By Gerardo Bolong

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

TACOMA - Athleticism served Federal Way well in an 85-44 elimination of Kennedy Catholic in a loser-out game of the 2020 West Central/Southwest Bi-District boys basketball tournament.

With a regional game already clinched, FW (21-4) moves on to improve its seeding with a game against  Skyview on Wednesday.

“It’s a good team that we played,” said Lancer head coach Don Hoffman. “We played hard. This season, we were undersized, but made up for it by how hard we played, and more important, by how they loved each other.”

The Eagles owned the court at the Harry Bird Gymnasium on the Wilson High School campus from the outset on Mon., Feb. 17.

Towering above the Lancers in height, Federal Way also had the strength and quickness to run off the first 13 points of the game before increasing the margin almost without ceasing.

The final score was the largest lead of the game.

All facets of the game we’re controlled by the state sixth-ranked Eagles.

Every suited up player scored for FW with Bradley Graham leading at 18 points. Six-foot, six-inch Peter Erickson owned the inside for 14 points while Jaden Call posted 11 points. Jared Franklin was also scoring in double figures at 10.

Jamare’ Childs paced Kennedy Catholic with 16 points.

Kennedy Catholic had to beat Emerald Ridge 71-68 in a play-in game just to get into the Bi-District field. The Lancers lost a 63-48 game to Auburn ahead of a loser-out 65-61 defeat of Auburn Riverside to get to Federal Way.

”We took advantage of match ups in our favor,” concluded Hoffman.

 The Bi-District player roster for Kennedy Catholic (14-11) includes Leland Ward, Jamare’ Childs, AJ Keys, Reece McAllister, Zach Hatcher, Aaron Reed, Chancellor Hilliard, Tre Holman, Shane Aleaga and Samuel Strauss.

Assisting head coach Hoffman are An Lieu, Jerome Williams, Donnie Moore and volunteer Jeff Huling.