TACOMA — Union senior guard and Class 4A Greater St. Helens League player of the year Micah Paulson was in no mood to talk.
The loss in the Class 4A state semifinals Friday night was too tough, too painful.
But after a few seconds, he had a change of heart. He did have one thing he wanted to say.
“I love my team. We fought harder than anyone in this tournament. We stuck with it,” Paulson said. “The ball just didn’t roll our way at the end.”
Federal Way walked off the Tacoma Dome court with a 61-58 victory, advancing to the state championship game. But only after Union rallied from a 19-point first-half deficit to tie the game in the fourth quarter.
“Us coming back showed the type of team we are,” Union senior Riley Hawken said. “We fought back the entire time.”
Union will play Woodinville in the third-place game at 11:15 a.m. Saturday.
The Titans missed two 3-pointers in the final 10 seconds — one from Paulson and the other from Cameron Cranston. The two combined to make six 3-pointers earlier.
Trailing 60-58, Paulson was long on his 3-pointer, and Union had to foul with 7.1 seconds remaining. Federal Way’s Christian Jones made one free throw, but that left Union an opening.
Paulson and Cranston played a two-man game, looking for the best shot. Cranston launched it, but the ball bounced off the iron.
“We ran it how we wanted to run it,” Cranston said. “If Micah had the shot, he had it. I had the shot … I just missed.”
Union coach Blake Conley said he liked his team’s chances with both of those final two shots, especially the one the Titans earned with little time remaining, trailing by three.
“We got a decent look. With seven seconds left, against guys with that kind of speed, I thought we got a great look,” Conley said. “They are the two guys the whole team would want shooting those shots.”
The sick feeling associated with losing in the semifinals was still present during the post-game interviews. Conley emphasized his team’s battle rather than the result.
“I just told them how proud I am of them,” Conley said. “I’m not surprised of their character and the toughness they showed out there.”
Hawken and Paulson said the comeback is what Union basketball is about, and that there was no quit.
Federal Way jumped on the Titans early, racing out to a 20-6 lead and finishing the first quarter up 19 at 26-7. Viont’e Daniels, who led Federal Way with five 3-pointers and 27 points, had 14 in the first quarter and 20 by halftime.
Union got defensive, holding Federal Way to 21 second-half points. Then the Titans got hot, too.
Paulson, who finished with a team-high 18 points, scored eight in less than two minutes to open the third quarter. Cranston, who scored 14 points, buried a 3-pointer. Hawken, who also had 14, made some noise inside with back-to-back baskets, making it a three-point game late in the third.
Paulson’s two free throws at the 5:59 mark of the fourth quarter tied the game at 53. The Eagles would jump back up by five — Daniels scored four in a row — but then it was Union’s turn to bounce back … again.
Cranston hit another 3-pointer. Hawken made a free throw. A free throw from Federal Way made it 60-58 with 1:43, and the score remained there until 7 seconds left.
In between, the Titans missed a shot and also had a crushing shot-clock violation when no one on the floor, nor the Union bench, realized the situation. The turnover with 32 seconds left forced the Titans to foul. Conley said he would take that turnover in the stat book, that it was he and the coaching staff’s responsibility.
Regardless, the Titans were still in it because the Eagles missed two front ends of 1-and-1s. (The Eagles got an offensive rebound on the first missed free throw.) The Titans missed on those final two 3-pointers around a Federal Way free throw, leading to the Eagles’ three-point victory.
Hawken preferred to talk about the way the Titans responded to that early flurry of Federal Way points.
“It shows a lot more of the type of team we are, instead of coming out and flopping it,” he said.
The Titans did fight, did make it back to a tie.
Federal Way, though, had enough down the stretch to survive.
FEDERAL WAY 61, UNION 58
FEDERAL WAY — D’Jimon Jones 5, Ferron Flavors 8, Jalen McDaniels 5, Marcus Stephens 6, Christian Jones 5, Viont’e Daniels 27, Leon Njama 0, Timoney Buckley 5. Totals 20-51 (7-16) 14-23 61.
UNION — Keithan Shepard 0, Cole Weatherspoon 6, Micah Paulson 18, Carson Brucher 0, Nico Bricker 0, Thomas Lampkin Jr. 5, Cameron Cranston 14, Riley Hawken 14, Denis Kirichenko 1, Stephan Ammentorp 0. Totals 17-45 (8-21) 16-22 58.
Fed. Way 26 14 11 10–61
Union 7 20 19 12–58
