Kentwood not surprised by run to title game

Very few high school basketball followers around the state pegged Kentwood to be the one playing for the Class 4A state boys championship Saturday.

And coach Blake Solomon wonders why that is.

“The outside … sees the (seven) losses,” said Solomon, noting all of them were schools ranked in the top five in different classifications. “To us, this was no surprise.”

In the end, a rough patch in the third quarter opened the door for defending state champion and top-ranked Federal Way to come back and retain its crown — which it did with a 66-54 victory in the Tacoma Dome.

It was the Eagles’ third victory over Kentwood — with an earlier 78-62 win during the regular season, and a 58-48 triumph in the West Central District semifinal round.

This one did not come as easily, mainly because the Kentwood guards were almost perfect for the first half.

Rayvaughn Bolton, who finished with a team-high 18 points, tallied half of those points in the first five minutes as the Conquerors built an early 15-7 lead.

Darius Lubom added 14 points, and Koby Huerta chipped in seven points.

And, for the first 16 minutes, Kentwood did not commit one turnover — and shot 52 percent from the floor (13 of 25) in taking a 29-23 advantage.

“We couldn’t ask our guys to do any better,” Lubom said. “We did perfect in the first half.”

Then something odd happened. Fast-paced, high-pressure Federal Way switched to a zone defense to slow down the Conquerors guards. And it worked.

For the final 4:10 of the third quarter, Kentwood did not score.

And the Eagles did, ending on a 12-0 run to take a 42-35 lead.

“Their zone slowed us down,” Solomon said. “What we said tonight going in is that we had to be able to handle pressure, keep them out of transition and we had to make shots. We did that for a long time.”

The Conquerors cut it to 47-44 on Huerta’s 3-pointer with 5:50 to go, but Jalen McDaniels scored two quick baskets – and Christian Jones controlled the paint the rest of the way (18 points, 5 offensive rebounds).

This loss isn’t the end of the world for Kentwood. In fact, with Bolton, Lubom and Huerta all being juniors, this could just be the middle of a great run to a 4A title.

Asked if they should be the favorites next season, Lubom smiled.

“No doubt, man — no doubt,” he said.

Federal Way coach Jerome Collins says he easily could see the Conquerors making the same amount of noise in 2016-17.

“With the personnel they have coming back … it will only pay off down the road,” Collins said.

This story was originally published March 5, 2016 at 6:27 PM with the headline "Kentwood not surprised by run to title game."