Four players at the 2010 State Boys Basketball Tournament are history makers and are very familiar with the intricacies of the Tacoma Dome.
Federal Way’s Cole Dickerson, Isiah Umipig and George Williams, along with Decatur’s Jordan McCloud are making their fourth trips to state. This is the first time it’s happened at any school in the Federal Way school district.
“It’s a blessing to be the first Decatur player ever to get a chance to play in four,” said McCloud. “That means we did some good things.”
The feat is amazing in a couple different ways. Federal Way and Decatur are the only two schools to play in four tournaments in a row in the 2010 field. In fact, only Walla Walla, Gonzaga Prep and Lake Stevens are making consecutive appearances at state. Plus, the Eagles and Gators must qualify for state out of the rugged West Central District, which year in and year out is the toughest competition in Washington.
It’s also very impressive that the four players made the varsity during their freshman seasons.
Dickerson and Umipig started seeing significant playing time as sophomores and combined for 15 points in the Eagles’ 2008 state championship game loss to Ferris. Last year, as juniors, the pair were the two leading scorers during Federal Way’s title game win over Garfield. Umipig finished with 19 points and Dickerson had 18.
The 6-foot-6 Dickerson has already signed to play in the fall at the University of San Francisco and the 6-foot Umipig will take his game to Cal State Fullerton.
“It feels pretty good to be playing in my fourth state tournament,” Umipig said.
This is Williams’ first season as a starter at Federal Way, but the 6-foot-2 senior has hit several big shots during his four-year career.
McCloud burst on the state scene during his sophomore year in 2008 when he scored the winning basket in the final seconds of a 57-55 victory over Shadle Park in the quarterfinals. The win earned the Gators a semifinal berth against Federal Way, which the Eagles won in overtime.
And the Federal Way threesome has something that McCloud really wants — a state championship.
“I’m tired of going to a state tournament,” McCloud said Wednesday. “I want to win it.”
SPSL North dominance
The nine-team North Division of the South Puget Sound League proved it was the best in the state at last year’s tournament. Two North schools won both the boys (Federal Way) and girls (Kentwood) championships in 2009. On the girls’ side, Federal Way finished third and Auburn Riverside was fourth, while Kentridge also ended up third on the boys’ side.
The division’s dominance looks like it will continue this year. The North features a total of six teams in the 2010 tournaments, including three boys teams (Federal Way, Kentwood, Auburn) and three girls teams (Federal Way, Auburn Riverside, Kentwood). Both Kentwood and Federal Way rolled into the boys’ semifinals and Auburn Riverside is the only girls’ team still alive with a chance at a state title.
Recruiting news
Federal Way junior Talia Walton is ranked as the 17th-best forward in the nation by ESPNU’s Hoopgurlz.com and the top forward in Washington. The 6-foot-2 Walton is averaging 12.6 points and 11.8 rebounds a game. She was a first-team, All-SPSL North selection as a freshman and a junior.
Coach of the year
This might be Decatur’s Kevin Olson’s best head coaching job during his 10 years at the helm of the program. Olson guided the Gators to their fourth-straight Class 4A state tournament, which is a huge feat in itself. But Olson did so with numerous distractions and lineup changes throughout the season. Only Jerron Smith, Jordan McCloud and Rob Oliver have played in all 26 Gator games this season.
“We started the season with 14 guys on varsity and I thought there was no way we would need to pull anyone up from JV,” Olson said. “And then we had to pull two guys up.”
Three other possible starters, Terrance Peters, Anthony Williams and JT Koontz, have played in a grand total of 23 games because of various reasons. Williams returned to Decatur’s lineup on Wednesday after academic issues forced him to miss the entire postseason.
“It’s been a very interesting year,” Olson said. “My experience from the last three years has prepared me for all of this. I have found that I need to stay even keel to make it through.”
Sister act
The Huertas-Vining sisters both suited for the Federal Way Eagles in Tacoma. Darah Huertas-Vining, a sophomore, is the Eagles’ leading scorer at 14.6 points a game. Freshman Alex Huertas-Vining has played in 16 games for Federal Way and tallied 10 points.
Unfortunately, Darah injured her ankle late in the Eagles’ first-round loss to Chiawana Wednesday.
Keeping up with the Smiths
Decatur junior Jerron Smith made his third appearance at the state tournament and is the Gators’ leading scorer at 21.4 points a game. Smith’s older brother, Terrell, was the leading scorer for Federal Way during their 2007 run to state. Terrell is currently playing at the University of the Pacific.
All in the family
Dickerson will be the fourth member of his family to play college basketball when he laces up his shoes next year at San Francisco. Michael, his older half-brother, and Vanika, his half-sister, along with older sister Salena, all received scholarships.
Michael, a 1994 Federal Way graduate, went on to star at Arizona, helping the Wildcats win the NCAA championship in 1997. He was a first-round draft pick by the Houston Rockets in 1998. His five-year NBA career was cut short by injuries.
Vanika was a sophomore on the 1997 Federal Way girls team that won the Class 4A state title. She then transferred to Jefferson, where she earned All-South Puget Sound League South Division honors as a senior, before playing in college at Montana-Western.
Salena was an all-state player at Federal Way before graduating in 2006. She is currently redshirting at Seattle University after playing her freshman season at Washington State. She, unfortunately, is the only Dickerson sibling not to play at state.
Familiar spot
Federal Way High School head coach Jerome Collins is coaching the Eagles’ in his 11th state tournament during his 26-year career at the helm of the program.
Double dipping
Federal Way High was one of four schools to be represented at both the boys and girls state tournaments this year. The Eagles are joined by Lake Stevens, Kentwood and Mead.
Last year, Federal Way was the only school to be represented at both the Class 4A boys and girls tournaments.
Suit watch
As he does every year, Federal Way boys head coach Jerome Collins is making a fashion statement at the state tournament with his suits. Collins wore a classy mustard yellow number Wednesday during the Eagles’ opening-round win over Stanwood and an understated tan suit during Federal Way’s epic overtime win over Gonzaga Prep Thursday.
Graham back at state
Federal Way girls coach Danny Graham made his second appearance at state in his fourth year coaching the Eagles. Graham also played on a pair of state tournament teams while attending Federal Way High School, graduating in 1991. Graham is also the coach of the Federal Way baseball team, which started practicing on Monday.
Star Times
Federal Way senior forward Cole Dickerson was named to the Seattle Times’ 2010 Star Times’ boys basketball team on Tuesday. The MVP of the SPSL North averages 24 points and 10 rebounds and will play at the University of San Francisco in the fall. Other Star Times’ players were Kentridge’s Gary Bell, Bellevue point guard Aaron Bright, Kentwood’s Josh Smith and Jackson guard Brett Kingma.
WCC battle
Dickerson got a little taste of what the next four years is going to be like Thursday night when he matched up against Gonzaga Prep’s Ryan Nicholas, the Bullpups 6-foot-6 all-state forward. Nicholas, who averaged 23 points a game, has signed to play at the University of Portland. Dickerson will play at West Coast Conference rival San Francisco. Nicholas finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds and Dickerson had 16 points and eight rebounds, but fouled out in the fourth quarter. The Eagles, more importantly, won the game in overtime.
Web casts
Every game on both the boys’ and girls’ sides are available at www.cybersportsusa.com. Follow the link to the 2010 WIAA Girls and Boys 4A Championship. Fans can also receive text messages of game scores by going to www.wiaa.com and entering their phone number.
The boys and girls championship games will be broadcast on Fox Sports Northwest on Saturday night. The boys will play at 7 p.m. and the girls will play at 9 p.m.
Cover boy
Federal Way senior George Williams has a little more scrapbook material after the 2010 state tournament. Williams is featured on the cover of the official program. The photo was taken during last year’s state title game victory over Garfield.
T-shirts
The Decatur boys featured a warmup T-shirt that said, “Back again, State 2010. Play hard, play together, play on Saturday.”
‘And I was running’
What was practice like after the Eagles blew a 21-point fourth-quarter lead against Lincoln in the West Central District championship game? Just as you would think.
“We ran a lot,” head coach Jerome Collins said with a smile. “I don’t like to lose and our ballplayers aren’t accustomed to losing. It was a learning situation. I trust my guys. They responded to coaching and I didn’t expect anything different.”
Pink is the new white
The Federal Way girls came out of the gate all sporting pink socks during Wednesday’s loss to Chiawana.
3-point specialist
It was no big surprise that Federal Way junior Jerry Duckworth was attempting a game-tying 3-pointer during Thursday’s epic OT win over Gonzaga Prep. Behind the arc is where Duckworth lives on the basketball court. In his last four postseason games, the 6-footer has attempted only 3-point shots, making 10 of them.
During the regular season, Duckworth made 36 of 61 (59 percent) from behind the line and averaged eight points a game.
