The Federal Way Eagles proved why organizers of the prestigious Arizona Basketball Challenge flew the team down to Phoenix on Christmas Day.
The third-ranked Eagles (6-1) cruised to a perfect 3-0 record at the 16-team tournament in the desert with victories over three of the best teams the state of Arizona has to offer.
Federal Way ended the ABC with an ultra-impressive win over Goodyear Estrella Foothills High School Tuesday night, 84-50. Estrella Foothills (12-2) is the No. 1-ranked Class 3A team in Arizona and won their first three games at the Arizona Basketball Challenge in convincing fashion.
Games on the final day of the Arizona Basketball Challenge were determined by the tournament committee to ensure the best available match-ups. There was no championship game, but only two teams — Federal Way and Highland (Arizona) — finished unbeaten.
Estrella Hills featured 6-foot-3 guard Corey Hawkins, who has already committed to play at Arizona State and is the son of former Seattle SuperSonic Hersey Hawkins. Corey Hawkins had scored 35 and 43 points in his last two tournament games, but had only 21 against the Eagles.
But the best guard on the floor Tuesday night was Federal Way’s Michael Hale. The senior point guard scored a season-best 30 points on 12 of 19 shooting.
Hale was named to the All-Tournament team after averaging 17 points during the three games and is the Eagles’ leading scorer on the season at 17.7 a game. Junior wing Cole Dickerson joined Hale on the All-Tournament team after scoring 17, 17 and 18 points during the the three games in Arizona. Dickerson is averaging 16.7 points a game during the season.
Federal Way, who came into the season as the top-ranked team in Washington before being upset by Kentridge before Christmas, jumped all over Estrella Hills from the opening tip and led 36-23 at halftime.
Things weren’t as easy for the Eagles Monday night in their second game of the tournament. Federal Way downed Mesa’s Dobson High School, 60-58, thanks to more heroics from Hale. Federal Way’s point guard drove through the lane and banked in a twisting layup with six seconds left in the game to break a 58-58 tie and give the Eagles their second-straight victory in the prestigious tournament. Federal Way beat Phoenix’s North High School in their tournament opener Saturday, 64-50.
“We played OK,” Federal Way head coach Jerome Collins said. “It is a different surrounding and different atmosphere down here. There are a lot of great teams.”
Against Dobson (10-4), Federal Way overcame getting outscored at the free-throw line, 18-2. Dickerson led the Eagles with 17 points and six rebounds and was 8-for-15 from the field. Jeffrey Forbes added 16 points and four 3-pointers and Robert Christopher chipped in 10 points and six rebounds for Federal Way.
The Eagles had a little easier time with North High School on Saturday. Federal Way jumped out to a 27-21 lead at halftime against the Phoenix school, who was playing without their all-everything guard Daniel Bajarano. The University of Texas-commit suffered an injured tailbone during a game earlier last week.
“I thought we were a little rusty the whole game,” Collins said. “We really had no practices last week because of the snow and canceling school. Our timing was kind of off, but we at least picked it up in the second half.”
Federal Way outscored North, 37-29, during the second half and were led by the 17 points apiece from Cole Dickerson and Robert Christopher. Senior guard Michael Hale tallied 12 points and Eastern Washington-commit Jeffrey Forbes chipped in 11 points for the Eagles. Shabaz Lewis led North with 14 points.
The Arizona Basketball Challenge featured 12 schools from Arizona and four schools from out-of-state, including Federal Way, Harvard-Westlake (N. Hollywood, Calif.), Lone Peak (Highland, Utah) and The Sagemont School (Weston, Fla.).
“It’s a really nice tournament,” Collins said. “They do a classy job with everything.”
Decatur wins tournament title, remains unbeaten
The Decatur Gators can officially call themselves one of the best teams in the state. The unbeaten Gators beat the previously unbeaten and fifth-ranked Foss Falcons Tuesday night in the championship game of the Bill Riley Communities Holiday Classic at Decatur High School, 73-66.
The Gators (7-0), who are ranked as high as No. 1 in Class 4A, were never really in trouble against Foss. Senior guard Marcus Tibbs led the way for Decatur with 25 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds.
But Tibbs turned more into a distributor during the fourth quarter to seal the victory. Tibbs fed sophomores Jerron Smith and Terrell Williams and junior Jordan McCloud down the stretch. The threesome scored 14 of the Gators’ final 16 points.
Sophomore Jerron Smith and junior Jordan McCloud both chipped in 17 points each against Foss.
Decatur scored nine straight points to start the third quarter to take a commanding 48-34 lead. But Foss fought back with their own 9-0 run to cut into the Gator lead late in the third. Foss’ DeAndre Sutton tallied eight of his team-leadig 20 points during the third quarter.
Foss cut the lead to two early in the fourth quarter, but Decatur went on an 8-0 run to go ahead, 63-53.
Decatur rolled to an impressive 78-46 win over Tahoma Monday in their opening-round game of the four-team tournament.
The host Gators got 18 points, eight rebounds, nine assists and four steals from Tibbs. McCloud chipped in 18 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks.
Foss beat previously undefeated Mariner, 59-44, in their opener Monday.
Decatur gets back into their SPSL South Division schedule Tuesday against Graham-Kapowsin.
