Olympia blows lead, drops second-round game to Kentwood, 53-42

Coach John Kiley expects Olympia to play its best game of the year on Monday.

Because Friday didn’t quite hit the mark.

Olympia nursed a game-long lead until Kentwood put up 23 points in the fourth quarter to roll to a 53-42 win in the second round of the Class 4A West Central District tournament at Auburn Mountainview High School.

“The second half, (Kentwood) had a lot of metal,” Kiley said.

Olympia didn’t. The Bears put up single digits (9, 9, 7) in each of the final three quarters to watch an early lead slip away.

Olympia led 17-6 at the end of the first quarter.

“Second half, they ratcheted up their pressure,” Kiley said. “I felt like we had a hard time getting into what we wanted to get into. They pushed us away from the basket, and then when we did get to the basket, they blocked a few of our shots, and we didn’t do offensively what we intended to do.”

The Bears shot 13 of 36 (36.1 percent) from the field. They took 13 shots in the fourth quarter, sinking only two.

“We didn’t finish, and we scored 16 points in the second half,” Kiley said. “I love how we played defensively tonight, but offensively we were disappointed.”

Brett Thompson tied for a game-high 15 points for the Bears — 13 of those were in the first half. Eddie Beusch and Liam Murphy each contributed seven.

Kentwood finished 12 of 27 (44.4 percent) shooting, led by Rayvaughn Bolton, who had 15 — including 10 in the fourth quarter.

Olympia (18-4) plays Spanaway Lake (14-10) in a loser-out game at 3:30 p.m. Monday at Stadium High School. The highest the Bears can finish in the tournament is fifth. Six teams advance to the regional round of the 4A state tournament.

This story was originally published February 12, 2016 at 11:04 PM with the headline "Olympia blows lead, drops second-round game to Kentwood, 53-42."