situation.”

Bellarmine will play Kentwood for the third or fourth seed to the regional round of the 4A state tournament at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Mount Tahoma.

“I think one of the trademarks of Coach Kelly’s team is their press defense. He’s an excellent coach,” Bellarmine coach Bernie Salazar said. “And they have a talented team. I have a ton of respect for them. But I do think this is a good thing for us moving forward.”

No. 1 Federal Way 58, Kentwood 48: When Jalen McDaniels impacts both ends of the floor, the Eagles do what they’ve done every game this season.

Win.

He scored a game-high 27 points to send top-ranked Federal Way (24-0) to the 4A district title game for the second consecutive year. And he had Kentwood coach Blake Solomon scratching his head afterward.

“He’s a crazy mismatch,” Solomon said of the 6-foot-10 San Diego State signee. “He’s so long and athletic and he plays like a guard. But the biggest thing he does for them is he defends anything and everything. It makes it impossible for our guys. We got what we wanted, but he would either block or change it.”

And then in the second half he was hitting turnaround jumpers from the post.

“It’s impossible to guard him at that point,” Solomon said.

He said his team, which heads to a third-place game against Bellarmine Prep, didn’t do what it had practiced all week, however. They wanted to have a body on McDaniels at all times and keep him from getting lobs from the opposite wing.

“We talked about the things we could live with and things we couldn’t, and we couldn’t live with their shooters getting open shots or letting Jalen in the paint,” Solomon said. “We did a good job on their shooters, but we didn’t do a good job on Jalen.”

This story was originally published February 17, 2016 at 11:03 PM with the headline "Prep roundup: Bellarmine’s Malachi Flynn scores 41, but Curtis gets 65-62 win anyway."