Recaps, highlights from semifinals at 4A and 3A state boys basketball tournaments
Between the Class 4A and 3A boys state tournaments, 30 high school basketball games will be played in the Tacoma Dome this weekend. The News Tribune will be providing game recaps, highlights, interviews, stats and more.
Follow along for live updates from Friday’s semifinals.
CLASS 3A
Semifinals
No. 5 Bellarmine Prep vs. No. 1 Rainier Beach, 3:45 p.m.
No. 7 Lincoln vs. No. 4 Eastside Catholic, 5:30 p.m.
CLASS 4A
Semifinals
No. 7 Emerald Ridge vs. No. 5 Gonzaga Prep, 7:15 p.m.
No. 3 Lake Washington vs. No. 2 Richland, 9 p.m.
CLASS 4A
No. 2 Richland 83, No. 3 Lake Washington 70
Earl Streufert doesn’t like to micromanage his basketball team. His philosophy for the Richland offense? Play loose and let it fly.
“We’re pretty free,” Streufert said after No. 2 Richland put on an offensive clinic in an 83-70 win over No. 3 Lake Washington in Friday night’s semifinal at the Tacoma Dome. “We always tell our guys, ‘You gotta be you.’ They’ve built themselves into a pretty good offensive squad.”
Of course, that’s easy to say when “you” is a bunch of knockdown, machine-like shooters that bury 3-pointers whether they’re wide open or tightly contested.
Wondering how electric this Richland offense is? The Bombers shot 50.9 percent from the field in Friday’s win. They shot 48.1 percent from the 3-point line. Guard Jackson Woodard buried seven 3-pointers and scored a game-high 30 points. The team’s usual top two scorers, Landen Northrop and Lance Horndvedt, scored 24 and 20, respectively.
83 points, nearly 50 percent from beyond the arc and three players with 20 or more points. Does that sum it up? Asked to describe Richland’s offense in his own words, Woodard didn’t need time to think.
“Deadly, man,” he told The News Tribune.
Lake Washington guard Jayden Hunt impressed, scoring a team-high 28 points. Guard Omer Ziklik added 20 for the Kangs. But every time Lake Washington went on a small run and started closing the gap, Richland put another ball through the net.
It felt almost surreal at times, hard to believe a high school basketball team could be so dangerous from so many different spots on the floor.
“I think it’s just a lot of practice,” Woodard said. “We just run and gun. I feel like we always play fast paced, so I think it’s just knowing where the hoop is, we let it go and shoot it.”
And the crowd? You never would’ve guessed it was a four-hour, 214 mile drive. The Richland side was packed with green and yellow and the most impressive student section in the Dome so far, both in terms of size and noise.
Richland faces defending state champion Gonzaga Prep in Saturday’s championship game. It’s the second title game appearance in two years, as the Bombers also played in the 2024 title game, losing to Mount Si. Woodard was a freshman riding the bench that year, watching his older brother, Josh, in the starting lineup.
No. 5 Gonzaga Prep 52, No. 7 Emerald Ridge 37
Just when it looked like Emerald Ridge had more magic in store, the Jaguars ran out of gas.
It wasn’t long before Gonzaga Prep erased a four-point halftime deficit and seized control of Friday’s 4A semifinal, pushing the pace in transition and knocking down shots from deep. The defending champions looked the part.
Can the Bullpups go back-to-back? Spark-plug guard Jack Pierce dropped a game-high 16 points and Gonzaga Prep roared back to beat Emerald Ridge, 52-37, punching their tickets for Saturday’s title game at the Tacoma Dome.
Pierce’s energy was palpable Friday night, the catalyst for Gonzaga Prep’s comeback. The senior kept his foot on the gas, finishing with four rebounds and two assists as the game’s top scorer.
“I have a bit of a football mentality,” Pierce said. “I get all of my energy and effort from that.
“We push each other every day, so it’s all of us. It’s not just me.”
Gonzaga Prep reached Friday’s semifinals with a dramatic, double-overtime win over No. 6 Puyallup the afternoon before, capped by Dylynn Groves’ last-second game-winner off the glass. There’s seemingly a new hero every night — just the way the Bullpups want it.
“Anyone on this team could have a big game at any moment,” Pierce said. “That’s just the love. We all love each other. We push each other to the limit. There’s never any jealousy or anything.”
Emerald Ridge’s tournament run includes an upset win over No. 1 Mount Si in Thursday’s quarterfinals. They’ll play for third place at the Tacoma Dome on Saturday.
Jaguars guard Mychal Turner paced the Jaguars with 13 points, wowing the crowd with a handful of smooth spin moves to the rim (5-8 FG). Standout forward Jamaize McGriff was limited to 10 points; Jordan Bennett and Darius Alexander added six points apiece.
“We had a great year,” Emerald Ridge head coach Pat Mullen said. “We just got beat by the defending state champs. Well-coached, great program.
“Most wins [25] in school history. It’s hard to beat.”
Gonzaga Prep’s Carter Nilson scored 12 points and guard Ryan Carney had 10. Forward Jackson Mott added 8 points and 13 rebounds.
Gonzaga Prep meets Richland in Saturday’s championship at 3 p.m.
CLASS 3A
No. 7 Lincoln 64, No. 4 Eastside Catholic 62
With the game on the line, Lincoln needed its biggest star to shine. Davion Shareef-Dulaney rose to the occasion.
Trailing Eastside Catholic by a point with just over a minute to play, Lincoln’s sophomore guard hit a nasty step back 3-pointer to give the Abes a 64-62 lead. Then, on Eastside Catholic’s final offensive possession, he swatted away the 3-point attempt by Crusaders’ guard Micah Rouson as time expired.
Lincoln won, 64-62. The Abes will play for the 3A state championship on Saturday in the Tacoma Dome.
“Having that shot, me hitting that, that’s a big dagger,” Shareef-Dulaney said. “Me coming down getting the game-winning block, that means I’m a two-way player.”
Lincoln coach Ryan Rogers has seen it over and over again the past two years, both in games and practice.
“Just winning plays that he makes all the time that we see every day,” Rogers said. “He is a competitor and he always rises to the occasion. On the biggest moments, he wants to be in that play and he wants to make the winning play and it shows and he does it every single day in practice. Proud of him.”
Shareef-Dulaney said he didn’t hesitate to block Rouson’s shot attempt.
“We know he’s not a good free throw shooter,” he said. “He was gonna shoot that no matter what, so me having my length and arms, getting that block means everything right now.”
The game was chippy at times. Eastside Catholic 6-foot-10 forward Yabi Aklog was ejected from the game late in the first half after saying something to a Lincoln player after making a shot. A member of the Lincoln coaching staff told The News Tribune he was ejected for using a racial slur, allegedly.
It was a major loss for Eastside Catholic, but the Crusaders played well without him, particularly from the 3-point line, where Eastside Catholic shot 40 percent for the game. London Walsh scored 11, forward Tytan McNeal scored 12 and guard Steven Sun scored 10. Aklog had 12 points and eight rebounds before his dismissal from the floor.
Eastside Catholic outscored Lincoln 26-13 in the second quarter but Lincoln hung around, outscoring the Crusaders 21-13 in the final period to win the game.
Shareef-Dulaney’s line: 32 points, six rebounds and three steals. Guard O’Shea Lamar and forward Justus Holt added nine apiece for the Abes.
“I think that’s a testament to what we’ve been working on as a team and progressing through the season,” Rogers said. “The team is gonna go on runs but we can’t break down. We’ve just gotta keep going, keep battling and keep staying together. I think we stayed pretty composed when they went on that run there in the second quarter.”
The Tacoma Dome will be rocking on Saturday night. Lincoln, the tournament’s No. 7 seed, faces No. 1 Rainier Beach in a Tacoma vs. Seattle matchup. Rainier Beach features the No. 1 rated high school player in the country, Tyran Stokes. The Vikings cruised past Bellarmine Prep in the other semifinal game.
“It’s gonna be packed,” Shareef-Dulaney said. “This is my first championship of my life. It’s gonna be big. I just can’t shy away from the moment. I’m built for the big moments for a reason.”
Coaching in a championship will be a special opportunity for Rogers.
“It’s emotional because I’ve grown up being a Lincoln Abe my entire life, my mom taught there for 41 years,” he said. “On the day I came home from the hospital, I went to a Lincoln football game.
“So I’ve grown up in the Lincoln gym. I sat behind the baseline for both 2001 and 2002 state title teams. So this is something truly special that I really want to embrace and just take in because it’s just something I’ve been dreaming of my whole life.”
The 3A championship game is 7 p.m. Saturday at the Tacoma Dome.
No. 1 Rainier Beach 71, No. 5 Bellarmine Prep 49
Not even Bellarmine Prep’s lockdown defense could overcome the nation’s top recruit.
Five-star forward Tyran Stokes directed the show, Vikings guard Michah Ili-Meneese dropped a career-high 30 points, and No. 1 Rainier Beach toppled the Lions, 71-49, to reach Saturday’s 3A championship game in Tacoma.
It’s no secret that Bellarmine’s Bobby Moorehead has built a winner in the South Sound. The second-year head coach is responsible for putting Lions basketball back on the map, and the defense that carried them here was on full display again Friday. The Vikings waited more than four minutes for their first field goal.
But Stokes and Ili-Meneese quickly recovered from a sluggish first quarter to finish what’s been inevitable this season. No. 1 Rainier Beach (23-0) is one win away from an undefeated season and back-to-back state titles at the Tacoma Dome.
“We’ve got to execute when you need to execute,” Rainier Beach head coach Mike Bethea said. “It’s my job to get them ready for it and have them ready, because we know we’re going to get everybody’s best shot.”
Knotted early, Rainier Beach built a 14-2 run in the second quarter and never looked back. Ili-Meneese thrived with quick cuts to the rim, finishing an impressive 14-of-17 from the field. The Vikings shot a combined 49 percent and piled 22 points in the paint to Bellarmine’s two.
“My defense really woke me up on the offensive side, helping me get into that rhythm,” Ili-Meneese said. “Just being more aggressive.”
Stokes was everywhere, posting 15 points (3-7 FG), six rebounds, four assists, four steals, and a block. Vikings guard KJ Hightower had eight points and wing Kam Babbs added seven.
Bellarmine Prep’s Luke Heisel scored a team-high 17 points, but Rainier Beach held standout Lions guard Ronnie Wiggins to three points (10 REB).
Bethea is a nine-time state champion at Rainier Beach. How good would No. 10 feel with a win on Saturday?
“Same as No. 1, man,” Bethea laughed. “They’re all good.”
Rainier Beach meets the winner of No. 7 Lincoln and No. 5 Gonzaga Prep from the 3A bracket’s adjacent semifinal. Saturday’s championship game is set for 7 p.m.
CONSOLATION LADDER
CLASS 4A
No. 1 Mount Si 74, No. 6 Puyallup 66
No. 4 Glacier Peak 64, No. 8 West Valley 42
CLASS 3A
No. 11 Edmonds-Woodway 64, No. 2 O’Dea 55
No. 3 Mount Spokane 73, No. 8 Bellevue 58
This story was originally published March 6, 2026 at 6:16 PM with the headline "Recaps, highlights from semifinals at 4A and 3A state boys basketball tournaments."
