Curtis' Bigs Help Muscle Vikings Into Semis

TACOMA - The Curtis Vikings knew jumpshots weren't going to help them survive Day One at the Dome.

Whether it was nerves or the neon lights, the team knew where its first game at the Tacoma Dome would be won - in the paint. Quick pace, up-tempo ball wouldn't help them advance.

Turns out, they were right. On a day when jitters and jump shots could doom state championship hopes, Curtis used its size to propel itself past Olympia, 64-49.

"It’s the Dome," said Julian Vaughn. "It’s hard to shoot here. So the teams that pound it inside, hit more free throws, make more layups - that's the team that's going to win. Nobody's going to win off jumpers here."

Darius Johnson-Wilson provided the biggest presence inside en route to 15 points, 12 rebounds and three assists. He and Vaughn played a high-low game that created headaches for the Bears.

DaVonte Lacy, whose jump shot was somewhat off, particularly from the 3-point-line, still led the team with 17 points.

Other telling stats: the Vikings won the game at the free throw line, 26-6, and points off turnovers, 18-10.

For Olympia, Alex Weber-Brader led the team with 14 points and 12 rebounds, but the Bears' most prolific scorer was held below his season average by seven or so points, as the Vikings' defense made him its focus.

For Curtis Coach Tim Kelly, his team stuck to its game plan of working the ball down low and creating offense through its front court. Even when Olympia made a few runs in the first half - at one point taking the lead at 12-11 - the Vikings didn't panic.

"That's what we do," Kelly said about creating a presence in the paint, "And we're pretty good at it."

"Defensively, I was real proud of our kids, the effort," he added. "We talked about how this is going to be a grind-it-out day. You come in, everybody has got nerves. It wasn’t going to be an up-and-down game, and I thought we did a good job of grinding out possessions offensively, and also grinding out stops and rebounds."

Lacy attributed much of the win to one word: poise.

"We kept feeding our big men. We didn’t stray away from our game plan," he said. "When they went on their run, we stuck to our game plan. A lot of people would try to go one on one. Some people would expect me to go one on one. I trust my teammates fully to make the right plays and make us win. I need them to win and they need me."

Lacy helped set the tone early by not only scoring the first six points of the game, but doing so emphatically.

At the 5:30 mark, Lacy was racing to the basket with nobody between him and the bucket, setting the stage for one of his signature breakaway dunks.

Instead, an Olympia defender was charging from behind and - probably not thinking - tried to block the shot.

"I saw him running and I didn’t think he was going to jump, and as he jumped, I threw it in," he recalled.

Actually, it was more like the Washington State University-bound Lacy threw it down — on the defender's head — and was fouled to boot. The Curtis side erupted, and the usually even-keeled Lacy was beating his chest and screaming toward the top of the Dome.

"It was big. Tacoma Dome. The atmosphere was crazy after that," he recalled. "We stayed calm and we won the game."

"That dunk was amazing though. I liked it."

The Vikings will now play AC Davis tomorrow at 3:45 p.m. The Pirates beat Jackson 88-76 in the day's first game.

From The Sideline

On Tuesday night, Kelly and the team ate a pre-game dinner at Red Robin.

On Kelly's finger was a gold ring - the same gold ring that he won when he coached Lincoln to the 4A state championship in 2001, the first of two consecutive titles.

The Vikings' coach was trying to send a message to his players.

"This is what we play for fellas," he recalled telling them. "This is what you can get.”

Did his players get the message? Apparently so.

"That’s our motivation," said Lacy, a senior. "He’s got two of them. I can’t get that now, but hopefully I can get one by the end of this week."

Vaughn added: "We want it so bad. We’re just two games away."