Younger Gianukakis breaks loose

On Thursday, Republic missed a handful of free throws down the stretch and had to sweat out a victory.

On Friday, Derek Gianukakis made sure the Tigers would have nothing to worry about.

Gianukakis finished with 31 points on 13-of-18 shooting and grabbed 23 rebounds as the Tigers hammered Neah Bay 71-47 in the quarterfinals of the State B boys basketball tournament at the Arena.

The win puts Republic (25-3) in a semifinal matchup at 6 p.m. today against Morton, which beat Riverside Christian 62-44 in another quarterfinal.

“(Derek) was a monster tonight,” Tigers head coach John Gianukakis said. “After struggling a little bit (Thursday) night, he was just strong inside. He hit the inside shots we were used to having him hit. He played hard and he was a big, big bonus.”

To say Gianukakis, who averages roughly 14 rebounds a game, was strong inside is an understatement. The 6-foot-3 junior grabbed nearly as many rebounds as Neah Bay did as a team (the Red Devils finished with 25). Although he only finished with one block, he altered many other shots and had two or three rebounds negated because of Neah Bay fouls.

It was a nice rebound from a subpar opening game.

“I guess I made up for (Thursday),” Derek said. “I shot better, I got ready to play today and my legs felt better. … My dad says to just keep on the boards.”

Where Derek was influential on the offensive end and on the glass, it was the defense of Todd Orestad and Kavan Lehn that helped spark a 20-0 run spanning the first and second quarters that gave Republic a commanding lead that would never fall to less than 18.

The Tigers, who also got 22 points, seven rebounds and four assists from Zach Gianukakis, went to a triangle-and-two, focusing on Neah Bay leading scorers Timothy Greene (19 points per game) and Henry Cross (16 ppg), and held the pair to a combined six first-half points.

“I just tried to stay with them and get in their head,” said Orestad, who added 12 points and five assists. “I just had to run around with them and keep them out of their offense. … If we keep them under half their (average) points, then we’ll win.”

The Tigers didn’t hold Greene and Cross to half their points – both finished with 14, most when the game was already decided – but they held Neah Bay to 17 percent shooting in the first half, 30 percent for the game. They also outrebounded Neah Bay 44-25.

“We ‘triangle-and-twoed’ them in the first half,” John Gianukakis said. “Orestad and Lehn took their two big guys, and we held their team to 12 points in the first half. That won us the game.”

Morton 62 Liberty Christian 44: Morton went on a 19-4 run to open up a 14-point halftime lead as the Huskies knocked off the Patriots in a quarterfinal matchup.

Travis Merriman led the way for Morton, scoring 19 points – 11 in the second half as the Huskies (20-7) kept the Patriots (19-8) at bay.

Morton is making its first semifinal appearance since 1993.