Bainbridge takes control, one game away from title

Round 3 for Bainbridge in the 3A state basketball championships is done at the Bank of America Arena at the UW. Check http://bireviewsports.blogspot.com/ for a live play by play, news and notes. See a web photo/audio gallery from our staff photojournalist at: http://www.bradcampimages.com/index_files/reviewslideshows.htm Review Web Galleries are also updated nightly.

March 9, 2007 8:00 pm
Steven Gray tries to break up the pass by North Central's DJ Scott Friday night. The Spartans defeatd the Indians 54-40 to move onto the 3A state championship game at the Bank of America Arena. Visit our audio/photo slideshow from the championship series from the 'mulitmedia' link on the left of the page.
Steven Gray tries to break up the pass by North Central's DJ Scott Friday night. The Spartans defeatd the Indians 54-40 to move onto the 3A state championship game at the Bank of America Arena. Visit our audio/photo slideshow from the championship series from the 'mulitmedia' link on the left of the page.

Spartans handle Indians, will play O’Dea for championship.

UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON – The Bainbridge boys basketball team sent a message: Nobody is stopping them from reaching their destiny, even if it means striking midnight on the dreams of another team’s Cinderella story.

The Spartans broke out on a 15-0 run and didn’t look back, defeating the North Central Indians 54-40 to move onto their first championship game in 59 years at the Bank of America Arena at Hec Ed Pavilion on the University of Washington campus Friday night.

“This is something that we’ve worked so hard for to get to this point,” head coach Scott Orness said. “To be playing on that floor tomorrow night for the state championship is (awesome.) I’m just proud of our guys and to get to this point, they gotta feel really good about it.”

Bainbridge put the hammer down from the opening tip, as Coby Gibler won it and tapped it to Wood who threw to a streaking Gray for the two-hand jam to pop the Spartan fans and get things going.

They continued their hot run as Coby Gibler scored four points inside off some nice passes from Nick Fling and Caleb Davis.

Davis followed with a three and Gray hit another jumper as the Indians were stymied by the post play of Gibler inside (he blocked two different Indian players twice in succession) and their own poor shooting (they were 2 of 23 for the first half.)

“We didn’t want to be in the same spot as we were yesterday,” Gray said, referring to their slow start against Bellevue. “So we took the intensity of what we brought in the third quarter of that game and tried to transfer it over. We came out strong and we came out with defensive pressure.”

They pushed the lead to 17-0 before Justin Anderson split his foul shots and Boone Plager sank a three.

In the second quarter, Bainbridge continued to dominate.

Davis sank another three pointer while Gibler scored several more points inside and Rudy Sharar made North Central’s life miserable, hitting a three and running around the court grabbing rebounds and making blocks.

“Everybody that came in was doing their role,” Sharar said. “Hitting shots, getting rebounds, playing good defense. Every player in there was doing the best they could.”

That included Davis, who was three of four from behind the arc and scored 11 points for the contest.

When he knocked down his third three of the game, Bainbridge had a comfortable lead at 42-15 with four minutes left in the third, seemingly ensuring a win and letting the reserves play some solid minutes.

But the Indians didn’t quit. Nick Rijon hit two three pointers as the Indians went on a 20-2 run in the fourth to close the gap substantially.

“Any team we play right now is going to be capable of that,” Davis said. “I wasn’t exactly surprised, but I felt we could have done a much better job.”

Sharar felt that North Central deserved a lot more praise than they’ve gotten.

“I give them a lot of credit,” he said. “To be down 30 and come out and play as hard as they did, we admire and respect that. We respect every opponent.”

Orness had enough respect for their ability to put his starters in to run out the clock and send them to the title game.

“Our reserves are better than that,” he said. “They play against a great starting five for 60-plus practices and they play better defense than that.

“You gotta hand it to North Central. They really came back hard. We had to go back to the starters because we weren’t going to take a risk and not be playing in the state championship game.”

But the Indians ran out of steam and Bainbridge ran out the clock.

The win puts them in the title game against a familiar foe — O’Dea, who beat Southridge 60-35 to get there.

With three wins over the Irish under their belt, the Spartans are ready for the biggest game of the season.

“I guess this is the way it was destined to be,” Sharar said. “It’s nice to have three (wins) but those wins mean nothing now. It’s all about this game. That’s all anyone will remember.”

Bainbridge and O’Dea play at 9 p.m. The game will be televised by Fox Sports Northwest and 950-KJR will broadcast the title bout as well.