Mount Si was the No. 1 seed in the 4A state tournament, but it felt like No. 7 Emerald Ridge didn’t realize it. Considering how quickly the Jaguars got out of the game on Thursday, their energy felt as carefree and relaxed as it did back in January at South Mountain.
Feicui Ling was not afraid of the number next to Sishan’s name, nor did he give any hint. The Jaguars got off to a fast start, leading 36-31 at halftime and controlled much of the game. When Sishan finally rebounded in the fourth quarter, it was too little, too late.
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Emerald Ridge defeated the top-seeded Wildcats with a 67-62 victory.
“It’s a huge win,” said guard Jordan Bennett, who scored 15 points. “Nobody believed we would get to this stage and we just knocked off the top seed. It shows how much we’ve built as a program and as a team.”
Jaguars head coach Pat Mullen said getting off to a fast start is key.
“We want to make sure we’re the first one — we don’t want to react to them, we want to make sure we’re the ones making them react to us,” Mullen said. “We don’t want to be on our heels, we want to make sure we play downhill. Our guys do a good job of that.”
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Emerald Ridge’s 6-foot-7 forward Jamaize McGriff, the team’s go-to guy, went to the bench after picking up his second foul early in the second quarter, but Emerald Ridge never let up.
“Basically, the next guy up,” Bennett said. “We knew we couldn’t play the whole season. Maybe there would be injuries. So we knew we couldn’t play that game and had to replace someone.”
Bouncy Mount Si forward Latt Ford had a strong performance, scoring 23 points, but Emerald Ridge’s guards weren’t far behind. Bennett scored 15 points, Ellis Mosley scored a team-high 19 points, Mitchell Turner scored 13 points, and Darius Alexander scored 7 points. McGriff added nine.
Even before Thursday’s game began, Emerald Ridge was already making history. Wednesday’s win over Redmond was the program’s first state tournament victory. Now, reaching new heights again.
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A completely different challenge awaited: Defense-focused No. 5 Gonzaga Prep, the defending state champion, defeated Puyallup in double overtime before the game at Emerald Ridge.
“This is probably one of the three hottest programs in the state in the last 10 years,” Mullen said. “They’re solid, they do things the right way, they make you work for every possession. So that’s another big challenge for us. We’ve got to keep our feet on the ground and come out the way we play.”
Emerald Ridge takes on Gonzaga Prep in the semifinals Thursday night at the Tacoma Dome at 7:15 p.m.
