3A State Day-1 Highlights

The opening round of the WIAA/Dairy Farmers of Washington Boys Class 3A State Tournament had few surprises with favorites advancing for the most part. The Tacoma Dome once again took its toll on shooters not used to the cavernous arena.

Thursday will find four of the 16 teams packing their gear and heading home while four more will survive and advance to Friday’s semifinals.

Here are some highlights of outstanding individual performances on Wednesday.

6-3 Kennedy sophomore wing DeAngelo Jones (at right) didn’t have any problems adjusting to playing in the Tacoma Dome. Jones scored 25 points, on 10-for-21 shooting from the filed, and cleaned the glass 11 times in the Lancer’s win over Aberdeen. Jones came close to a triple-double, logging seven steals.

Kennedy (21-4) plays Rainier Beach (20-6) in the quarterfinals.

6-6 sophomore forward Emeka Iweka (pictured at left) scored 18 points and got a double-double with 15 rebounds in Rainier Beach’s day-one win over Hanford. Admir Beribak scored 18 in the loss. Beach turned up the “D” and forced the Falcons into 18 turnovers. Coach Mike Bethea’s Viking had 23 points off turnovers. Iweka has already given a verbal commit to Oregon State University.

Sedro-Woolley 6-3 senior Tygue Howland (pictured at right) picked up a double-double in the Cub’s first round win over Issaquah. Howland scored 23, on eight-for-14 shooting from the field and six-of-eight from the foul line to go with 10 boards for Coach Scott Campbell. Howland, a quarterback, is a Portland State University football signee.

Sedro-Woolley (17-7) plays Mark Morris (22-3) in the quarterfinals.

Issaquah senior guard Garrison Carr (American University signee pictured at left) had just another day at the office, scoring 22 in the Eagle’s loss. Carr hit a trio from beyond the arc and was perfect on all seven tries from the foul line. Meanwhile Issy shot just 34.5% from the floor, 15.8 from three-point range. But they did hit 84.6% from the foul line. That darn T-Dome.

Sure, Conor Mullen scored 21 for O’Dea in their rout of North Thurston. But how about sophomore guard Jameel McMillian’s (pictured at right) line? Nate’s kid scored 15, had 7 boards, dished four dimes and snagged four steals.

The Irish shot 58.9% from the field, the top shooting performance of the day. The T-Dome’s sight lines and depth took its toll on the shooter all day long. North Thurston shot just 31%, and a mere 15% from outside the arc. Blanchet hit just 26.3% from the field and a meager 13.6 from long range. How bad was it? Clover Park shot 36% from thee field… and won. Rainier Beach shot 34.9%, with just 10% from outside the arc, and won by 15.

O'Dea (23-4) moves on to face Clover Park (18-8) in the quarterfinals. The Warriors bounced Bishop Blanchet in their opener with Phillip Riggins and Willie Jason scoring 11 points each.

Mark Morris got 23 points from Josh Wilson (pictured at left) in the Monarch’s victory over Renton. Wilson, bound for Northern Arizona to play his college ball, hit four of his eight attempts from downtown. Fellow seniors Chris Hutton and Mickey Polis scored 17 and 16 respectively. These three are making their fourth trip to state and have all started since their sophomore seasons for Coach Bill Bakamus.

The Greater St. Helen’s League went 2-0 on the day as Columbia River’s senior guard Sean Price (pictured at right) dropped 25 big ones on Squalicum in the finale. And after a long day of hoops, these two needed some of the overtime stuff to settle it. Price also dished out five dimes. Columbia River (18-6) moves on to meet West Valley (Spokane)(21-3) in the quarterfinals.

So how did the various leagues represent on opening day? The Greater St. Helen’s went 2-0. Greater Spokane was 1-0. Metro was 2-1, Northwest went 1-1, Seamount went 2-2 (both King and Pierce Divisions were 1-1). The Mid-Valley was 0-1 as was KingCo. The Pac-9 took the shutout at 0-2.

So how did the shooting go on Wednesday? Here’s the statistical breakdown for the entire field of 16 teams:

Overall field goal percentage - 38.7%

Overall 3 point field goal percentage - 29%

Overall free throw percentage - 69%

As Frank Barone might say “Holy crap.”

And to wet your whistle here are some more shooting stats:

Most FG attempts - Rainier Beach 63

Fewest FG attempts - Mark Morris 33

Most FT attempts - Mark Morris 37

Fewest FT attempts - White River 7

Most 3pt FG attempts - Squalicum 23

Fewest 3pt FG attempts - Clover Park 6