The 10th-ranked Decatur Gators just keep winning basketball games.
The Gators (17-4 overall) won their 14th in a row Friday night over the eighth-ranked Kennedy Catholic Lancers, 70-62, to snag the 3A Sub-district’s top seed into the district tournament. Decatur won the South Puget Sound League 3A title and the Lancers were unbeaten in the Seamount League.
The Gators will receive a bye in the first round of the West Central/Southwest District Tournament. Decatur will take on the winner of first-round game between Auburn Mountainview and Prairie at 6:15 p.m. at Franklin Pierce School on Friday. A win would guarantee the Gators a sixth-straight trip to the state tournament.
Decatur was again led by senior guard Dom Hunter, who finished with 30 points Friday night. Hunter is averaging 20.7 points this season and has scored in double figures in all but one of the Gators’ games this year.
But Hunter had plenty of help against Kennedy from Abraham Ferrell-Logan and Markus Rawls. Ferrell-Logan finished with 21 Friday and Rawls chipped in 13.
Kennedy was led by 35 points from senior forward Mitch Penner, who came in averaging 23 points a game for the Lancers. But the Gators were able to contain Kennedy’s secondary players.
Decatur jumped all over Kennedy in the first quarter, rolling out to a 20-12 lead after the first eight minutes. Decatur extended the lead to nine points at halftime.
Kent-Meridian 46, Federal Way 39 (SPSL Tournament third/fourth game)
The Eagles (15-6) will meet a familiar foe in the opening round of the West Central District Tournament. Federal Way will host district rival Todd Beamer at 7 p.m. Tuesday after both teams lost at the South Puget Sound League Tournament last weekend.
Against Kent-Meridian, who finished second in the SPSL North, Federal Way just couldn’t get anything going offensively Friday night at the ShoWare Center in Kent.
The Eagles, who were second in the SPSL South, shot just 30.4 percent from the field and scored 20 points below their season average against the Royals.
Federal Way, however, did get some good news during the loss to Kent-Meridian. The game marked the return of talented sophomore point guard DeeShawn Tucker, who hadn’t played since Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. He suffered a head/neck injury during a Jan. 11 loss to Seattle Prep at the University of Washington.
Tucker finished with 10 points Friday night against the Royals. D’Londo Tucker and Brayon Blake led the way for Federal Way with 11 points each.
Mount Rainier 77, Beamer 65 (SPSL Tournament fifth/sixth game)
The Titans earned the SPSL’s sixth seed into the West Central District Tournament with a loss to Mount Rainier Saturday at Auburn High School. Both teams finished third in their respective SPSL divisions.
Beamer will travel to Federal Way Tuesday to take on the Eagles for the third time this season in the opening round of the district tournament.
No other details were reported about Saturday’s loss to Mount Rainier.
