LAS VEGAS – The Federal Way High Eagles basketball team ran its record to 9-0 Thursday evening.
And it can go to 10-0 with a third consecutive victory over one of California’s best squads Friday night at Bishop Gorman High.
The Eagles held off Chino Hills (49-45) in a Thursday quarterfinal to earn a Friday night (6:40) hook-up with Temecula Rancho Christian.
Rancho Christian – also nicknamed the Eagles, by the way – rallied from a nine-point deficit in the first half to knock off Aurora (CO) Grandview, 63-55.
In the other championship quarterfinal contested Thursday, the host Gaels trailed Orange (CA) Lutheran by seven points at intermission and by four points deep into the second half before pulling it out, 73-67, by scoring the final six points (four of those by junior guard Noah Taitz.
Coach Grant Rice and his team won’t know its Friday night (8 o’clock) semifinal opponent until the result of the noon quarterfinal played between Chicago Whitney Young and Sacramento Sheldon.
Those teams weren’t able to get into Las Vegas until Wednesday evening, hence their first-round games Thursday in the Orleans Hotel Arena (Whitney Young edging Buckeye of Arizona, 61-59, and Sheldon blistering Ft. Lauderdale Northeast, 79-43).
Wednesday in the Orleans Arena, Federal Way was able to knock off Bishop O’Dowd, 54-45, on a night when its best player – 6-foot-9 (and maybe a bit taller) Jaden McDaniels, pretty much a lock to be a 2019 McDonald’s All-American – was far less than at his best before fouling out.
And that’s putting it kindly – he finished with just six points, four rebounds and a blocked shot.
But his teammates held down the figurative fort, with senior Jishai Miller and junior Tari Eason combining for 31 points.
McDaniels, with immense perimeter skill and superb speed and bounce, was more productive (and, on a couple of occasions, spectacular) vs. Chino Hills, even as his team fell behind by nine points in the first five or so minutes.
He had six of his team’s first eight points, despite missing five shots in a row after opening with a layup).
Onyeka Okongwu of Chino Hills – the California Player of the Year as a junior and another sure-figure McD’s AA – missed his only three field-goal attempts.
All were inside the paint, the first of which was blocked by Eason, who drew the assignment on him when the Eagles were in man D.
But his presence on the court, and the way the Eagles had to collapse their defense around him, even when they weren’t in a zone and, along his shot-blocking and shot “altering” ability on D, had the Huskies seemingly in relative control.
That all changed, though, when Onyeka (who played much of Wednesday second half with four fouls before finagling draw his fifth with his team comfortably ahead of Ft. Lauderdale Dillard), was whistled for foul No. 3 with 5:29 to go.
And what was a six-point edge (at 17-11) quickly evaporated.
It turned into a 26-20 deficit before Chino Hills Coach Dennis Latimore could get Okongwu back on the floor in the final minute before things got even more out of hand. That was large part because the Eagles suddenly began attacking the rim and pressuring the Huskies into costly turnovers.
Okongwu scored on strong post moves on his first three shots of the second half but his teammates kept turning the ball over and the Eagles – especially McDaniels, with three emphatic dunks in four buckets in the second half – took a “thank you very much” approach by turning them into points.
Okongwu was called for his fourth foul with 11:31 to go, on a drive that turned into a charge into “help” defender McDaniels.
Even with Okongwu on the floor – and there wasn’t a lot of reason to “save him”, at that point – the deficit climbed to 16 points.
But Okongwu started grabbing every missed shot (he had seven of his eight rebounds after intermission), and, after an “and 1” and nifty turn-around jumper from the right baseline, chopped the deficit to 10 points.
Things looked even more promising for the Huskies when McDaniels was called for his own fourth foul and – with his team’s lead still in double figures – was subbed out with 8:45.
By the time McDaniels was back on the floor, the Huskies were within six (42-36).
McDaniels fouled out with 2:43 to go and his team up by four and Okongwu was twice able to get his team to within a deuce – on a bucket while being fouled and free throw to get to within 46-44, and a free throw (after Eason’s solo freebie) that made it 47-45 with 19 seconds to go before Eason’s clinching free throws.
Okongwu, after his meager first-half numbers (no field goals, two free throws, one rebound and two blocks), finished in a rush for 17 points, eight rebounds, three blocks and two assists.
McDaniels had 15 points to go with two rebounds, two steals and a blocked shot while Miller, Eason and junior guard Bradley Graham (two 3s) supported him with 12, nine and eight points, respectively.
In the other quarterfinals:
*Rancho Christian 63, Grandview 55: The team from Colorado’s zone defense and some excellent ball movement and jump shooting led to it going up, 27-18, with just three minutes to go in the first half.
But deficits haven’t meant much to Coach Ray Barefield’s Eagles this season, as they demonstrated while overcoming 15- and 11-point, first-half disadvantages against Corona Centennial and Phoenix Pinnacle, as well a six-point, fourth-quarter deficit at San Diego Mission Bay.
They never rattled Thursday, either, in large part – of course – because of the tall, skilled and unflappable Brothers Mobley (senior Isaiah and junior Evan) who, according to my unofficial totals, combined for 43 points, 20 rebounds, eight blocked shots and six assists.
*Bishop Gorman 73, Orange Lutheran 67: The Lancers led by as many as night points late in the first half and held a couple of four-point edges in the last six minutes, with a great deal of that offense coming from the jump shooting of 7-1 Makur Maker, 6-8 Cade Potter and 6-3 Josh Griffin (the latter two had three 3s apiece).
Despite lining up at something approaching a foot’s size difference to Maker, senior guard Chance Michels did a heck of a job of pressuring Maker (who gives all of the appearances of thinking he’s a “point guard” much of the time) when he tried to dribble into clean looks at jump shots or drives to the rim. Michels also scored nine points after intermission.
Junior post Isaiah Cottrell scored 16 points for the Gales while often getting shots into the ring and net before Maker could react, while sophomore point guard Zaeon Collins adding 19 points.
Two championship games will be played Friday in Bishop Gorman’s main gym.
In the National (Prep School) Division, Phoenix Hillcrest – led by 2020 standout Kyree Walker – faces Henderson (NV) Findlay Prep at 4 o’clock, and at 5:20 in the Nike Division, Lakewood Mayfair and its junior star, Josh Christopher, plays Sacramento Capital Christian.
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