The road to the state tournament just got much longer for the Hudson’s Bay boys basketball team.
Playing a winner-to-state game Friday on their home court against Foss of Tacoma, the Eagles fell 63-46 in the quarterfinals of the Class 3A bi-district tournament.
Foss clinches a spot in the 16-team tournament, while Hudson’s Bay must win three straight games to get there. That quest begins today against Kelso at 4:30 p.m. at Mount Tahoma in Tacoma.
“We don’t like to make it easy on ourselves,” Bay coach Andy Meyer said.
The Eagles didn’t make it easy against Foss. They shot 17 of 52 (33 percent) from the field, including 1 of 9 from 3-point range.
“They play extremely hard man defense,” Meyer said. “To be honest, we didn’t hit shots. We missed opportunities, some easy buckets.”
Foss led 17-10 after one quarter behind the strength of four 3-pointers, and led 33-21 at halftime. But Bay managed to climb back into the game.
Turning up the pressure on their defense, the Eagles turned a string of turnovers into the first seven points of the second half. Moments later, with Foss leading 35-30 late in the third quarter, the Falcons’ Noah Hunthausen made back-to-back 3-pointers for an 11-point lead.
“That was kind of a dagger,” Meyer said.
“They just played harder than us,” said Hudson’s Bay senior Tra Ponder, who finished with a team-high 15 points. “We just weren’t making shots we normally do. Their man defense kind of messed us up.”
Sophomore guard Marcus Chambers finished with a game-high 22 points for Foss, including 14 in the first half. In the second half, with Bay trying to rally, the Falcons went inside to sophomore post player Dezmyn Trent.
Trent scored 13 points in the final two quarters, finishing with 15.
That sends Hudson’s Bay to a rematch with Kelso, a team the Eagles have faced three times this year. Hudson’s Bay won two of those meetings, including one in overtime and one last week in the district tournament.
“We just need to use this game as motivation,” Meyer said. “I think they’ll rally; they’re pretty good about rallying around each other.”
