The historic run continues for Washington commit Michael Porter Jr, his coach Brandon Roy and Nathan Hale HS (Seattle, WA), who on Thursday night defeated Stanwood 86-63 to advance to the Class 3A state semifinals. The victory not only places them within two wins from claiming the state championship, it also kept their undefeated season alive, extending their record to 27-0.
It’s an incredible feat for a program that just last season went 3-18 and who hasn’t been to the state tournament since 1994. We caught up with Brandon Roy a couple of months ago in an exclusive interview about his post-NBA career and why he has decided to get into coaching.
Porter, a 6-10 McDonald’s All-American who many tout as the top prospect in the country, posted 36 points and 15 rebounds last night. He is reportedly averaging 37 points and 14 rebounds.
Nathan Hale coach Brandon Roy had a strange postgame message for his players, considering the Raiders had just won a state-tournament game by 23 points.
“I just told them I apologized for not making sure things were squared away,” Roy said. “But even then that’s still not an excuse.”
The fact is, Hale beat Stanwood 86-63 on Thursday in the quarterfinals of the Class 3A state tournament. Other than the first three minutes, Hale never trailed, and McDonald’s All-American Michael Porter Jr. scored 36 points and had 15 rebounds.
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Hale faces a tougher challenge in Friday’s semifinals at 7:15 p.m.: the undefeated Lincoln Abes, who beat Seattle Prep 70-58 in the quarterfinals.
(Hale’s players weren’t available to talk after the game, per Roy’s policy. “That was just something I wanted to do after the regular season,” Roy said. “I just felt like this time of year, we want to focus in on what we want to do, and them being high-school kids, I’ll do the talking for them. They need to be prepared to play, and it takes a lot of pressure off of them.”)
