No. 3 Olympia upends No. 2 Mount Si in semis, advances to first state title game since 1998

Earlier this winter, Olympia High School boys basketball celebrated the 25-year anniversary of the program’s last trip to a state championship game.

Rainier Beach — which edged the Bears for the Class 3A title in front of thousands of fans in the Kingdome in 1998 — visited the Bears’ home gym in January for a nonleague contest, and several former Olympia players and both coaches were recognized on the court in honor of that memorable matchup.

Less than two months later, this season’s Olympia group, still led by longtime coach John Kiley, has their own chance at a state championship.

Friday night in the Tacoma Dome, the No. 3 seed Bears upended No. 2 Mount Si, 51-45, in the Class 4A state semifinals to advance to the state title game for the first time since that storied 1997-98 season.

“It’s crazy to think about,” senior guard Parker Gerrits said. “We’ve worked so hard for this and it’s been a long time since Olympia has been in the state championship game. So, it means a lot.

“Especially with the stuff that went on this year, with the ’98 team coming back for the Rainier Beach game, and all of that happening. It’s kind of surreal that all of this is happening now, so we’re really pumped.”

The Bears (25-5) had to get past a Mount Si program that had advanced to each of the past three 4A state championship games — including a title win in 2020 — to earn their trip to Saturday night’s championship matchup with No. 1 Curtis, and their chance to compete for their first title win since 1986.

“It’s a big moment, man,” Kiley said. “I’m so proud of our guys and their poise. Mount Si, this would have been their fourth straight year. They define — and Curtis, too — what rare air it is to try to get to this level with all of these great teams.

“So, we just beat a great team and a great program and I’m really proud of our guys.”

Olympia and Mount Si met in the state semifinals in the Tacoma Dome last season, too, and the Wildcats advanced with a 53-39 victory before losing to Curtis in the final the following night.

The Bears made sure history didn’t repeat against Mount Si on Friday night, leading the way much of the second half, and limiting a Wildcats rally in the fourth to remain in title contention.

“There was definitely a bad taste in our mouth from last year in the same situation, so that helped fuel me personally a lot,” Olympia forward Andreas Engholm said. “I just wanted to go right at them.”

Mount Si opened the game on a 7-0 run, but Olympia settled in, taking its first lead on a floater from Engholm with 38 seconds left in the first quarter.

The Wildcats tied it at the quarter break on a layup from Miles Heide, and regained the lead early in the second on a steal and breakaway layup from Blake Forrest.

But, Engholm completed a three-point play with a basket and free throw with 55.5 seconds left in the half to give the Bears the lead back, and Olympia never trailed again after that point.

Cameron Downing hit a 3-pointer just before the halftime buzzer to give the Bears a 28-23 lead at the break.

Olympia stretched the lead as high as 11 points midway through the third on the first bucket of the game from the floor for Gerrits — who averages a team-leading 19.3 points per game — at 34-23.

Mount Si went on a 17-7 run during the next nine minutes to tie the game at 41-41 with 3:43 to go on a Trevor Hennig free throw, but the Bears regained the lead for good moments later on a short stepback jumper from Engholm.

Engholm added two more baskets in the final 1:03 as Olympia closed out the win, and finished with a game-high 23 points to send the Bears to the final.

“I’m so excited,” Engholm said. “It’s a dream come true. I’ve been working for this my whole life, so just excited to have an opportunity tomorrow.”

Matt Lindblom added 11 and Mason Juergens had eight. Gerrits scored six points, and led the Bears with 11 boards and four assists in the win.

“I hope what everybody saw was the growth,” Kiley said. “ … All year long we preach growth mode, and next man up, and those can be cliches, but really everybody contributed tonight and I just couldn’t be more proud of the guys.

“But, we didn’t come here to play in the championship game, so we’ve got unfinished business.”

Olympia’s win sets up the fourth meeting this season between the Bears and 4A South Puget Sound League rival Curtis — the tournament’s defending champion and top seed — at 9 p.m. Saturday in the Tacoma Dome.

The Vikings lead the season series, 2-1.

Olympia won the first meeting in a league contest in January, but the Vikings won the two most recent meetings in the 4A SPSL tournament championship game and 4A West Central/Southwest district title game.

“It will be fun,” Gerrits said. “They’re a great team and we’ve battled them three times, so excited to battle them another time for the championship.”

Trevor Hennig paced Mount Si with 21 points in Friday’s loss, while Blake Forrest had 12 and Miles Heide completed a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds.

The Wildcats (25-3) play No. 4 Federal Way in the third-fifth place game at 11:15 a.m. Saturday.