The Decatur Gators boys basketball team is heading back to a familiar destination. For the fifth year in a row, the Gators will play at the state tournament. This time, however, they will be competing at the Class 3A tournament.

Decatur guaranteed themselves the berth with a 75-58 win over Vancouver’s Mountain View High School at the West Central/Southwest 3A Bi-District Tournament Friday night. The Gators (17-6) followed up the state-clinching win with a hard-fought 69-64 victory over Foss Saturday at Mount Tahoma.

The fourth-ranked Lincoln Abes await the Gators in the district championship game, which will be played at 4 p.m. at Kent’s Showare Center on Monday. The day will feature six title games at the Showare Center, including the boys and girls from the 2A, 3A and 4A West Central/Southwest District Tournaments.

In the state-clinching win over Mountain View, the Gators and senior guard Jerron Smith dominated pretty much from start to finish. Decatur led 16-11 after the first quarter and extended the lead to 36-27 at halftime. Smith, who was recently voted the Class 3A Player of the Year by the Washington Interscholastic Basketball Coaches Association, is averaging a robust 28.3 points a game and finished with 32 during the win.

Smith, who will play at Portland State next year, had some help. Junior Dom Hunter and senior Austen Wilson both finished with 16 points.

Against Foss, Smith’s scoring help came from Markus Rawls and Brandon Williams. The 6-foot-3 Smith finished with a game-high 28 points, but Rawls added 18 points and Williams tallied a career-high 13 points to sink the Falcons.

Decatur used a frenetic second-half comeback Saturday. Foss jumped out to a 33-26 lead at halftime, but the Gators outscored the Falcons, 28-18, in the third quarter to take a three-point lead into the final eight minutes.

Federal Way

The Federal Way Eagles (14-10) just missed qualifying for their fifth straight Class 4A state tournament with a 57-45 loss to the Olympia Bears Saturday night in a winner-to-state, loser-out West Central/Southwest District game at Rogers High School. The loss ended the Eagles’ season a night after they won a loser-out game over Union.

It was a tale of two halves Saturday against the Narrows League-champion Bears. Federal Way and senior guard Jerry Duckworth jumped out to a 29-19 lead after the first two quarters. But the Eagles could only muster 16 points in the second half and couldn’t stop Olympia’s Alex Weber-Brader. The 6-foot-6 senior finished with 30 points for the Bears.

Duckworth, who averaged 21.1 points a game and was a first-team, All-SPSL South selection, finished with 23 points. But he was the only Federal Way player to score in double figures Saturday. Senior Deshea Bell was the next highest scorer with eight points.

A night earlier, the Eagles outlasted Union from Vancouver in a loser-out game at Auburn Mountainview High School. Friday night, senior Napa Mefi finished with a game-high 23 points and Bell ended up with 22 to beat the Titans.

Federal Way took an early 18-13 lead after the first quarter, but Union came back in the second to tie the game at halftime. Duckworth finished with 10 points.