BY GERARDO BOLONG
Contributing Sports Correspondent

TACOMA - Intense interior effort on both ends of the court spring-boarded No. 4 boys basketball 3A West Seattle into a 62-54 quarterfinal win against Woodrow Wilson of Tacoma at the 2017 state Hardwood Classic held at the Tacoma Dome on Thurs., March 2.

"We're not a pressing defense, but when we got settled in we tried to keep them from getting (close) to the basket," said fourth-year Wildcat head coach Keffrey Fazio. "Yusuf (Mohamed), Abdullahi (Mohamed) were great inside and (guard) Nate (Pryor) did well on controlling the tempo. Our strength is inside."
Early on, Emmitt Matthews Jr.was on fire for the Wilson Rams, spearheading Wilson for 13 first half points on the way to a game total of 20.

Nate Pryor enjoyed a huge first quarter as the Wildcats moved to leads of 12-6 and 15-10 before Matthews and company had the Rams within 15-14 after one quarter.

The Wildcats kept working hard to establish leads of up to five points while the six-foot, seven-inch Matthews kept the Rams running in contention by working inside to keep West Seattle in view at 25-21 by intermission.
At halftime, the Wildcats talked about improvements on defense to keep the keep inside the key clear.
"We gave him way too much space," added Fazio. "He was finding pockets in the middle of the zone. We wanted other guys to shoot and we weren't doing that. On offense, we were settling for shots instead of working (for better ones)."

Opening the fourth quarter, the Mohamed brothers fired up West Seattle with superior work near the basket.
Six-foot, eight-inch senior Yusuf powered home a put-back basket and converted a free throw for a three-point play. Grabbing a defensive rebound, Yusuf prepared the way for six-foot, eight-inch freshman Abdullahi to attack the basket near the baseline for a bucket.

Taking advantage of a player controlled foul on the Rams, Abdullahi notched basket on a power move to the hoop and WS led 32-21 with 7:14 showing in the third quarter. It was Yusuf's turn, again, after a Wilson field goal. Following up a teammates missed shot inside, Yusuf elevated for the rebound and slammed home a two-hand dunk to bring the West Seattle command back to 11 points.

Wilson worked its way back and gradually pared down the Wildcat margin.

With 6:29 remaining in the fourth quarter, Matthews snared an offensive board for a put-back basket to cut the WS lead to 42-38.

West Seattle countered with a 12-point run. Yusuf Mohamed received a pass inside for a dunk basket ahead of Anthony Giomi's lay up from the weak side as the Wildcat passing attack began cutting the Ram defense into ribbons. Abdullahi Mohamed drained a pair of free throws and West Seattle reestablished dominance at 50-38 with just more than five minutes remaining.

Working the ball around methodically against a defense that was forced to gamble on overplays, the Wildcats opportunistically found easy baskets and nailed down free throws to keep the Rams at a distance.
"We started attacking the rim and drawing fouls," Washington Interscholastic Basketball Coaches Association player of the year Pryor said. "I think we executed down the stretch. We knew that team was a fast team, so we tried to slow the tempo and had to finish out."

Pryor finished out with 13 points, seven rebounds and three assists.

Yusuf Mohamed played strongly despite still recovering from illness.

"Two days ago, I had the flu," he said. "I just had to work on putting my body in the line of fire and raising my level after halftime."

Mohamed's level increased dramatically to the achievement of 19 second half points and seven rebounds as part of his game high 23 points and 11 grabs off the glass. Abdullahi Mohamed scored eight second half points on the way to a game total of 10.

For Wilson, Nathaniel Stokes joined Matthews in double figures scoring with 10. West Seattle blasted Wilson off the boards 36-24.

West Seattle (21-6) of the Metro League moved on to face perennial power of the same league Garfield in a Fri., March 4, 9 p.m. match up.