By CASEY OLSON
The Mirror
The third-ranked Decatur Gators boys basketball team remained unbeaten with a 69-42 win over Kent-Meridian Tuesday. The victory improved the Gators to 8-0 on the season and 5-0 in the South Puget Sound League North Division.
Decatur outscored the Royals 38-12 in the second and third quarters to blow the game open. The Gators were led by the 17 points of Marcus Tibbs. Michael Hale and Darious Walker both chipped in 10 points each.
Decatur’s attention now turns to the Harbour Homes Holiday Classic. The tournament will be played Dec. 28-29 at Decatur and feature Auburn, Puyallup, Foss and the Gators. Auburn and Puyallup will open the tournament at 6 p.m. Dec. 28, followed by Decatur against Foss at 7:45. The third-place game will take place at 6 p.m. Dec. 29 and the championship will be played at 7:45.
Auburn is currently the fifth-ranked team in Class 3A with an 8-0 record.
The eighth-ranked Federal Way Eagles got a scare from the Kentlake Falcons Tuesday night. But the Eagles rolled in the fourth quarter to move to 7-1 on the season with a 64-59 win.
The 2-6 Falcons led Federal Way 49-48 entering the final eight minutes, but Federal Way and Jeff Forbes outscored Kentlake 16-10 in the fourth quarter to get the win. Forbes, a junior point guard, tallied a career-high 30 points and sophomores Cole Dickerson and Isiah Umipig both scored 11 points.
Beamer fell to 2-3 in the SPSL South with a 61-58 loss to the Puyallup Vikings Tuesday, 61-58. The two teams were tied at 44-44 entering the fourth quarter. The Titans got pretty much all of their scoring from two players. Seniors Dakin Wanquist and Andrew Winton combined for 50 points against Puyallup. Wanquist tallied 29 and Winton poured in 21.
Girls Basketball
The Thomas Jefferson Raiders hung on to hand the Kentridge Chargers their first SPSL North Division loss of the season Tuesday, 42-41.
The Raiders cruised out to a 25-10 lead at halftime, but the Chargers outscored Jefferson 24-8 in the third quarter to grab a 34-33 lead heading into the final eight minutes.
The Raiders were led by the 16 points of Stacey Albrecht and 12 from Sofia Malamura. The win improved Jefferson to 5-3 overall and 2-3 in the SPSL North.
Federal Way dropped to 6-3 overall and 3-2 in the North with a 45-42 loss to Kentlake (5-3, 3-2) Tuesday. The Eagles were led by the 22 points of freshman Brittany Barrington.
The Decatur Gators came close to getting their first SPSL North Division win, but came up short Tuesday losing to Kent-Meridian, 58-52. The Royals outscored the Gators 20-10 in the second quarter to take a 30-25 lead into halftime. Decatur was led by the 23 points of junior Sarah Quantz and senior Ashleigh Vincent chipped in nine.
Sports editor Casey Olson: 925-5565, sports@fedwaymirror.com
