3A State Day-1, WOW!

The Meadowdale Mavericks and the White River Hornets, with combined records of 41-7, wiped the sleep from their eyes, as well as those of everyone in the Tacoma Dome, and opened a four-day, 26-game, super-sized WIAA/Dairy Farmers of Washington Class 3A State Tournament.

The Hornets jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead. It didn’t last long. Meadowdale ran off a 19-10 run to finish the quarter on top 19-14. But wait there’s more. An 11-point run opened the second quarter and the Mavs took a 34-20 lead into the locker room. 6-7 senior Colin Matteson scored 13 in the half while 6-1 senior guard Taylor Marsh added 10. More of the same saw the Mavs lead continue to grow in the second half resulting in a 61-37 rout.

Marsh finished with 26 points, Matteson 18. Seamount Pierce Division MVP Tyler Nixon led the Hornets with 15.

On came Clarkston and Bellingham. The Bantams led 13-7 after one period, 26-16 at the half. 6-10 senior Josh Heytvelt scored 6 in the half but owned the glass with 7 boards. It gets better. The Gonzaga-bound Heytvelt was a man among boys in the second half, scoring 21 more points and hauling down 8 more boards. His “wow” moment came on a series where he went way up to swat away a shot on the defensive end and went even higher for a thunderous jam off an alley-oop pass on the other that had everyone in the Dome oohing and aaahing.

Clarkston had the lead to 19 points early in the fourth and with the bench playing it out Bellingham cut it to just 9 points. In came Heytvelt for the final 45 seconds. Add 8 points on 4-for-4 shooting from the line, a 360-degree spin move that found him laying a bucket in and a fast break jam that finished it. The Bantams advanced 70-56.

Heytvelt’s line, 27 points, 15 rebounds, 6 blocked shots, 9 of 16 from the field, 9 of 12 from the line. Josh Fish led the Raiders with 17 points.

The theme for game-3; “there’s no fear in Mount Rainier.” The Rams had Rainier Beach on the ropes from the get-go, leading 19-7 at the end of the first, 29-19 at the half and 41-34 after 3 quarters. But with 4:34 to play 6-6 junior guard Terrance Williams scored on a drive to put the 2-time defending champs on top 45-44. 6-11 senior C.J. Giles followed with a nasty dunk, a pair of baseline jump hooks and Beach held off the pesky Rams 58-53.

Giles scored 19 of his 21 points in the second half while Williams had 12 of his 14 after the break. 6-2 senior Brian Manaway led MR with 16 points.

Timberline advanced behind 29 points from Nate Menefee. Menefee put on a show with his mad handles, fearless drives to the basket and long range bombs. The senior guard had the crowd out of their seats with and twisting right-handed scoop shot that put T-Line up 70-67. Moments later he conducted a dribbling clinic near the top of the key before again driving into traffic and snaking in a left-hander for a 72-69 lead.

But this one was decoded in the final seconds. After a Banard Banks trey had tied it at 74-74, Cleveland’s Daryl Haskins rebounded a miss under the Timberline basket. The refs whistle gave the ball back to the Blazers as Haskins’ foot was on the baseline. A technical was called on Haskins and Menefee hit one of the freebies for a 75-74 l4ad with 6.4 seconds showing. Charlie Cook added a free throw off a quick foul on the inbounds. Cleveland’s last second shot was off the mark and the Blazers remained alive. Haskins finished with 15 to lead the Eagles.

Senior guard Steffond Brown, he’s heading to play at Central Washington next year, lit it up for 19 points in the first half as Renton raced to a 38-29 lead over Selah in the opening game of the bottom half of the bracket. Brown hit five times from outside the arc in the half.

Senior guard Erik Bell knotted it at 40-40 on a nice drive into traffic with 1:13 remaining in the third quarter but Brown hit another trey and just like that it was 43-40. And there it stayed heading into the final 8:00.

Chris Miller put the Vikes up 44-43 with 6:20 to play but a Lael Johnson’s and-1 got Renton the lead back. Down the stretch they traded buckets and with a minute to play Renton led 55-53. Brown clanked a pair from the line and when Miller made a falling shot off a miss it was again tied up at 55-55 26.3 on the clock.

Renton worked for a final shot with Johnson driving down the middle for a bucket and a 57-55 lead. T-O Selah with 2.6 ticks left. After a “Hail Mary pass, Bell’s heave from 30 feet was off at the horn. Renton advanced. Brown finished with 24, Johnson 16 and 11 Rodman’s for a double-double. Miller’s 24 led Selah while Bell had 13 and 10 rebounds for a d-d. he added 5 assists, 3 blocked shots and a pair of steals for an impressive stat line.

On came O’Dea and Columbia River. Like cold syrup running onto pancakes, the Irish topped the Chieftains 44-34 in a slow-paced affair. It was 14-3 after one period, 23-18 at the half. They exploded for a combined 12 points in the third quarter and it was time for a cup of coffee to get the eyes propped back open. O’Dea ran wild in a 15-10 fourth quarter, cough, cough. Junior forward Conor Mullen scored 18 while C.J. Harris added 11.

In the M&M game Mercer Island came out hitting on all cylinders and ran off a 23-13 first quarter against Mark Morris. The Islander’s inside size advantage caused the Monarchs problems early on.

Taylor Donovan’s buzzer beater sent MI to the locker room up 35-22. Senior guard Patrick Frost scored 11 in the half while Monarch junior guard Josh Wilson’s 13 points led all scorers. MI shot 67% from the field in the half. MM went 0-for7 from outside the trey stripe. MI’s 6-8 senior forward Nathan Porter was perfect, hitting all 4 of his attempts from the field.

It never was close and with 1:05 to play Coach Ed Pepple called a T-O and emptied the bench with the Islanders leading 64-46. Horn sounded, scoreboard read MI 64, MM 49. Frost led the scoring with 20. Kahlil Mathews added 13. Wilson finished with 19.

On to the finale. West Valley wasted little time jumping on Squalicum and led 16-3 after one quarter. By the 4:25 mark of the second the Storm was still stationary, stuck on 3 as the Rams defense was tougher than leather spaghetti.

And then came the explosion. The Storm ran off 12 points in just over 2 minutes and cut the Rams advantage to 24-15. At the break we had a game, WV leading 26-16. 6-5 Rams senior forward Corey Wehr had 12 in the half. The taller Rams enjoyed a 23-12 rebounding advantage. Squalicum shot just 21% from the field in the half but hit 25% of their trey attempts.

West Valley pushed their lead to 36-19 on an Andrew Strait three-point play. Wehr went to the line, hit a pair and West Valley led 41-20 with just over a minute left in the third quarter. Strait’s trey from the top of the key pushed it to 44-20. The fat lady may not have been singing, but she was sure doing scales as we headed to the final 8:00.

Squalicum quieted the lady with a 14-3 run to open the fourth quarter and with 5:19 remaining it was 47-34. Freshman Chad Clark’s jumper cut it to 49-41 at the 3:25 mark and the fat lady was being very quiet, not so much as a hum. Josh Ellingson buried a trey from the left corner to make it 49-44 with just under 3:00 left.

The Storm never got closer as West Valley made just enough of their free throws to hold them off and advance with a 58-47 win. Strait had a d-d, scoring 24 and hauling down 10 boards while Wehr finished with 19 points. EJ Schoen also went d-twice with 15 points and 14 boards. Junior guards Dustin Jones and Aaron Dickson scored 14 each for the Storm.

Sorry for the few photos but I'm on a very slow dial-up, 24.6, and it is taking waaaay too long and my tail is beat. Night all.