On Saturday, the Bears travelled up to the University of Puget Sound for the state tournament’s opening round. They played North Creek and won by a score of 54-43.
Tip-off was shortly after 4 p.m. as both the Bears and Jaguars were off to a hot start. Playing in the elimination bracket, Olympia entered with high energy as both the crowd and players knew that a loss would end their season. The Olympia student section was vehement as baskets fell and made more noise than the Jaguars crowd.
The Bears got off to a hot start as senior Julian Zapata would be on fire early in the game and would continue his hot streak he’s been on since the district tournament. Despite the long drive, the Trench showed up and took up a whole section while Olympia fans were all around the stadium feeding into the vigor.
“Our shots were not falling from the three point line, so it was a grind the whole game,” Zapata said. Despite the challenge out in the field, the squad kept their composure by running a strong defense and draining shots around the rim. Olympia’s momentum flushed any remaining hope out of North Creek by the second half.
At half-time, the score was 22-15 as sophomore Brian Stevenson led the team with 10 points and the Bears had the lead. At the end of the game, the final score was 54-43 and the Bears claimed their spot in the Tacoma Dome. Zapata was announced as game MVP.
Zapata set the tone. “All week we’ve been in a win or go home mentality so we have been trying to replicate what the game would be like in practice,” he said. Zapata led the charge as he caught consecutive And-1’s.
The team is expecting to pounce, command and take control, deploying a similar strategy at the Tacoma Dome as they did this past Saturday. “Having to play the early game can be an advantage for us; we expect to jump on them from the start and take control of the game early,” Zapata said.
The Bears are headed up to the Tacoma Dome on Wednesday morning at 10:30 a.m. to confront the #2 seed Auburn Trojans as they will attempt to move on to the quarterfinals vs. #1 seed Gonzaga Prep.
