3A State Day-3, O'Dea, Beach to title tilt

16 games down, 10 to go until we decide the state champion at the WIAA/Dairy Framers of Washington Class 3A state tournament. Meadowdale, Rainier Beach, O’Dea and West Valley (Yakima) make up the final four but there’s four games that will decide who else takes home hardware before we can get to the semifinals.

Of the final four, Meadowdale leads the point differential category, having beaten their first two opponents by an average of 19 points per contest. Beach leads in offense with 63.5ppg while Meadowdale’s defense heads that category, surrendering just 35.5 points per game in their first two outings.

The scoring leaders thus far:

Tim Sellereit, Bellingham, 24ppg

C.J. Giles, Rainier Beach, 22ppg

Nate Menefee, Timberline 22ppg

Andrew Strait, West Valley, 21ppg

Tyler Nixon, White River 20ppg

Rebounding leaders are:

Jason Pegues, Cleveland, 11.5rpg

C.J. Giles, Beach, 11.0rpg

Josh Heytvelt, Clarkston, 10.5rog

EJ Schoen, West Valley, 10.0rpg

Andrew Strait. West Valley 9.5rpg

Assists leaders are:

Sellereit, 6.0

Andre Geraghty, O’Dea 5.0

Jake Linton, Meadowdale, 4.5

Romell Witherspoon, Beach, 4.0

Pegues, 4.0

Aaron Dickson, Squalicum 4.0

Steals leaders are:

Dickson, 4.5

Menefee 3.5

Azubo Bearden, Bellingham 3.5

Larod Lover, Meadowdale 3.0

Bo Hubbard, White River 3.0

First up to decide who stays, who goes, were Bellingham and Cleveland. No need to ease into the day, these two raced from the get-go with the Raiders leading 17-17 after one quarter and 34-28 at the half. Senior guard Tim Sellereit had 12 points in the half.

Back to back buckets by Tony Hillaire and Sellereit saw the Raiders push it to a 10-point 49-39 lead with just over 4:00 left in the third quarter. Josh Fish made it 14 points at 55-41 passing through three minutes. Sellereit scooped one in and it was 57-41. It was getting a little chippy with a double technical being called to cool the tempers. As we all know, Sporty doesn’t like hot tempers. Bellingham led 61-47 at the end of the third.

A 19-7 run pushed the Raiders to a 26 point lead and they coasted in to play for hardware with an 88-70 win. Sellereit finished with 27 points and got the double-double with 10 boards. Brandon Foote added 21 points and Fish 15. Jamal Weems had 23 in the loss. Count em up, 54 points for the Raiders in the second half.

Next up a pair from the Greater St. Helen’s League, Mark Morris and Columbia River, in what promised to be a game played at about a tenth of the speed as Friday’s opener. The Monarchs swept the Chieftains in the regular season.

Junior guard Mickey Polis drilled a three-pointer from the top of the key just before the buzzer to put the Monarchs in front 11-10 at the end of the first quarter.

Mark Morris led 25-23 at the half with Josh Wilson scoring 12 on 5 for 7 shooting from the field before intermission. The Monarchs shot 66.7% from the field in the half.

Columbia River rallied late in the third and when junior guard Chris Bolton knocked down a jumper at the horn the Chieftains had a 36-33 lead heading to the fourth quarter.

The Chieftains built a 39-33 lead early in the fourth and slowed the pace way down, milking the clock with each possession. MM cut it to 39-37 but Noah Contreras hit four consecutive free throws to make it 43-37 with 3:21 remaining. Sean Price added a pair from the line for a 45-39 score with just under 3:00 to play. A Tyler Hayes trey cut it to 45-42, 2:41 showing. Paul Ryan’s inside score pushed it back to 47-42. It was a battle, as Hutton became the second MM player who had to change his jersey due to blood spillage. Aaron Guinn scored underneath and CR led 49-42 with 1:40 left. Price went to the line, hit a pair and River’s lead grew to 9 points at 51-42 with 1:37 left.

Wilson’s 3-pointer cut it to 51-45 and MM had it back after a charging call at 1:10. But a turnover led to a Bolton bucket and after a flurry of misses by the Monarchs it was back to the free throw line where Price sank both for a 10-point lead with an even 30 seconds left. Wilson again hit a trey, 55-48, 23.2 showing. Bolton hit a pair, did it again for a 58-48 score, 13.5 left and the fat lady singing. Tyler Hayes hit a late three for the 58-51 final.

Ryan scored 16 while Price and Bolton added 13 each. Wilson’s 26 led all scorers. CR will play the winner of Clarkston and Timberline. The Bantams came out with a 6-0 start and held an 18-12 lead at the end of the first quarter.

A Jason Curtis baseline jumper off an inside-outside pass from Josh Heytvelt propped the Clarkston lead to 10 points at 22-12 and had the Blazers calling a T-O with 5:11 left in the half. The Bantams led by a touchdown, 24-17, at the half. Curtis had 8 points in the half while Nate Menefee’s 7 points led T-Line.

The lead grew to 34-19 when Josh Heytvelt scored on a nice spin move along the baseline and followed that with a circus shot bucket off an errant pass that he managed to get a hand on and hit while falling out of bounds. Heytvelt’s soft bank off glass from 10 feet made it 36-20 passing through 4:00. 6-5 wide body Luis Rodriquez hit a pair of close-range hook shots over Heytvelt to cut it to 10 at 36-26. At quarter’s end the Bantams led 41-26.

Heytvelt opened the fourth with a one-handed dunk and Curtis added a trey for a 46-26 lead less than a minute in. They traded punches for four minutes or so, in some cases almost literally, and when Heytvelt had back-to-back dunks Clarkston had it at 54-31 with 3:39 left. His first was a nasty tip-jam that rattled the back board followed by a two-hander off a steal seconds later. It was a “WOW! WOW!” moment.

The Bantam starters took their seats with a 25-point lead and 2:20 to play. Clarkston will take home a trophy for just the second time, knocking out Timberline 61-42. Heytvelt had a d-d, 21 points, 17 of those in the second half, and 12 boards to go along with 6 rejects. All that in 24 minutes of PT. “Lanky” got game! Curtis added 14 points. Menefee’s 10 points led the Blazers.

Next up, Mercer Island and Renton. Renton led 13-10 at the end of the first quarter. MI’s Taylor Donovan hit a rainbow shot from 25 feet just prior to the horn to cut into the Indian’s lead.

Senior guard Kahlil Mathews did it at the end of the half for MI to cut Renton’s lead to 27-24 into the break. Mathews led all scorers in the half with 11. Senior guard Jeff Burns had 9 for Renton.

Junior wing Noah Blakney hit a turn-around baseline jumper to put MI on top 31-30 at the 5:25 mark of the third but senior guard Quinton Jackson’s deuce got it back for the Indians on the other end. 6-8 senior Nathan Porter’s put back gave it back to Mercer Island 33-32. Senior guard Steffond Brown got it back for Renton with a bit of magic in the paint. Senior guard Patrick Frost nailed a trey from the left corner and MI was back in front. We had us one of those see-saw affairs going; 5 lead changes in 2:10. The sparse crowd in the Dome made nary a sound during that time. Where is everybody? Clarkston had more people here than MI and Renton combined. The count for MI students other than band and cheer squad was 5, and it appears there are no students on the Renton side.

It was Renton 40, MI 37 after three quarters as the MI “Animal Band” brought some noise into the place and perhaps woke some people up. There is an energy crisis in the Tacoma Dome.

The Indians began to pull away and after a Brown bucket and a Lael Johnson score it was 51-40 passing 2:00. MI goes home, Renton stays to play, final 59-40. Brown had 17, Burns 14. Mathews had 14 in the loss.

Time for a chowder bread bowl and a little rest before the main events take place.

Rainier Beach and Meadowdale got it on in a rematch of a 2003 semifinal. Off the opening tip sophomore guard Ryan Anderson found junior guard Terrance Williams with a lob for a dunk and Beach was out of the blocks in a hurry. The Vikings built a quick 14-5 lead and looked to have the fire well stoked in their bid for a three-peat. Matt Fields made it 16-5 Williams reminded his teammates, “be patient with the ball.” But after running a minute off the clock on that possession the Vikes turned it over on a travel and allowed Meadowdale one last shot. Jake Linton was fouled, hit both and at the end of the period RB led 16-7.

Linton opened the second with a trey to cut it to 16-10. Another Linton three-ball from the left corner and it was 16-13. Beach had it back to 6 points at 23-17 at the half. Williams had 12 points in the half while Linton’s 8 points paced the Mavs. Meadowdale did a good job denying 6-11 C.J. Giles the ball, limiting the big man to 2 points on a pair of free throws and allowing him to take just a single shot. Giles had just a single rebound in the half.

Giles showed his frustration early in the third, first by a pushing foul on the offensive end and on the next possession by loudly clapping his hands and begging his guards to get him the ball. 6-3 senior Henry Faison was fronting, backing and in-betweening Giles with an impressive defensive job. When he sat 6-7 senior Colin Matteson and 6-6 junior Danny Hagan drew the assignment of containing Giles.

Beach had the lead to 11 points at 28-17 when Linton drilled another dart from the corner to cut it to 28-20. Next trip he did it from the opposite corner, 28-23 with 1:10 left in the quarter. Matt Fields basket sent RB to the fourth on top 30-23.

Taylor Marsh opened the fourth with a three from the left corner and the Mavs had it to a 4-point game at 30-26. Giles answered inside. Marsh hit another three after a Matt Fields free throw for a 33-29 score. Meadowdale forced a pair of turnovers but came up empty each time and Fields added another inside bucket for a 35-29 score inside 5:00 to go. Giles’ basket inside made it 37-29. Matteson answered inside, 37-31 passing 4:00. Marsh drew a foul on a drive and hit one from the line, 37-32 with 3:36 to go. Larod Lover drew a foul, hit one from the line and it was 37-33 with 2:24 to go. Giles got sandwiched inside, drew the foul and hit both freebie, 39-33 with 1:48 left.

After missing on their end Meadowdale was forced into a must foul situation. Kenny Collier hit a pair for a 41-33 score with just over a minute to play. Romell Witherspoon tacked on another freebie and when Williams was fouled after another Mav miss, hit both and it was 44-33 with 29.9 remaining. Lover hit a trey for 44-36 but only 22.8 seconds were showing on the clock. Williams again went to the line, hit two to put it back to a 10-point game. Witherspoon tacked on two more, final score 48-36.

Rainier Beach will play in their fourth consecutive state championship game. Williams scored 18, Fields 10. Giles had 8 points, 6 boards and 7 blocked shots. Linton finished with 14 points, Marsh 10 in the loss.

And to finish the day O’Dea and West Valley brought it. West Valley led 8-4 before junior guard Mitch Johnson went on his own 8-0 run in the final 2:00 to post O’Dea to a 12-8 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Johnson completed a 12-0 run with a nice tip pass to Michael Duty that put O’Dea on top 16-8. WV cut it to 18-15 on back-to-back baskets with an “and-1” by 6-8 senior Andrew Strait with 3:20 left in the half. EJ Schoen cut it to 2 at 20-18 with a nice mid-range jumper but CJ Harris answered with a three on the O’Dea end. At the half the Irish led 23-20. Johnson led all scorers with 12 while Strait’s 11 led the WV Rams.

Strait’s trey from on top tied it a minute and a half into the third period. Gavin Johnson’s free throw put the Rams up 24-23, their first lead since early in the first quarter. Strait made it 25-23 with a freebie after being hammered inside. Passing through 4:00 the Irish had yet to score since intermission. Johnson hit a trey and the Irish were back in from 26-23. He hit again seconds later for a 28-25 score. Strait cut it to 28-27 with a 17-foot jumper before Schoen was fouled shooting a three put WV back in front 29-28.

Johnson gave the lead back to O’Dea with a pull-up jumper and CJ Harris made it 32-29 with a nice assist from Johnson. The period ended there, O’Dea 32, West Valley 29.

After trading baskets Johnson scored on a back-cut, converted the foul shot and the Irish led 38-31 with 3:49 left. The Irish spread the floor and the clock milking began. CJ Harris made it a 10-point game with a pair from the stripe with 1:48 remaining. WV pulled their starters with the score 47-33 and under a minute to play. O’Dea followed suit during the next time out. Final score O’Dea 47, West Valley 33.

So the 3A championship will be a rematch of the Metro League and SeaKing District title games with the Irish and Vikings fighting it out. O’Dea got Metro, Beach District.