Prep finds new life, beats Curtis

TACOMA – A hangover from Thursday night’s emotional and physically draining loss to Garfield threatened to derail Gonzaga Prep on Friday afternoon.

Stagnant and trailing 10-0 against Curtis in a potential season-ending game, the Bullpups found resolve.

A big third-quarter lift from Sean Fischer earned them a 54-43 victory and their first State 4A basketball trophy since 1991.

Fischer, scoreless in the first half, got nine in the final 4 minutes of the third period. G-Prep (25-4) broke a 23-all tie to lead 36-28 at the end of the period. Fischer made seven fourth-quarter free throws to help secure victory.

The Bullpups play Inglemoor in the Tacoma Dome at 1:30 p.m. for fourth and seventh places.

“You take it to the rim and make some easy shots before you fire up 3-balls,” Fischer said of his second-half success. “You have to let your game come to you. You can’t force anything and have to take your shots in the flow of the game.”

Fischer’s first two baskets were drives for layups. Feeling comfortable at last, he added a flat-footed 3-pointer, with 2:16 remaining and completed the quarter off a feed from Travis Long with 16 seconds remaining.

The Bullpups built their lead to as many as 12 points in the fourth quarter, then weathered a Darnell Williams’ inspired attempt at a Vikings comeback. Williams scored Curtis’ final 12 points.

But the Vikings got no closer than seven points. Fischer hit a basket and 5 of 7 free-throw attempts in the final 1:12.

“I took a couple hard drives to the basket, made some nice plays and finished and just got in a rhythm from there,” Fischer said.

Rhythm was lacking at game’s outset. The Bullpups missed three easy layups and added an airball that Curtis turned into points. But a lift from substitutes Parker Kelly, who scored G-Prep’s first points, a 3-pointer with 1:51 left in the period, and Chris Sarbaugh, helped the team get untracked.

By halftime the Greater Spokane League champions had the lead despite shooting just 23 percent from the field. Curtis was barely better from the field. When the Vikings turned the ball over following a G-Prep free throw with 4 seconds left in the half, the Bullpups pulled a play out of someone else’s book.

Nick Hanson lobbed the inbounds pass over the key to Long curling in from the backside and in one motion he touched it off the glass. G-Prep was up 19-17 and ahead for good.

“We hadn’t had a chance to use it this year,” coach Mike Haugen said of a play he said he stole from Central Valley. “It’s designed for the last play.”

Fischer took over from there with his second-half scoring outburst.

“Sean was feeling it and we needed that,” Haugen said. “He’s crucial for us to be successful.”

Haugen said he was worried about state-placing prospects when the Bullpups started so slowly.

“We were getting the shots and I thought the effort was there,” he said. “I was not overly concerned as long as we were playing good defense. I hoped they’d do well enough to weather the storm.”

Today they will earn the fifth state trophy in school history.

“We came over here with one idea,” Haugen said. “We believed we had a shot at winning state. (After losing) the seniors wanted to make their mark and get into a Saturday game.”