Maybe it was the motivation from last Saturday’s loss to Kentwood.

Or maybe it was Federal Way boys basketball coach Jerome Collins’ decision to shake up the starting rotation in the first round of the Class 4A West Central/Southwest bi-district tournament.

Either way, the Eagles got their point across: They haven’t missed a step.

The Eagles cruised past the Puyallup Vikings 73-42 on Thursday as their diamond full-court press defense was flawless for all four quarters.

Federal Way advances to a winner-to-state game against Kentridge at noon Saturday at Mount Tahoma.

“Defensively, there were a lot of things that were just all over the place, all over the board against Kentwood,” Jerome Collins said. “We went back, looked at the film and just went to work. I thought we made really good adjustments tonight defensively that allowed opportunities for us to score.”

But the biggest adjustment came during player introductions.

Jerome Collins started his sophomore point guard Jalen Womack over senior point guard and the team’s leading scorer, Marcus Stephens. He also scratched junior Elijah Nnanabu from the starting five and inserted sixth man Etan Collins.

Jerome Collins said the changes were made for “disciplinary reasons.” Stephens later made an appearance in the second half, but they didn’t need him.

Etan Collins took full advantage of his opportunity to start. He had his highest scoring output of the season, leading the Eagles with 20 points, nine rebounds an assist and a steal.

“Etan was really something for us tonight,” Jerome Collins said. “He was drawing the extra defender, good defenders by the way, and still did a great job of concentrating and getting us points inside.”

He also knew something no one else did. Etan Collins was going to put the game out of reach with 3 minutes, 21 seconds left in the first quarter.

In a motion set, the Eagles swung the ball to the left wing. With Puyallup assuming Federal Way was going to go EtanCollins, the Vikings drew two defenders on him. Etan Collins took the ball, and with two defenders in his face, finger rolled the ball in with ease.

As he turned to go up the floor, Etan Collins and Vikings coach Scott Campbell locked eyes, and Etan Collins expression said it all: Tonight was not the night.

“Against Kentwood, we were just out of rhythm,” Jerome Collins said. “I thought that Etan (Collins) — and Malcolm (Cola) really stabilized our offense.”

By the end of the first quarter, Federal Way was up 20-7, and half of those point belonged to Etan Collins.

Etan Collins and fellow big man Malcolm Cola, who finished with 13 points and nine rebounds had the Eagles up 55-30 after three quarters.

It’s a short turnaround for the Eagles, but they’re no stranger to the playoff process. They’ll hold their one and only opportunity to practice Friday afternoon. When the two teams met in 2016, Federal Way pulled away with the 93-53 win.

Jerome Collins said his team is still preparing for the real season, the state tournament.

With the opportunity to punch their ticket tomorrow, Jerome Collins made one point perfectly clear: No more missed steps.

“We go back to work,” Jerome Collins said. “Doesn’t matter how little time we have. We’ll watch film and we have to be ready to go every time out.”