Federal Way tops Thomas Jefferson, finishes undefeated regular season

Published 5:28 pm Thursday, February 4, 2016

The Federal Way High School boys basketball team lost 80-58 to Bellevue on Jan. 19, 2015. It’s been over a year and they haven’t lost since, capping off an undefeated season on Friday with an 80-67 win over Thomas Jefferson High School.

A raucous Jefferson crowd was in attendance, but a flurry of points for Federal Way to start the second half proved to be too much for the Raiders to overcome.

The Eagles ended the first half with two straight Jalen McDaniels dunks that pushed their lead to 35-30.

Ferron Flavors had the hot hand in the second half, starting the third quarter by scoring the first 10 points and extending Federal Way’s run to 14-0 and their lead to 15.

Darius Anderson made a 3-pointer to end the run. Alex Sommerfield would add another 3-pointer to close the gap back to nine points.

Jefferson twice came within eight points in the third quarter, but that was the closest they would get. Another 8-0 scoring burst late in the third brought the lead back to 16 points, with Federal Way up 57-41.

Federal Way switched to a trap scheme on the defensive side of the ball in the second half, making it difficult for the Raiders offense to get anything going.

“I thought we gave [Jefferson] too many points in the first half,” Federal Way head coach Jerome Collins said. “Give them credit; they shot well. But I thought we gave them too many open shots without pressure. I thought we clamped down [in the second half].”

The Raiders ended the third quarter with a 7-0 run of the own, but Federal Way answered every shot they had in the fourth quarter to keep the lead wide.

“I think we stagnated a bit offensively,” Jefferson head coach Kyle Templeton said. “It was a 15-point game, and then we hit three 3s in three possessions and it’s back to an eight-point game. I was proud of the way we weathered it. That’s what happens when you play against the number one team in the state. They’re good for a reason.”

Federal Way hit 19 of their 23 free throws in the second half to keep the gap between the two teams wide as they cruised to victory.

The first half was more even than the second. The teams repeatedly traded the lead, with neither team able to get ahead by more than five points.

Jefferson was 5-11 from 3-point range in the first half, helping them keep pace with a Federal Way team that shot over 50 percent from inside the arc.

Anderson had 13 of his 24 points in the first half. He was 5-7 from the field and was 3-5 from beyond the arc.

Anthony Gonzalez was the second leading scorer for the Raiders and was 9-9 on his free throws, finishing with a total of 11 points.

All but one of the players on the Raiders roster scored, and all of them took at least one shot.

Federal Way’s Marcus Stephens was the Eagles’ most efficient scorer, finishing with 19 points. He shot 62.5 percent from the field and was 8-8 from the free throw line, six of which came during the fourth quarter.

Flavors led the Eagles with 20 points. McDaniels posted a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds. D’Jimon Jones was the final Eagle in double digits with 11 points.

“We have weapons, but we have unselfish players,” Collins said. “We have a motto, and we say ‘Play hard, rebound, defend, share the ball, we win.’”

Federal Way (20-0, 8-0) moves on to play Curtis (19-1) for the South Puget Sound League championship and the top seed in the district tournament after the Mirror’s publishing deadline on Thursday at the ShoWare Center in Kent. Many view the two teams as the best two in class 4A.