Federal Way suffers big loss at hands of Auburn Mountainview

Federal Way High School boys basketball has been at the top of the mountain for pretty much two decades. From coach Jerome Collins and now Yattah Reed, the Eagles have built a factory of basketball excellence.

But that factory is going through some tough times in the 2025-26 season. The Eagles (7-5) fell 91-63 to Auburn Mountainview (13-4) on Jan. 27 on the road.

“The message I told them was ‘Don’t hang your hand when we walk out of here. We gotta own it’. We got our ass handed (to us) because we didn’t do what the game plan was,” Reed said.

Reed took much of the blame for the loss and wants to emphasize the importance of warmups and practice with his group.

“It starts with me, I have to come to practice with the same energy if we won by 30 or lost by 30. I have to be the one that sets the example, it’s contagious. We have to have amnesia, like ‘I don’t even know if we played last night’. Just bring the energy, it’s a new day,” Reed said.

The Eagles are 5-5 in league play this season, a .500 win percentage, even if they win their final four games will be .642. That win percentage is the lowest league win percentage since 2002 for Federal Way.

That being said, winning four games will be a tall order. The Eagles take on Kentlake, White River, Enumclaw and Thomas Jefferson. Enumclaw currently leads the pack in the 3A NPSL standings and White River has a two game advantage over Federal Way for third place.

If the Eagles go 2-2 over their last four it’ll be the first time they have had a league win percentage of .500 or below since the turn of the century, 1999-2000 (2-12).

Federal Way came in against Auburn Mountainview with a bit of momentum as it has won three games in a row and most recently a 95-53 win over Decatur.

But the Eagles got punched in the face in the first five minutes before Elijah Guillespe made a three pointer, Auburn Mountainview led 21-0.

“We dug ourselves so deep of a hole, when you’re playing a good team like that it is very difficult to come back,” Reed said.

The Lions beat Federal Way earlier in the season 71-64 and had won five in a row entering the contest against Federal Way. But the Eagles just could not generate any momentum to start the game.

After the Guillespe three, the Eagles just had to chip away at the margin. Midway through the second quarter, Eric Turner Jr. cut the Lion lead to 10 after going 2 for 2 from the free throw line.

“I told them the best teacher is experience, so you need to embrace this. Don’t hang you head, keep your head up. You gotta own it. It can’t be ‘Woe is me’, it’s not about you it is about the team,” Reed said.

But Auburn Mountainview regained their legs and closed out the half with a 55-32 lead. Senior point guard Kolven Posey scored 30 first-half points and was unstoppable against the Eagle defense.

Coming out of halftime, Federal Way had its fewest point total of the game with just 11 points in the 8-minute quarter. At that point the game was out of reach, and Federal Way was just hoping to not fall victim to the 40-point running clock rule. The Eagles went to the fourth quarter trailing by 35 points, 80-45 to the Lions.

But thanks to freshman David Stone, the Lions never reached that 40-point mark. Stone was a lone bright spot on a dim day for Federal Way. But he defended, caused fast breaks and showed an ability to finish at the rim. For Reed, that was a young player taking advantage of his opportunities.

“He does things that we try to emphasize on, he’s just going hard. He’s doing a great job improving his position. He was a game-time decision if he would play because he was coming off an injury. He’s going to be a great player and continue growing and it will pay off next year,” Reed said.

Despite the loss, Federal Way still controls its own destiny. With a two-game lead over Thomas Jefferson, the Eagles can find their way into the postseason.

“We have to (play with a chip). This is the part of the season where you kind of want to have an identity on how you want to go into the payoffs. We got some tough teams to measure to see if we improved,” said Reed.