Lions basketball downs Federal Way for first time ever

When Auburn Mountainview opened its doors back in 2005, essentially every student currently at the high school hadn’t been born yet.

That first season, the Lions boys basketball team went 3-17. But after 19 years, this year’s Lions team achieved something that has never been done. They defeated the big bad Federal Way Eagles for the first time ever on Dec. 17 at Federal Way High School.

“I’m surprised. But I think we are doing a lot of good things for the first time. … First time we have had a sophomore show up and lead us in blocks and rebounds. They are just showing up and doing what they are supposed to,” Head Coach Kendall White said.

The Lions defeated Federal Way 74-64 and are now 6-0 so far this season. The last time the Lions started this hot out of the gate was back in 2015 when they started 10-0. But to win on the road against a program as established as Federal Way has a different feeling than a typical sixth win of the season.

“It’s a blessing. We came out here and worked hard. We knew what we were up against. We were not going to take them for granted. That’s a good team. I’m glad I could do it with these guys,” senior Sebastian Arius said.

To start the game, the Lions were right with the Eagles at 8-8. But Federal Way went on a 7-0 run to separate themselves before back-to-back lay-ins by Kolven Posey cut the Federal Way lead to 17-12.

Auburn Mountainview struggled to slow down Brayden McVey from Federal Way, who had 11 first-half points, but the Eagle bench was a difference maker. Federal Way took a 35-28 lead into the locker room at halftime.

A big reason for that was outside of a Cody Benion three-pointer on his first shot of the game, the Lions went 1-13 from beyond the arc in the first half.

“We were beating ourselves. Coming out in the second half, they remembered we were in the game, even though we were not ourselves,” said White.

Beckett Jones was the lone Lion to get anything going on offense along with Posey. Jones finished the half with nine points, Posey with seven.

A big piece missing, highlighted by his impact in the second half, was Sudan Luok. He went into foul trouble in the first three minutes of the first quarter and was on the bench for the rest of the half. As a young sophomore who had to sit last season because of a transfer from Renton, he scored 10 points in the third quarter for the Lions.

“He is definitely the ‘X factor.’ He’s learning and growing … I think it hurt to have him sit that long. He learned from it,” White said.

Luok’s defensive intensity and spark might have cause Sebastian Arius to get going as well. Arius is the one Lion who can take this squad to the next level. He had a brutal first half, just three points.

But he rose to the occasion and made a trio of three-pointers to really get the Lions going and helped them take a 55-50 lead to close out the third quarter.

A sizeable crowd of Auburn Mountainview students made the trip west to the gym and created a home atmosphere in favor of the Lions.

“The energy was contagious. I’m glad we can have them coming to these away games. It means a lot to us,” Arius said.

Luok and Posey both picked up four fouls with six minutes left in the fourth quarter, but neither left the game. For a team to manage foul trouble that well and this early bodes well for the Lions.

“They know White would be on ‘em in practice after that. So they don’t want all that,” Arius said laughing. “But they’re a big part of the team.”

The Lions were causing havoc on defense against the Eagles, causing a multitude of turnovers in both halves. Luok and Arius both stand over 6’5” and have incredible athletic ability. Game planning for them has been a fun thing for White so far this year, but is almost as equally daunting: “It’s fun. This is the first time I’ve been able to game-plan around all-around athletes. But it is also a lot more stressful because I got to let them be themselves and roll with the punches,” he said.

“I’m sleeping less, but it’s more fun,” White added.

Auburn Mountainview takes on Decatur Dec. 19 before traveling to Tahoma to take on Jackson on Dec. 21.