BHS controls the boards, play Rainier Beach tonight at SPU.
The number one Bainbridge boys basketball team dominated on the glass and held off a strong run by the seventh ranked Chief Sealth Seahawks in the fourth quarter to win 61-50 Tuesday at Paski Gymnasium in a Metro League tournament semifinal game.
The win made some more history in an already amazing season.
It not only puts them into the tournament championship game for the first time since they joined the Metro League, but it gives them a bye into the quarterfinals of the district tournament.
The win also makes them undefeated at home for the season with a 10-0 record.
“I knew we had a shot to be there (in the title game) when I first came here,” Steven Gray said. “To be here now (though) is huge. We got the bye in districts, which is what we really wanted.”
Bainbridge got off to a solid start as they scored eight straight points to go up in the first after Sealth scored the first four.
Rudy Sharar made a great play where he saved a ball from going out of bounds and quickly flipped it back to Steven Gray, who immediately went up for the score as the two Sealth defenders thought Sharar stepped out of bounds.
They pushed the score up to 23-10 in the second quarter on the back of two Caleb Davis three pointers and a putback by Austin Wood.
Coby Gibler added a great reverse layin down low while Gray sank a three to help put Bainbridge up by 16 at the half.
Meanwhile, the Seahawks couldn’t connect from anywhere, as they struggled against the size of the Spartans on the glass.
Bainbridge outrebounded them 43-24, with 34 rebounds coming on the defensive side.
“You have to be able to do that against a team like Sealth, because they’re attacking so much and they send guys to the glass (so quickly) that if we don’t have their quickness we’d better have the size,” head coach Scott Orness said.
The third quarter played like the first two.
Bainbridge continued their strong play and built up a 20 point lead on another Gibler bucket inside and a putback by Ben Eisenhardt.
But Sealth went on a quick 6-3 run to end the third quarter, then sixth man Nyandigisi Moikobu scored on a three point play to start the fourth.
Wood scored down low off an assist from Gray, but Sealth’s star guard Melvin Jones used his speed to quickly get down the court and score.
Guard Patrick Lee hit a three ball, then Jones scored again to cut the lead to single digits.
Eisenhardt felt they didn’t let up, but that Sealth started their full court press by then, which caused some problems.
“For most of the game they hadn’t been bringing the pressure like we expected them to and all of a sudden they did,” he said. “We didn’t expect it but we should have.”
Gray scored, but Moikobu quickly beat the Spartan defense in transition and scored again.
After Gray missed the front end of a one and one, Lee knocked down another three pointer to cut the lead to a six point lead for the Spartans with 3:30 left in the game.
“This game was very similar to the one at their place,” Orness said, referencing their 77-68 win in overtime at Chief Sealth High School Jan. 19. “They’re very explosive and they can score a ton of points very quickly.
“You can’t relax physically or mentally for a moment.”
After Gray scored on a putback, Moikobu was able to get to the line two straight times, but connected on just one of his four foul shots.
That signaled the end of the run. Lee slipped on the court to turn the ball over, while Wood was fouled and hit both of his shots.
Reggie Rogers scored in the paint, but Wood came back down low for four more points to punch their ticket to the championship game.
“We knew they would jump back in it at any moment, so the defining moment for us would be if we can keep up our poise, which we did,” Wood said.
Gray had 13 points, 19 rebounds, nine assists and five steals, while Gibler had 17 points, ten rebounds, seven blocks and two assists.
Wood had 13 points and five rebounds, while Davis had 10 points.
The Spartans play the Vikings at 7:45 p.m. Saturday night at Seattle Pacific University.
